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In 2007, after Congress rejected Bush's wonderful plan to privatize Social Security, he appointed a fellow by the name of Chuck Millard to head the PBGC, with the mandate to show how aggressive investing could rev up the returns of his agency. Before Millard's appointment, the PBCG's $50 billion in assets was invested in boring stuff like treasuries and bonds, but Millard decided to get into more "go-go" areas like the stock market, private equity, and commercial real estate.
This kind of investment made zero sense for agency that guaranteed private pensions, and was akin to "doubling down" on a bet in Vegas in hopes of breaking even.
Three more or less prominent Republicans have formed a new group, National Council for a New America, whose purpose is "to connect GOP leaders with voters" and help restore the party's electoral fortunes. One of their solutions is to "not be so nostalgic". Are you listening, John H. Sununu? I think they are talking about you.
Bizarrely, the group says the Democrats are the party of the Monarchists while the members of their movement are Revolutionaries. The three leaders of the revolution in this case are Mitt Romney, Jeb "No-relation-to-that-other-guy-whose-name-I-forget-but-he-sure-as-heck-wasn't-a-conservative" Bush, and Eric Cantor. Not quite the same cachet as Jefferson, Washington, and Adams, but then their movement is not quite in the same league as our Founding Fathers, either.
Until I read about the number of times that two terrorists were waterboarded, I did not think that anyone should be prosecuted for torture. Bush is gone, Cheney is sticking pins in a doll in an undisclosed location, move on.
But when I read stories like this:
Several bloggers have noted one memo that said al-Qaida detainee Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003, while suspected terrorist Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002. "That doesn't sound very effective to me," wrote Marcy Wheeler of the Emptywheel blog.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new...
I said, this whole thing is too immoral, so illegal, flies in the face of what our country stands for, incredibly stupid, incompetent and horrible. Someone needs to be prosecuted to show that we recognize that fact, and that we cannot, as a nation, tolerate this activity.
President Barack Obama recently announced his decision to speak at the commencement ceremony for the University of Notre Dame on May 17. He will also be the ninth U.S. president to receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from the university.
Several groups have signed petitions imploring the university's president, Reverend John Jenkins, to revoke the invitation and prevent President Obama from speaking, arguing that his policies conflict with Catholic principles, particularly those regarding abortion. With Obama's decision to lift the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research and his pro-choice stance, several groups have expressed their opposition, insisting that the selection is inappropriate.
The Union Leader reported this morning that former-Governor John Sununu believes Democrats are playing the "Bush Card" to win the District 3 state Senate race.
Isn't it amusing how quickly Republicans will turn their backs on their leaders? Talk about fair-weather friends.
George W. Bush may be the black sheep of the GOP now but it wasn't too long ago he was their golden calf. After eight years as head of their party and the nation, Bush is a part of the political narrative whether Republicans like it or not. His memory lives on in the ever-growing unemployment lines and in the families and friends of those serving in our military. His legacy of failed leadership will not be erased in a few months or even a few years.
Those who enabled Bush's policies will also be remembered. While in Congress, Jeb Bradley voted with George W. Bush 85 percent of the time. Voters have a right to know that he unquestionably voted the party line on matters that have very real consequences for the people of this country and New Hampshire.
Bradley has consistently shown his political principles are driven by convenience not conviction. After two decades as an elected official, Jeb Bradley has absolutely no legislative record to promote, and if
he did, it would be the centerpiece of his campaign. Instead he's spent this election running from his support for George W. Bush's policies and launching personal attacks on his opponent.
Most people with two decades of experience have a resume worth promoting. They can walk into a job interview confident that they have the skills to succeed. Imagine walking into an interview and spending the whole time tearing down the competition? Any prospective employer would wonder what you have to hide-and that is just what the voters of District 3 are left to wonder.
(Not a NH-based story, but an important one, and one that reaffirmed my ability to be shaken to the core by Bush era malfeasance. - promoted by Dean Barker)
One of the signs that our late, unlamented president was losing his Capitol Hill mojo was when Congress rejected his cockeyed plan in 2005 to privatize Social Security by investing our tax money in Wall Street. Bush argued that those who opposed this plan had no faith in the markets, but ultimately good sense prevailed and he didn't get his way.
Unfortunately, Bush did not lose his personal belief in the magic ability of "the market" to solve all problems. In 2007, he appointed an investment banker from Lehman Brothers who shared his belief named Chuck Millard to run the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation along proper free-market principles.
This month's Vanity Fair has a great oral history on the Bush administration, as told by the principles themselves. Before it all disappears down the memory drain, it's worth the 25 minutes or so it takes to read the 14 pages, if for nothing more than a reminder of what a difference a smart, energetic, and engaged president like Al Gore could have made in the last 8 years.
If there was ever a reason to live in Washington DC, easy access to the Smithsonian would surely be near the top of my list.
So imagine my reaction upon learning "the world's largest museum complex and research organization" has decided to connect September 11, 2001 to ... the Iraq War:
Sen. objects to text with Bush portrait
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is objecting to wording accompanying a portrait of President George Bush installed at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington.
Sanders, a strong opponent of the Iraq war, has asked the Smithsonian to rewrite the text that says Bush's two terms in office were "marked by a series of catastrophic event" including the "the attacks on September 11, 2001, that led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Sanders says the notion that the terrorist attacks were linked to or led to the Iraq war has been widely debunked.
Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to say "the lies" rather than "the notion", but I'm just glad that someone out there is paying attention to what goes into our halls of history.
first from Joe Klein's Time article, which describes how Obama actually became co-president as the economy continued to unravel in the last week.
Bush's Last Days: The Lamest Duck
By JOE KLEIN Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008
http://www.time.com/time/natio...
snip-
And yet this final humiliation seems particularly appropriate for George W. Bush. At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude, he has become the lamest of all possible ducks.
By now many may have heard about the White House inviting Jewish leaders to its annual Hannukah get together...one small problem with the invite.
It pictures a team of Clydesdales pulling a wagon up in front of the White House portico. The wagon contains a Christmas tree. Maybe this was George's Hannukah Bush.
CNN's caption ?
"A card sent to Jewish leaders had a distinctly Yuletide flavor."
The Bush/Paulson Economic Bail Out Proposal is an American Kristallnacht in the making.
So posits a DKos diarist named Mr. Tek.
And before anyone starts screaming about Godwin's Law and the Jewish persecution of Kristallnacht... THIS IS ABOUT ECONOMICS. As was Kristallnacht, as Tek's essay explains.
I have taken the liberty of editing Tek's piece for spelling, grammar, syntax and punctuation, and emphasising elements of the essay I feel are important to the historical parallel. I've also reproduced only that part of the essay I believe relevant to the argument.
OK, here's another Andrew reflections:
We're in the garage, I'm painting a wardrobe for Elise's room (that my MIL picked up at Goodwill)... Andrew's riding around on his bike when the following conversation starts:
Why are things getting more expensive?
Well because we get so many of our products from far away, that as gas prices continue to go up, the price that it costs to deliver things goes up, and everythingis affected. That's why things are getting more expensive.
Nope, that's wrong.
No it's not, that's basically why things are getting more expensive.
No. It's because of George Bush. Things are more expensive because of George Bush.
Well, I guess, he is responsible.
And, when he's gone, things will stop being so expensive.
I had heard this over the weekend, and then saw it in a McLatchy Press article - Republican senators who are or who may be skipping the Republican National Convention - including the Sprinter, John E. Sununu:
The National Journal also reported that three senators haven't decided yet if they'll attend: Roger Wicker of Mississippi, John Sununu of New Hampshire, and Gordon Smith of Oregon.
It sounds like senators who are in tight re-election campaigns have decided they should avoid any close contact with George W. Bush or the Republican Party or even their nominee, John McCain.
However, as the saying goes, if it walks like a duck, acts like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck, even if said duck decides to duck the duck convention.
You be the judge. Pick one, the one that inspires you to confidence. Or you can move to Scottsdalke and feel right at home...a tip o' the hat to Chip and Yahoo News !
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former President George H.W. Bush, right, arrive by golf cart for a news conference at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, Monday, July 21, 2008.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
or
In this photo released by the U.S. army, U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, left, and top U.S. military commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, talk as they take a helicopter ride over Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, July 21, 2008. Iraq's government welcomed Obama on Monday with a message of apparent common ground on American troop withdrawal goals: expressing hopes that combat forces could leave by 2010.
(AP Photo/Ssg. Lorie Jewell, HO)
John Sununu has proven once again that access to health care is not a priority for him unless it's for himself and his family.
Today the US Senate voted 70-26 to override the President's veto of HR6331, the abstract of which says
A bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to extend expiring provisions under the Medicare Program, to improve beneficiary access to preventive and mental health services, to enhance low-income benefit programs, and to maintain access to care in rural areas, including pharmacy access, and for other purposes.
New Hampshire is dependent on federal funds for health programs, including monies for Medicare, Medicaid and S-CHIP. Our Republican Senators are more concerned about supporting George W Bush than with the needs of the people of this state.
They were elected to represent us, but they represent Bush &Co. (I guess they're part of &Co)
We need to make sure Sununu is defeated and Governor Shaheen is elected and Gregg needs to be voted out in 2010.
I came across this while perusing Commondreams.org
According to the Guardian, the development and use of ethanol is behind the present food crisis. A concern of mine is the use of genetically modified organisms in food. Most of the corn in the US has been genetically modified, or contaminated through pollination. I'm not going into that now, but may at a future date.
But politically, this "cover-up" of the source of the worldwide food crisis is worrisome, to say the least.
LONDON - Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.
The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.
The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.
Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush.
"It would put the World Bank in a political hot-spot with the White House," said one yesterday.
"Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a major factor in recent food price rises," said Robert Bailey, policy adviser at Oxfam. "It is imperative that we have the full picture. While politicians concentrate on keeping industry lobbies happy, people in poor countries cannot afford enough to eat."
Rising food prices have pushed 100m people worldwide below the poverty line, estimates the World Bank, and have sparked riots from Bangladesh to Egypt. Government ministers here have described higher food and fuel prices as "the first real economic crisis of globalisation".
President Bush has linked higher food prices to higher demand from India and China, but the leaked World Bank study disputes that: "Rapid income growth in developing countries has not led to large increases in global grain consumption and was not a major factor responsible for the large price increases."
Even successive droughts in Australia, calculates the report, have had a marginal impact. Instead, it argues that the EU and US drive for biofuels has had by far the biggest impact on food supply and prices.
Other reviews of the food crisis looked at it over a much longer period, or have not linked these three factors, and so arrived at smaller estimates of the impact from biofuels. But the report author, Don Mitchell, is a senior economist at the Bank and has done a detailed, month-by-month analysis of the surge in food prices, which allows much closer examination of the link between biofuels and food supply.
It's shameful that the Bush administration has so much influence still that it can not only keep domestic information from us, but tries to keep things concerning the rest of the world secret.
And we have to look beyond ethanol for green energy sources.
When I got my driver's license in 1966 the national debt was low and gas was 25 cents a gallon.
Today every newborn American child assumes $30,000 of our national debt. That number continues to grow. Nearly every cent of this money is attributable to the Republican supply--siders from Reagan to Bush. We owe more to China alone than my generation can possibly pay. And don't forget that the trillions of dollars that Iraq will cost us aren't even on the books. Our debt grows every day and we are leaving the whole mess to our children.
Now the crooks that sold us out are now trying to grab everything they can while Bush is still in office. It doesn't occur to them to leave what's left of our natural resources to our children and grandchildren. It doesn't occur to them that our children will face monumental environmental issues. Nope, George Bush, the oilman and President, (in that order) is selling the idea that America's pain at the gas pumps can be solved by drilling immediately.
Does anybody still trust this guy and his parrots from D.C. to New Hampshire? The whole bunch including the Union Leader, Fergus Cullen and a slew of Republican candidates are braying in lock step on this one.
Enough!
Here's a novel idea: Let's let the next generation of Americans decide what to do with our untapped oil reserves.
Under Republican policies we've squandered eight precious years. For eight years Republicans favored big oil over working Americans. For eight years Republicans ignored the environment. For eight years Republicans ignored green business opportunities and alternative energy development. For eight years Republicans gave mileage breaks to SUV's and ignored the need for efficient automobiles. That was great for Detroit, but as usual when crunch time comes, it's the Japanese and Europeans who are ready.
So why, why, why, can't Republicans at least leave something for future Americans?
Why can't Republicans see where this self-defeating greed is leading us?
I expect my "markets-are-always-right" friends to claim that I don't understand the realities of business cycles and investment in exploration and technology blah blah blah.
Baloney to that!
It's time for big oil and the party of big oil to adjust to the realities of American life not the other way around. Let the companies keep their profits. They've stuffed their pockets. Good for them, may they enjoy it.
But, would it be too much to expect our oil industry and the Republican Party to think about America's future instead of exploiting American's pain at the pumps?
As I'm sure everyone knows, former Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan has released a scathing memoir about his time in the Bush administration. In it he accuses the administration of leaking top secret information for political gain, lying about Bush's past cocaine use, and - drumroll please - using propaganda and lies to sell the Iraq war. These are all things we already knew, but to have a former Bush confidante say them is sweet vindication.
And yet...
And yet this is the same McClellan who helped spread those lies. This is the same McClellan who used to rip administration critics the way he is now being ripped.
I'm all for epiphanies and forgiveness, but I really have a hard time forgetting all of his transgressions as a Bush crony.
It was great to see John Edwards last night around 6:15 on CNN calmly taking on the bullsh*t rhetoric of Bushey McSame...he has assumed a role commensurate with his status since endorsing Barack Obama and is a forthright forceful advocate for the chamge Barack will bring. click this linky for full version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
We all know people who contradict themselves regularly. It's especially jarring when they come down hard ( and self-righteously ) on both sides of the same issue. They seem to be oblivious to the obvious-that you can't be right both times. Their egos somehow short circuit logic and critical thinking. Harumphhhhhh!!!
With friends we usually zip our lips and absorb those tingles of anxiety. Scratching a friends psyche that deeply invites all sorts of pain and doubt.
But politicians have to face up to our doubts-we demand it.
A case in point is John Stephen's bewildering contradictions on deficits, the Iraq war and the Bush tax breaks.
Here's a quote from an op-ed written by Mr. Stephen. This appeared in the Union Leader on Friday October 19, 2007.
"We have seen record spending increases and deficits in Washington...
It's time for us to get back to New Hampshire values."
What are Washington values? Over the last five years, we have seen $1.5 trillion in deficit spending."
The op-ed, titled "In The Past Five Years, Congress has Lost Its Way", was an attack on Congress for running up deficits, but failed to mention fellow Republican George Bush and Iraq.
Now we see that John Stephen wants us to elect him to Congress to make the Bush tax cuts permanent even though they contribute mightily to our huge deficits.
And on Iraq's price tag Mr. Stephen is still keeping us in suspense.
Something just doesn't square here.
Its time to force John Stephen to reconcile his most jarring contradictions.
