Nick Confessore at Tapped as an excellent post on the subject of "Reagan’s Other Legacy". In it, he refers to an article by New Republic contributor Jonathan Chait (posted at the Reagan legacy website). The Chait article is prescient, being dated before 9/11 — indeed, being dated before George W. Bush was "elected". He summarizes the Reagan mystique in this … Read More
Ronald Reagan
It seems fitting to say a few words in honor of "The Great Communicator" at the time of his passing. It seems more fitting that I not be the one to give such a eulogy. Ronald Reagan had skills as a politician which were undeniable. And his message was welcome to many. But not to me, and it would hypocritical … Read More
Bush Campaign Enlisting Help Of Churches
As reported here: The Bush campaign is seeking to enlist thousands of religious congregations around the country in distributing campaign information and registering voters, according to an e-mail message sent to many members of the clergy and others in Pennsylvania. Liberal groups charged that the effort invited violations of the separation of church and state and jeopardized the tax-exempt status … Read More
Cheneyburtongate
Cheney has stated that he has had no role or influence in the government’s award of no-competitive-bid contracts to Halliburton. As Time and CNN are reporting, a March 5, 2003 e-mail puts those comments into question. The email is "an internal Pentagon e-mail from an Army Corps of Engineers official to another Pentagon employee". As the story says: The e-mail … Read More
Cheney Is A Lying Liar
Hat tip to Lizard Queen for catching this recent news item: WASHINGTON (AFP) – A Pentagon e-mail said Vice President Dick Cheney coordinated a huge Halliburton government contract for Iraq, despite Cheney’s denial of interest in the company he ran until 2000. The March 5, 2003 e-mail, from an Army Corps of Engineers official, said that top Pentagon official Douglas … Read More
Overlooked Story of the Week
I suspect this has something to do with all the Halliburton scandals (kickbacks, overcharging, etc.), as well as how we’ve been outsourcing our military/intelligence operations to a bunch of non-accountable mercenary companies: Established by an act of Congress in 1979, the Federal Procurement Data System was a rare island of public information, the only complete record of federal contracts. Using … Read More
Outrage Fatigue
It’s almost hard for me to get angry at the Bush White House anymore. The parade of lies and obfuscations over the past few months has left me so jaded-exhausted that each new piece of offensive news relating to the Bush Administration is greeted by me with ho-hum-so-what-else-is-new ennui, rather than the indignation it properly reserves. Here’s the latest in … Read More
Bush “ForAgainst” Many Many Things
Today, the New York Times reports that the Bush administration has been trumpeting a number of programs that they actually tried to cut or even eliminate: For example, Justice Department officials recently announced that they were awarding $47 million to scores of local law enforcement agencies for the hiring of police officers. Mr. Bush had just proposed cutting the budget … Read More
Now THIS is interesting . . .
First the background . . . This document is part of Bush’s military records — specifically, it is the document which records that Bush was suspended from flight status for failure to show up for an annual physical examination. Interestingly, below the entry for Bush is another entry for another pilot, also removed from flight status (on the same day), … Read More
Ribbons and Medals
I won’t regurgitate the entire manufactured Kerry medals/ribbons "controversy" which the right is all lathered up over. You can get a good sense of the ridiculous claim here. Basically, it all hinges on the flimsy premise that when Kerry was asked, in 1971, about what he was awarded (in the midst of a discussion about what medals he "gave back"), … Read More
Lesson of the Day
Eric Alterman nails it: If you fire a photographer, the photograph you fired her for will get printed again and again, even in the New York Times, which otherwise might have left the whole thing alone. This of course refers to the Pentagon/Bush ban on photos of dead troops in their coffins — an order which was violated by Pentagon … Read More
The Third Front
Billmon of the Whiskey Bar has some interesting thoughts on the unification of interests between progressives (as distinguished from John Kerry-like "neolibs") and libertarians. It takes him a while to get to that point, but the journey is interesting as well. An excellent read from an underrated blog. Excerpted highlights: Strategically, the neocons and their neoliberal collaborators now hold the … Read More
Foreign Leaders Favor Bush
The Saudis, that is. In blogosphere time, this is an old story, but for those who have been in a cave for 24 hours, you can read more about it here. Basically it’s this: The Bush White House and the Saudis have a "sweetheart deal" in which the Saudi government will lower gas prices just prior to our elections, a … Read More
Bush Is Perfect, White House Reveals
Courtesy of The Borowitz Report: First Flawless Person in History, Experts Believe President George W. Bush received some much needed good news today as the White House revealed conclusive evidence that the President is perfect. “After reviewing his actions since entering the White House in 2001, we have come to the conclusion that the President is perfect,” White House spokesman … Read More
“And the credibility of the United States is incredibly important for keeping world peace and freedom.”
(From last night’s meet-and-greet-the-Commander-in-Chief.) I agree. So let’s see how well we’re doing on the credibility-with-the-world front: Source Mmmmm . . . doesn’t look so good . . .