At what point will President Bush finally grasp the enormous disaster that the neoconservatives, from Vice President Dick Cheney on down, have visited upon his presidency? Or, to put it numerically, just how does a president descend from a 92 percent approval rating one month after 9/11-the highest of any president since modern polling began-to the two-thirds disapproval score that has stalked him through the last year, thanks to the Iraq debacle, without getting the message?
Two major polls released this week show that the vast majority of Americans grasp the salient lesson of the Iraq misadventure: “Winning” this war has nothing to do with winning the war on terrorism. Thus, the public overwhelmingly supports the congressional Democratic leadership’s demand that the administration begin concrete steps to extract U.S. troops from Iraq. This week’s New York Times/CBS poll found that two-thirds of those polled said that the war is “going badly” and that “the United States should reduce its forces in Iraq, or remove them altogether.” Meanwhile, a Washington Post/ABC survey reported that, “by a large margin, Americans trust the Democrats rather than the president to find a solution to a conflict that remains enormously unpopular.”
According to the Post poll, more than six in 10 Americans want Congress to make the final decision about when our troops come home. Even a majority of Republicans judge Bush to be too rigid to change course and, significantly, among those who either served in Iraq or had a close friend or relative who did, only 38 percent approve of Bush’s handling of the war. In an important rebuke to those Democrat “centrists” afraid to vigorously challenge Bush on the war, about half of those polled criticized the Democrats for doing “too little” to challenge Bush’s war policy. How much courage will it take for wavering Democrats and Republicans to come out forthrightly in favor of ending a war that the majority of Americans believe is not worth fighting?
At first, the public, driven by false claims of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaida manufactured by the neocon cabal that dominated the administration, bought into Bush’s claims that the Iraq war was an essential battle in the war on terrorism. At a time when even respectable news organizations were spreading such falsehoods as unquestioned truths and most Democrats in Congress displayed the independence of mind of cheerleaders, it was no wonder that initial support for the Iraq war was nearly unanimous. Fully 90 percent of Americans backed Bush one week after the first bombs fell in a “shock and awe” campaign that neocon ideologues at the Pentagon were convinced would lead a terrorized population to embrace democracy and other purported Western values.
As Winston Churchill once observed, a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth puts its pants on. But the truth eventually does catch up, and that is the specter that now haunts our president. There is simply no plausible national security argument for the United States’ ongoing occupation of Iraq. That fact was driven home Tuesday when American and Iranian negotiators met for the second time in Baghdad at the insistence of Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was quite clear that peace will not come without the Iranian government’s cooperation.
The harsh reality that the United States must now enlist the support of Iran, the “rogue nation” that Bush claims threatens us with nukes, which this very week was once again accused by the U.S. ambassador of supplying arms to Iraq’s anti-American Shiite militias, underscores the folly of this disastrous escapade. The regime change engineered by the neocons vastly extended the power of the regime housed in Tehran and will only intensify with each additional day of the U.S. occupation.
Yet, communication with Iran is a good thing, because Iranians at least have to live with the consequences of increased violence-as opposed to American politicians, who feel required only to muddle through to the next election. The Democrats and the few Republican dissidents are quite happy to make a show of their reservations about the war without actually ending it. The Democratic leadership in Congress is playing a risky game of pretending to be the party of peace without actually pursuing the budget-cutting measures that would force an end to the war.
While this opportunistic strategy may produce a temporary political advantage, it will be of slight comfort to the families of American soldiers killed and maimed in Iraq over the next 18 months, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of future Iraqi victims. Nor will it con a public that has turned solidly against this war and is determined to hold politicians responsible for ending it.
Robert Scheer is editor of Truthdig.com and a regular columnist for The
© 2007 TruthDig.com
Mr. Scheer, you assume that President Bush ia aware of the, “truth”, that the neocons have treasonously wounded our beloved country in the deepest way.
All “truths” which President Bush would become aware of, which might harm the neocon agenda are being effectively removed from the President’s attention area or “awareness perimeter”.
I believe that President Bush may be the most insulated (from reality) American leader in history. He has already admitted to the media that he reads no newspapers, and his news briefs are prepared for him by his staff, (Rove, Cheney, et al).
As the saying goes, “before you can fix a problem, you have to first realize that there IS a problem…”.
These demons among us are probably at their most dangerous right now.
Bush has already stated yesterday (as I’m sure he was told to) that a threat against D.C. is the end goal of ‘the terrorists’. Today the announcement of ‘dry-runs’ to see if explosive-like packages can be smuggled onto aircraft.
Their facade, shallow as it was is being removed. Very soon now they will either have to show themselves for exactly the Hell-spawn that they are or run back to their shadowy places and bide their time for another 50 years.
My money’s on the hooves, horns and Hellfire. Any day now…
It is pretty clear how Bush stands. Here is his name on one of Tuesday’s major CD articles and only two comments. If Cheney’s name had been here, this page would be ful of comments. It seems that everyone knows who the boss really is.
Bush is a slimy punk who is fully aware of what he is trying to do: dismantle the hard-working America that makes him look like a stupid spoiled chump by comparison.
Then he could actually call himself equal to other men.
Neither President Cheney or his loyal sidekick, care a damn about what the public think.
They’ve all but declared the USA a totalitarian state and that move is coming right after the next “false-flag” op that will make 9/11 seem small by comparision.
Martial Law will then be declared and another illegal and immoral war, this time against Iran, will begin.
It’s war for Empire and for Israel.
Cheney determined to strike in US with WMD this summer; only impeachment and removal, or a general strike, can stop him
By Webster G. Tarpley
Online Journal Contributing Writer Jul 23, 2007, 01:04
The greatest threat now is “a 9/11 occurring with a group of terrorists armed not with airline tickets and box cutters, but with a nuclear weapon in the middle of one of our own cities.” –Dick Cheney on Face the Nation, CBS, April 15, 2007
A few days ago, a group of lawyers from western Massachusetts met with the local congressman, Democrat John Olver. Their request was that Olver take part in the urgent effort to impeach Bush and Cheney. Olver responded by saying that he had no intention of doing anything to support impeachment. He went further, offering the information that the United States would soon attack Iran, and that these hostilities would be followed by the imposition of a martial law regime here.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/printer_2220.shtml
Wednesday, July 25, 2007 The Washington Post
“The latest Washington Post-ABC News survey shows that 65 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush’s job performance, matching his all-time low. In polls conducted by The Post or Gallup going back to 1938, only once has a president exceeded that level of public animosity — and that was Richard M. Nixon, who hit 66 percent four days before he resigned.”
A slumbering nation who follows lock-step to the drone of MSM propaganda dressed up as “news” is finally realizing this emperor has no clothes, what will it take for a Congress, long cognizant of this matter, to stand up and reveal this virulent pack of miscreants for what they are?
Has it never dawned on the wondering public the actual two reasons why Bush won’t budge on Iraq? One - to do so would be to admit that he was wrong. Something he has NEVER done. Two - he has to drag it on till after he leaves so he can dump the mess he created on someone else’s lap. Something he has ALWAYS done. The goal is to make sure his successor gets the blame for the outcome - which we all know will get much worse before it gets any better.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand,
here’s your backup pretext for martial law.
- - -
http://washingtontimes.com/article/20070725/NATION/107250083/1002
Most, if not all sources constantly report the faulty intelligence, and that Bush and his administration have made major mistakes in Iraqi, etc. The chaos we are witnessing now in Iraqi was planned from the beginning. What excuse would we have for staying if things were under control? Our government, both parties, have no intention of leaving.
Of course, as one writer said, they don’t care about the polls. They have no intention of having elections in 2008 either. I’ll bet the first 1000 people, that another “9/11″ attack occurs against America and the elections will be suspended and martial law declared!
Jay Registrar
Exactly, as you stated neither party of our government has any intention of leaving. This has been pre-planned from the beginning. We have 4 functioning Super-Bases already operational in Iraq, and the largest Embassy in the world nearing completion in Baghdad. This is all about a permanent strategic presence in the Middle East, and our only national interest in the matter is access to that region’s dwindling, remaining supply of oil. It is a DESERT after all people. I grew up there. No greenery as we have in our own nation’s Sonoran or Chihuahuan deserts. It is barren. Nothing but sand. Oh yeah and Depleted Uranium dust now.
Both parties are privy to far more information than the American public, and both know the real reasons we are there and this was always meant to be an ongoing permanent occupation or at least arrangement. There’s blood on the hands of Democrats and Republicans alike. That’s why Congress is quick to arrest the likes of Cindy Sheehan, demanding truth, and has no genuine resolve to arrest the real perpetrators here.
“How much courage will it take for wavering Democrats and Republicans to come out forthrightly in favor of ending a war that the majority of Americans believe is not worth fighting?”
Wrong paradigm. The assumption here is that these particular Congressworms have reelection as their primary motivation.
Not so: Joe Lie-berman and his ilk are in it for Israel; the warmongers are in it to sell weapons; the oil pigs are in it for the opportunity to rob the Iraqis (and soon Iranians) of their oil; the religious nuts are in it so Jay-zus will be forced to return soon; and so on. Sure, if they can accomplish their primary aims & get reelected, fine. But do not be fooled: These liars, thieves, murderers and theonuts have other motivations that are primary, the nation be damned (which is looking more likely every day).
The wishes of a majority of Americans were ignored in 2000 and in ‘04.
Why does anyone think they matter now?
“determined to hold politicians responsbible”? How naive…The public doesn’t give a s**t.
alamac
Your point that everything is not what is seems is well taken. All these players in this unfolding drama each have agendas, mostly primal motives with far greater power than you and I to carry out these agendas. Do not be deceived. Our representatives in government are drunk on this power, and will do anything to retain that power until their primal agendas are accomplished. And since they are already criminals as viewed by the rest of the world, and soon the American public itself, why would they give up their power?
As you said most of us are in a paradigm which is the wrong mindset. I expect a “major terrorist attack, what the hell, let’s make it nuclear” to keep our present government in power, for our leaders are now desperate, and desperate people do desperate things.
Greg Bacon, I hope you’re wrong. The imposition of martial law may have been feasible a few years ago, but now, with two/thirds of the military and much of the CIA disenthralled with Bush, how would they control tens of millions of people in a nation the size of the United States with a relatively small force loyal to the White House?
I think any terrorist attack of the US at this point, even with a nuclear device, would ‘blowback’ against the Bush Regime — Americans would be more likely these days to demand a new Executive Branch than fall in line as they did after 9/11. Times have changed.
As to the point of this article, I don’t think Bush cares what most of America thinks, any more than King Louis XVI cared what the French peasantry thought. Bush may well read history, as Karl Rove would like us to believe, but his comprehension of its meaning is about the same as his comprehension of the words of Jesus — his ‘favorite philosopher.’
One minor correction, Mr. Scheer: It was Mark Twain who said “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” Churchill was no doubt quoting Twain, because I’d hate to think Sir Winnie would steal the line.
I agree, VanishingEarth. I believe this cabal will do anything to retain power, including nuking Iran.
We have seen that these criminals do not feel they are beholden to the rules and laws which are designed to maintain the balance of power in our constitutional system. We have also seen that they cannot conceive of anyone but themselves having a right to hold power. But we have also seen that they are not willing to do what the people want, which will mean they will suffer terrible defeats at the polls–if those polls are allowed to happen.
These 3 things, added together, mean that they are perfectly willing to do whatever horrific, criminal thing necessary to hold power even against the will of the people. A nuclear attack on Iran, in their mad minds, fits the bill, because the blowback will be so terrible (and I believe they know this) that they think it will give them justification to declare martial law.
I do not think it will work; I believe they will be resisted, with chaos & the breakdown of social order more likely resulting than the establishment of a compliant fascist state.
But whatever happens, it ain’t gonna be good…
Interesting that the support for Impeachment is so high when the topic is off-limits to the MSM and NO leaders of the so-called oppostion party are pushing for it.
I guess it’s easy to say that something isn’t going to happen if you are one who could make it happen and you choose to do nothing.
The Dems want to stand around and watch Bush’s free fall.
I remember something the late, great and dearly missed Molly Ivans once said about Republican problems:”It’s not enough to simply rejoice in their discomfiture. We must kick them while they’re down.”
The Dems are like one of “good guys” in one of those carefully scripted wrestling matches. They’ve got their opponent groggy and on the ropes so they will stop, play to the crowd and then get clobbered from behind with a chair.
Pathetic.
UG! yet another article about “why bush, don’t you understand how bad a job you’re doing”. we have to circumvent shrub and fix this nation ourselves
Sheer displays his support for Empire by failing to challenge the “war on terrorism,” which in reality is a war for the control of resources, with the USA in the role–again–as #1 terrorist. This alone renders his missive meaningless, as does his assumption that Bush is somehow different/separated from the neocons promoted in the opening sentence: “At what point will President Bush finally grasp the enormous disaster that the neoconservatives, from Vice President Dick Cheney on down, have visited upon his presidency?”
And of course, nowhere is it stated that the invasion/war/occupation are illegal criminal acts of the most outrageous sort demanding the same sort of “justice” meted out to Saddam Hussein.
What “free fall”? They’re just as powerful as ever, in no small part because THERE’S NO OPPOSITION TO THEM IN CONGRESS.
“…the public overwhelmingly supports the congressional Democratic leadership’s demand that the administration begin concrete steps to extract U.S. troops from Iraq.”
Now if only congressional Democrats supported that demand with more than cheap talk and PR ploys.
The fact is Bush is unaware of being in free fall. This is a President who practically had to be tied to a chair to watch a DVD of New Orleans drowning that his staff put together. Forget the news. He lives in his protected bubble, oblivious to reality. When an Irish reporter dared to ask a follow up question to his non answer to her first question, he lost his temper. How dare anyone question his royalness? He’s made it clear that now he’s the president, he’s the decider, and above the law. And certainly Congress isn’t asserting it’s responsibility to be an equal branch of government and maintain oversight of the executive branch.
If Cheney is planning on nuking a city in the US to declare martial law, which one?
I’m virtually certain the quotation is, “A lie can get half way around the world before the truth gets its boots on.” But I’m not sure it’s from Winston Churchill.
But the point is well made for all to see.
Hey, I was wrong, comments are picking up here. That is good too, check out Stingers at 12.56pm.
Hi Kathy, you described him, all the way. Oh, maybe a small town somewhere in Texas.
O.K. folks, we all seem to agree that this administration isn’t leaving and that this Congress is not going to hold them to account for their crimes. We all know that, with a 3rd carrier group headed to Iran, that Pres Cheney will have his way and start WWIII by nuking Iran. And while we’re distracted by that “little” action, some event will occur in the US that will invoke martial law.
Now the question becomes, if all of this is probable, what do we foresee as our options. Some have posted here that the CIA and the miltary are not going to go along with these ploys. So, where does Blackwater stand? Will they still be getting paychecks for rounding up Americans? And if our US miltary won’t cooperate, where do all the tanks and miltary arsenal go? What about our own WMD? Who gets control of them? And what about the prisons built by Haliburton in the US to house all of us common folks?
And I like Kathy’s question? I think NYC again, or San Fran. Or maybe LA? How about Chicago?
As far as Bush/Cheney feel, ‘there are PLAYERS and there are the rest of us’. we don’t even register in their worlds.
It was Mark Twain, not Winston Churchill that said “a lie makes it halfway around the world before the truth puts his pants on. Churchill wasn’t that clever.
Rebel Farmer:
It’ll be Chicago.
I just wanna hear the thud that follows the freefall.
bush will remove the troops from Iraq only when he can remove them to Iran and Syria.
The rich and powerful are determined to control the middle east until the last drop of oil is squeezed out, then will leave the dry husk for Israel to abuse
carnard: Why did you pick Chicago?
When Cheney resigns and McCain is appointed V.P. we will know the end is near.
911 Loose Change co-creator Jorey Rowe has been arrested, apparently for desertion on a military warrant. Hmm.
i heard that bush’s old man and mother are cousins. had to leave texas to get marrried because texas doesn’t allow inbreeding. now we know why.
MCDEE says, “Interesting that the support for Impeachment is so high when the topic is off-limits to the MSM and NO leaders of the so-called oppostion party are pushing for it.” THIS is a very important insight! IF the US population were privvy to the types of info WE read regularly in this forum and had an inkling of what was REALLY going on do you think Bush could claim more than a 10% (clinically delusional) percentage of approval?
RSJ: I hope you are correct, but if not, your calm well-reasoned words are like medicine to my ears!
If 90% of Americans approved Bush’s “Shock and Awe” campaign, either they possess a criminal mind like their leader, or they are such miserable fools that allowed themselves to be hoodwinked, or the author got his numbers wrong. Do you see any other explanation?
How long will it take before CONGRESS GRASPS the conclusion that this president WON’T GRASP the disaster he has wrought, because he DOESN’T RECOGNIZE he’s been wrong about ANYTHING!!!
In addition to the international debacle that has catapulted the US from “most admired” to being “most feared and distrusted,” he has laid the groundwork for total martial law through his destruction of our Constitution, piece by piece, as the DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS looks on and wrings their hands… as though they can’t do anything.
Well, the Washington Post/USA Poll may show that the people trust the Democrats to DO a better job than the Republicans, but that isn’t really saying too much. Other polls recently showed they have a LOWER approval rating than George W…. quite an accomplishment!
So, I guess we can conclude that Americans, I mean the regular people…not the corporatists, are grasping at straws. They recall that the Congress is SUPPOSED to be acting under that quaint system of checks & balances, that the representatives sent back there allegedly took an OATH to UPHOLD the Constitution, and that somehow those representatives may awaken from the stupor brought on by too many corporate lobbyists buzzing in their ears and IMPEACH THESE CRIMINALS!!!
###
RE: “SUPPORT FOR EMPIRE” SCHEER?
karlof1 July 25th, 2007 2:08 pm
“Sheer displays his support for Empire by failing to challenge the ‘war on terrorism,’ which in reality is a war for the control of resources.”
Do your homework. Scheer has pointed to the imperialist oil motive elsewhere (which was not the only right wing motive, some progressives still don’t get). He doesn’t have to repeat your talking points each time he writes.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1001-01.htm
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1008-05.htm
RE: “TRICKED AND LIED TO” NO EXCUSE FOR INVASION SUPPORT?
pb9 July 25th, 2007 2:35 pm
“How come we should listen to the people sometimes but not other times?…And don’t gimme that BS about they were tricked and lied to…that’s not true and you know it.”
No, pb9, it is not true that people were “tricked and lied to.”
Even now, Sadaam’s unmanned aerial vehicles with their deadly biological toxins are circling the coasts, waiting to strike deep inland at your city.
baska July 25th, 2007 6:28 pm
“Even now, Sadaam’s unmanned aerial vehicles with their deadly biological toxins are circling the coasts, waiting to strike deep inland at your city.”
We know Saddam’s got them, because Rumsfeld still has the sales receipts.
The fact is, those WMDs didn’t exist except in the heads of neocons. Not a safe place for them, to be sure, but there’s just loads of storage space.
Chicago? lets all hope it doesn’t happen anyplace,__ ever. But hope is only good if we also work to make sure things straighten out.
Churchill wasn’t that clever? Hmmmm, he did win a Pulitzer prize for penning The Island Race. A great book too. But I do believe Mark Twain was a bit more clever.
Alamac wrote: “These 3 things, added together, mean that they are perfectly willing to do whatever horrific, criminal thing necessary to hold power even against the will of the people. A nuclear attack on Iran, in their mad minds, fits the bill, because the blowback will be so terrible (and I believe they know this) that they think it will give them justification to declare martial law.”
Alamac, BushCo is so unpopular with the miltary and the CIA at the moment that it’s doubtful they would sign off on or conduct a nuclear attack on Iran. Perhaps he could launch a conventional bombing, but then we’d see a blowback of unimaginable proportions as the Iran-friendly Iraqi militias rise up against our troops and Islamic fundamentalists take down Musharraf in Pakistan. There’s also this to consider: China gets a good portion of its oil from Iran and lends a considerable amount of money to our deeply-in-debt government to stay afloat. If that oil is jeopardized by a war between Iran and the US, China might decide to stop lending us money, which would mean our comlete economic collapse, not to mention that of America’s number one employer Wal-Mart. That means no more money for Bush Wars anywhere and his likely sudden impeachment.
Saila wrote: “If 90% of Americans approved Bush’s “Shock and Awe” campaign, either they possess a criminal mind like their leader, or they are such miserable fools that allowed themselves to be hoodwinked, or the author got his numbers wrong. Do you see any other explanation?”
Saila, I don’t think 90 percent of Americans supported Bush’s ‘Shock and Awe’ invasion of Iraq and those who did had been hornswoggled by Bush’s lies, as were much of our military, into thinking that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11.
Hi, Siouxrose; nice to read your comments.
I pose this question. If President Clinton could be impeached for lying about having an affair, why cant Bush and Cheney be impeached for misleading the world on the supposed WMD in Iraq? Our country is spending 10 billion dollars a month in Iraq. THAT IS INSANE. Clinton lied about an affair with another woman. It was wrong. It was a moral issue regarding a personal matter. Sending our troops to war in Iraq, where WMD have NOT been found, is suicide. My family has many active members in the military and I support our troops. But, I do not, as a taxpayer, support putting our troops in harms way under false pretenses. Not to mention the fact that you have a Chief Justice of the Supreme court guiding our court system to the radical right, an embattled Attorney General and a Vice President who can make up the rules as he wishes. We, as citizens of this great country, are just as much to blame. Some people in this country voted for these idiots! It has nothing to do with the fact of being a republican or a democrat or a green party. We are a world power who weakens everyday due to the silence of the citizens and the inactions of those running our government. God help us Please!
rsj:
i agree it was not 90 percent
it was 99 percent
consider what we do on special occations
fireworks you know..
folks i know who knew better
just loved the show
i kept my mouth shut for
awhile..
ken
In an interesting contrast between John Kerry and George W. Bush, comedian Bill Maher satirically observed: In his youth John Kerry melted his three Congressional medals into a roachclip and sat on top of a mountain smoking a joint with Ho Chi Minh, while Bush sat in a classroom eating paste.
Fuck Bush….hang the pussy bitch.
Don’t ya just love Bill Maher? Wonder what he’ll have to say when he returns to HBO from vacation?
Wonder if there’ll BE an HBO when he comes back from vacation?!
Bush on CNN at 08.15 pm (EST time)
He is jogging with amputees - wonder the amount of money he has invested in the orthopedic Industry - disgust can’t barely scratch the surface - what else after the Donald Rumsfeld Aspartame legacy and ALL diseases connected…should we **experience**
RE: WALTER_MAP! YOU’RE ALIVE!
walter_map July 25th, 2007 6:40 pm
Laugh!
walter_map! How great to see your monicker! It’s strange that no one here knows the amazing work you did at the defunct NYT website - I’ve got to tell you, as scorpio69er acknowledged near the end, that you were an inspiration and a model for me in the proper kicking of right wing teeth down their lying little throats.
It’s not the same hanging out w/people you’re in broad agreement with…’fraid I’m going to have to go back to the Wash. Post or WSJ or something…
Iran IS the next target. The US has multiple aircraft carrier groups and battle group in the area, and is handing out the ’succesful’ Patriot missile batteries like Pez.
Bet on a black-op top drive the sheeple over the ‘invade Iran’ cliff, and then when the the peace marches start, watch as their homes, cars and bank accounts are stolen out from under the marchers.
OIL is the only reason for the West to be in tha Midle East. And by the way… Saudi Arabia is pumping more sea water than oil out of their largest oil feild.
kathyodat………..
get a clue and get to work
Hi gang - There’s a grassroots groundswell out there and we’re ignoring it. Try googling for “impeachment, cities, towns” and bask in the sunlight of possibility.
Now we have to pull all these folks together and get things moving.
Sometimes I feel we have a little too much groupthink in these posts, and a contrarian view is needed. I am always happy to provide a contrarian view. I agree that Dick Cheney is an evil sob, but even he would not allow a nuclear detonation in any American city if he had the power to stop it. The terrorists may be trying to do such a deed, but with all the prejudice I can muster against the horrible Mr. Cheney, I don’t think he is contemplating what some of you accuse him of. His evilness just can’t be that thorough.
Jerrys, what exactly is it that Kathyodat wrote that brought out your comment? Did I miss something?
This just in:
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Countdown-Bush-Fein.mov
Ron,
I hope you’re right. But what has he done for the American poor, middle-class, our housing crisis, offshoring of jobs, health care, the pointlessness of Iraq, etc.?
From a forensic perspective — if all you had to go by was behavior of policies, not language, you might arguably interpret the pattern as hostile, rather than friendly, to the majority. If so, what are its bounds?
Mr. Scheer has utterly missed the point. There is too much money to be made in the racket that is the war in Iraq and, of course, still to be won is the prize that is the Iraqi national oil contract.
Frequently, we are told that the President has had a consistent approval rating hovering around 30%, which is questionable. What is more concerning to me though is that 7 out of 10 Republicans support Bush no matter what he does. What is wrong with these people?
Thanks Abbywood! Excellent! Tomorrow is going to be fun!!!!!!!
Mr Sheer,
I am afraid that you can not be trusted. Either you know the truth and you are hiding it , or you do not know which I don’t believe is the case. Bush is not in a free fall situation at all. In fact he is on the asceding side as far as his bosses are concerned. Why do you think he had to have a colonoscopy at this particular moment in US history? A colonoscopy is never ever an emergency and does not necessarily require suspension of presidential powers.Colonoscopy was an excuse to allow Cheney to take over presidency for some ‘hours’ in order to put into place what is to happen in the next few months : the next 9/11 massacre, the martial law, the suspension of presidential elections, the bombing of Iran, the rounding up of american dissidents. That is the truth to tell the people, not the silly lullaby intended to put us into deeper sleep while Cheney is doing his dirty tricks. We need wake-up calls not lullabies. Sorry to say so, but you are as much a sycophant as the folks at Faux News.
By the way, for helpusa, Clinton was impeached because he refused his bosses’ orders to invade Iraq. Consequently, the CIA sent the agent Monika Lewinsky to fuck him up and give him a headache. It was not about penis, it was about war and oil. That explains why the dummy obedient boy george was brought in. Are things mors clear?
CLAUDIUS: The answer to why 7 of 10 Republicans still back Bush (if the statistic is true) is religious indoctrination. Once religion got into cable television and began expanding its “ministries” and finding that its own authoritarian agenda matched that of Republican warrior neocons perfectly (both envisioning a huge war in the Middle East, regardless of whether the rationale was profit/oil/maintaining the dollar as official currency OR “God’s” wish for Armageddon to prove, as that imbecile Boykin put it, “I knew my god was bigger than his god”) millions were recruited to this ungodly cause. I hope you read Bill Moyers on this subject as he spoke of WHY the END TIMES series by Tim Le Haye has sold over 50 million copies! These true believers (and when someone is that inculcated to a “faith” based ideology, you can absolutely throw reason, truth or sanity out the window) think the holy war fulfills a Divine mandate! It fascinates me that the military originally followed a strategy known as M.A.D (mutually assured destruction) and in a sense, the Armageddon crowd has taken up the same cause adding a religious flavor to the same EVIL ends. As if the destruction of Creation and all the amazing creatures that evolution has woven over millennia would constitute the fulfillment of God’s will. As many know, this adulteration is actually homage to the mythological figure of Mars who DOES champion war and bloodshed. It has NOTHING to do with JESUS, and in fact is the antithesis of everything the Master of Peace taught. This inversion is the ideological “anti Christ” some prophetic voices have previously warned about. Ruth Montgomery in particular.
NO DUPE: If Monica L is a federal agent, then I am the Dali Lama.
when will the american public get so outraged at our federal government and their tyrannical control of our lives. the founding fathers stood up and fought the tyranny of KIng George the III when he refused to abide by the colonialists objections. Just like our SS Nazi’s in the DEA are arresting law abiding citizens who voted for the medical marajuana law but the Nazi’s in the Bush administration’s DEA dept. refuse to abide by the voters of Ca.. Is it time for another Civil War? The states vs. the illigitimate Federal government. these DEA agents are nothing more than the Nazi SS group of HItler’s time. When will it stop? When the people stand up for their rights and take up arms if necessary and kick the Feds out of every state that has voted for Medical marijuana. Stores should refuse to feed or sell to these inhuman beings and thugs. I guess the DEA doesn’t want any competition to their marijuana importation. They bring it in by the tons to sell to school children, where the medical marijuana is sold to people who are sick and or dying. The DEA to me are like the crap that I wipe from my butt every time i take a crap. when they can put a dying cancer victim in prison for ten years for just smoking pot to relieve pain something just doensn’t make sense. They get paid by the american taxpayer and work for the american people. and the people in Ca. voted for medical marijuana. but these corrupted DEA officials think they are above the law and disregard states’ rights. It is time for Civil war. George Washington, where are you when we need you? This countries government is the most corrupt of any in the world. It’s time to get rid of these uncompasionate devil worshipers. I say again: Civil War is near. the DEA is nothing more than Dictarship, following only their dictator, Mr. G.W. Bush, our selected president. Isn’t that the biggest joke you’ve ever heard?
LADDY: A nation that worships force and fire power will honor the raging god of alcohol, the gunshot wounds that wound or kill thousands annually, a disgusting defense budget based on building yet more bombs and products DESIGNED TO KILL, but it will rage against the PEACE pipe. It makes sense in this Orwellian nation we are now a part of… if we could lock all the neocon warriors up and ONLY give them grass until they signed peace treaties, we’d HEAL a lot that ails mankind.
On the marijuana issue, I lived in the Florida Keys when Bob Martinez became drug czar under Bush the first (I think that was his chain of command). Suddenly boats and vehicles and properties were just seized, and it was such a clear violation of the search and seizure laws, not to mention the PRESUMPTION of innocence. The whole “zero tolerance” bull shit (given the many more dangerous drugs routinely advertised as “cures” on TV by the high priests of big pharma, until the data comes in and the drug is rolled back and lawsuits result from its injurious after-effects) was the LITMUS test for what a population would stand for in the way of violations to basic civil liberties and right to privacy. Just as the S & L scam, which author Steven Pizzo termed, “The Looting of America” was the litmus test for the types of schemes that Arthur Anderson’s accounting firm, the new hedge fund debacle, the eviscerated retirement funds major corporations stole from long-term workers, AND the Enron/energy scandal in Cal… all were practice sessions for the biggest heist of all, the RAPE of our treasury on a war of adventurism to profit a small circle of oily friends, with calamitous results (carnage, waste, DUI, eventual karmic blowback, etc.) WOW!!!!! That such dangerous people have managed to take it all, while the media slept… or was complicit, ditto the people’s house, justice department, etc. It’s worse than an alien invasion. Muldaur, where are you when we need you?
Siouxrose, well put! Are you aware he now has passed another Executive order that allows him to forfeit the assets of American citizens for the very vague offense of “undermining stabilility in Iraq”? Hmmmm, I suppose being as he’s the only one that gets to “decide” what that means, any of us could have all of our assets seized for simply talking bad about his policies there…
The “War on Drugs” has been a joke since it’s inception, the only candidate that seems to admit this and want to talk about is Mike Gravel, I’ll be voting for him even if he is old as Methusala…
Fox and Dana have both been renditioned somewhere.
** Proud to be in the 8% **
SiouxRose AND nodupe:
Monica Lewinsky was sent in by AIPAC and MOSSAD …. she was never a Fed or CIA. Her loyalty is to Israel and PNAC masters. They could not risk a Gore presidency (911 in the wings), so they soiled Gore by association.
And yes, it will be Chicago…because my evil, Coulter-loving sister-in-law lives there.
RE: LEWINSKY, CIA/AIPAC PLANT? GUESS YOU HAVEN’T HEARD…
nodupe July 26th, 2007 8:32 am
“the CIA sent the agent Monika Lewinsky”
canardtahiti July 26th, 2007 11:03 am
“Lewinsky was sent in by AIPAC”
You are both wrong. Monica Lewinsky was abducted by aliens, and programmed to advance the corporate-led global warming of the planet for her alien masters who only thrive in hot, toxic ecosystems.
The CIA/AIPAC story is only what they want you to believe.
you guys make me laugh. i don’t know what to believe, but i won’t be surprised by anything……….i guess if a nuclear test on the bikini islands to see the outcome on humans was organized, well, yes, i suppose another one could happen in chicago in order to stop the MS13/wage war on iran or whatever other reason your delusional government invents. sounds a bit drastic though. however, if you are all arrested or have your houses/bank accounts seized etc. i’ll try to keep the CD going, if, that is, where i am in the gulf hasn’t been blown to smithereens.!!!!
To The Hague! To the Hague!
Siouxrose: As you know, I’m with you on the cannabis issue. I’ve posted elsewhere that I was a lawyer who was destroyed (all my property, including my 40-acre ranch, forfeited; loss of my license; 5 years in federal medical prisons; and loss of half my body weight from being unable to eat) because I dared to grow ten pounds of medical marijuana. These “drug” laws are designed to give the fascists a tool with which to beat those who disagree with them; it’s a sheep-control measure, nothing more.
And yet the Congress voted today to continue to permit the drug fascists to continue to hassle med-marijuana dispensaries in California. The drug war is a tool of oppression used to suppress minorities and dissidents of all types, and the korporatists will not let it be interfered with–too useful.
RSJ: I hope you are right, and that the institutions of the federal government are still intact enough to have the ability to resist the fascists when they decide to strike Iran. I fear you are wrong, though:
1.) The theofascists have been stacking the nuclear chain of command with fundo Christoids since the Reagan era in order that only those with “faith” will be in a position to follow the order to begin Armageddon;
2.) A recent report explicitly stated that the US had deployed nuclear weapons off the coast of Iran; and
3.) In any event, Avigdor Lieberman (the OTHER crazy neofascist Lieberman–this one in Israel) has stated that they will nuke Iran this year if the US doesn’t, which the US will supply logistical and backup support for, according to Sidney Blumenthal.
Plus, there was a recent report that the pre-strike order had been issued, and that the US Navy was prepared to attack with 24 hours’ notice.
So I’m not as sanguine that the world isn’t about to end. Of course, like I said, I hope you’re right, but I got my doubts…
Cannabis? Last year we went to Yosemite National Park, we were warned by park rangers to stay on the main roads and to avoid going anywhere into the wild areas. There are areas there where the Columbian and Mexican drug lords grow marijuana and they are guarded by armed men who do not hesitate to kill any who trespass. I do believe our National Guard troops are being sent to the wrong area of the world.
Welcome to America __ anyone who wants to walk in.__ ANYONE. That is a sad story Alamac, there are so many more like it.
RE: aabbcc July 25th, 2007 8:25 pm
Good to see someone else has been doing their homework about the Rummy and aspartame connection. You know between aspartame & depleted uranium Rumsfield might lay claim to being instrumental to the most fatalities in American history caused by one American worldwide. A sad lagacy. I’m ashamed to claim him as an American, but I really suspect that is actually a lie, and he is some sort of twisted deviant mutant sludge that somehow oozed here from outer space. By his actions he sure has proven he is sub-human, as are all his cronies from Bush on down.
For anyone interested (alamac, SiouxRose, coco, nodupe, claudius, laddy, canardtahiti, Rebel Farmer, etc)here is an interesting link I came across today. It’s a long read, but if you are like me the more I read the madder & madder I got:
http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de/background.htm
Ok folks, since all of you are aware of what’s going on now, what options do we have to save our country? A violent take-back of our government is just not an option (even with returning Iraq vets only giving Bush’s war policy a 38% approval rating I don’t believe we can trust them. They were propagandized before and bought the lie so why should we believe they won’t do so again?), events on the near horizon preclude us waiting until the next election (another ‘false flag’ 9/11 event to instill fear into the populace forcing them like sheep into line). If you take the time to read near the bottom of the link above you will understand the ‘fix’ is in with the MSM.
Two things here I would like to mention:
1) Expect to be rounded up and taken to the nearest cell (jail, prison, etc.) if a state of emergency is declared and you have been a vocal dissident of this regime. There are over 2 million people incarcerated presently in the US, and you better damned well believe they will release ALL criminals in them to make room for us, right?
2) Also, you should count on the internet to be siezed and shut down, to disrupt the people’s communication abilities. Probably the satellites for cell phone & phone communications also. Make sense?
Paul is making all of that up. It does not make a lick of sense Paul. It’s just radical spin spouted off by a few of the offspring of the long gone Hippies and those who thought John Lennon was Jesus. I was wathing Chris Matthews this afternoon and his program was cut off with a news break about Paris Hilton.
So there you go, nothing has changed, except when the bell rang for the closing of the stock market today, none of the people standing in front of the cameras were clapping their hands and smiling. All is well, forget what Paul has written here and don’t worry about a thing. Bush had his ass reamed out good last week and Cheney is having daily meetings with Nancy Pelosi.
Watch out, Evelyn, they might think you are a ‘plant’ from the radical right…those new to this site that is. LOL
The kid’s allright in my book, how about you, SiouxRose?
Tune in, turn off (TV) drop out.
You know I was joking Paul, hope everyone else does. When the black vans arrive at the ranch, I’ll turn the picture of Elenor Roosevelt around and Hang one of Bush and Cheney over the mantle, then meet them at the door wth a Bible in one hand and a stuffed elephant in the other.
I hung that picture of Elenor over the mantle for my boys years ago. Told em if they played with themselves, when they grew up they would look like her.
PAUL M SMITH, “The kid’s allright in my book, how about you, SiouxRose? I am not sure what this question refers to?
ALMANAC: Funny lawyer/cannibis story. THE (capitalized for a reason!) love of my life was an attorney who was INTO pot. We took off for a whirlwind honeymoon (of sorts) that led me out of the liberal lands of the Florida Keys into this Bible belt/North Florida/return of Christendom. He knew a guy that inherited a large plot of land with a number of modest cottages on it. The guy had a marijuana (equivalent of Chinese food) take-out drive-through business! When my lawyer love had legal dealings in that part of Florida and I’d accompany him (he always took me to cool springs and on lots of wild adventures! A true Renaissance man) we’d stay at this compound of cottages. He once said he realized he had to be careful as an “officer of the court” given the fact the place was known to local authorities as something of a “pot outpost.” A few years ago I drove by and it was sold to a developer… how things change. If any have been to the Keys, similar thing with the little enchanted row of houseboats when one entered the southernmost tip of the US via US 1… I was glad to live on one of those houseboats briefly. End of an era. As the Buddhists wisely relate, the only consistency is change, we delude ourselves on the notions of permanence in an all too impermanent world.
Interesting, SiouxRose.
Your story raises another point I have noticed: There is a complete disconnect with the official public attitude toward cannabis and the private feelings of individuals.
I work in East Texas, which is the most conservative part of the state (I am still in law, but as a legal analyst and documents writer rather than as a practicing attorney). The “official” position of all governmental and public figures is that cannabis is evil and not to be countenanced; yet practically everyone I know either smokes it (if only at parties) or at least privately sympathizes with me and my beliefs that it should be relegalized. All but a few of us are terrified to say so in public, but I have found not a single person who really believes the laws are just.
It’s the inertia of history. Cannabis has been so demonized that, even with full knowledge to the contrary, few are willing to speak the truth. And this tendency toward hypocrisy is evident in all areas of our political life, which is why it is so difficult to effectuate change–everyone is afraid to be the “first” to speak out. (”First they came for the hippies…”).
Interesting story about the houseboat & Florida lawyer too. Totally agree about change (I have some knowledge of Zen)–we are just Riders on the Storm…
paul smith,
thankyou for the link. will have to print to read. this should be lit up in the sky for the whole world to see.
Great article, PaulMSmith.
I was aware of most of the information, but I did not know that the justification that DU is the most useful and effective material for the purpose was also false. If tungsten can have as good an effect, then it is CRIMINAL to use DU.
But criminality is what the Bushthieves and their fascist running-dog lackeys are about, isn’t it?
SiouxRose “The kid’s allright” refers to kem Patrick aka Evelyn Smith who, as you well know by his hundreds of posts, has his head screwed on right (or should I say correctly since I truly believe anything to the right is wrong and the anything toward the left is right LOL).
Oh hell yeah! I’m an old Haight-Asbury hippie (’68-’72) and proud of it. There was a CommonDreams or Truthdig article that came out a couple months ago called “The Hippies Had It Right”, and there were a huge bunch of bloggers who posted. Great postings with stories and a lot of insight. There also is a pretty good book called “Hippies From A to Z” that is worth taking a look at.
I firmly believe that if our ‘evil twin’, the MSM hadn’t done the same nasty hateful ‘job’ on the hippies, as they do with progressives & today’s counterculture, we would live in a much more human/humane oriented society now.
Many of our causes at this time are the same issues we were fighting for & against then, but now they are mainstream issues. Conservation of our environment & respect for it, no wars, no nukes, no racism, green living, less corporate control over our lives, legal pot, love & caring for ALL life forms, sharing with the less fortunate, money as a tool for doing good things instead of a means of power over your fellow world citizens, ending hunger & miserable living conditions worldwide, disrespect for an intrusive corrupt government, activism for good causes, acting locally yet thinking globally, were all precepts of the hippie ‘ethic’, and we are all worse off for not taking them to heart as a moral guideline to live our lives by.
Yes, Bush is going down the tubes eventually, just like Nixon did. They are of the same hateful warped ideology & philosophy. As a student of history I still hold the belief that I have stated on numerous occasions, “From an historical perspective all tyrannies are temporary”. Realization of this concept, however, doesn’t make living through a tyranny any easier though. Also, with the advent of destructive forces such as DU, all out nuclear warfare, runaway climate change, and human species threatening biological weapons, there comes a time when we eventually come to the final tyrant who, by the eradication of our species on this planet, make their tyranny permanent.