Things can only get better after Bush.

He has been a horror infested nightmare for the whole world.

When the USA let his group steal the presidency from Al Gore, they took the world to hell.

Exactly where was the "loyal opposition" while BushCo was destroying any semblance of common sense, decency and democracy that was left in this nation?

This is something that should be used against ALL republicans running in 08

BTW Beth, thanks for ruining my otherwise perfectly crappy day. ;)

Whomever is elected president will have to spend the first days of their term in office just revoking all the damage you know Dubya, Cheney, & Co. will do as the door is about to hit them on the ass.

Fine chronology, but a few biggies were inadvertantly left out.

Late January, 2001 - White House succeeds in getting acquiescence of all major telecommunications companies except Qwest to permit National Security Agency to install technology to seize all domestic electronic communications for later retrieval by the spy agency, with or without judicial warrants. (Source - whistleblowers and discovery in pending civil litigation that Bush now seeks to have Congress declare immunized from remedy in federal courts).

Mid-October, 2001 - Through Secretary of State Colin Powell, White House rejects Taliban regime's offer to oust Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri from Afghanistan and transfer them into custody of some other neutral Muslim state, on grounds United States will not get involved in lengthy diplomatic negotiations, Bush/Cheney preferring instead to declare Osama and Mullah Omar both to be wanted dead or alive, and to proceed with bombing and bribery campaign.

Late November, 2001 - John Yoo, Jay Bybee, David Addington and others draft and submit secret legal memos to AG "Fredo" Gonzales, creating bizarre legal concepts of unitary executive branch under US Constitution, and enemy combatant and torture lite under federal and international law.

December, 2001 - White House and Pentagon secretly begin redeployment of military assets and troops from Afghanistan/Pakistan border to Persian Gulf staging areas nearer Iraq, while President Bush personally urges Richard Clark to again fly speck classified national security records for evidence of any connection between Saddam, Osama, and the 9/11 attacks.

Bill from Saginaw

I agree with NateW. Who the hell would want to be President after Bush? One would have to spend all four years cleaning up the mess Bush has left behind. One starting point might be spraying air freshener in the Oval Office to get rid of the sulphur smell!

.....all the repugs are potentially as scary.
Skull and bones Kerry is working to marginalize our last best hope in order to further ketsup futures.
Hang in there John Edwards.

It may even take longer than four years to clean up, if it can be cleaned up at all!

All Republican candidates and those in Congressional offices supported these policies lock stock and barrell. This list should be offered to all of them if seeking reelection this season. Those who supported this should never be allowed to forget their rubber stamp.

Hi Bill--It was Ashcroft, not Gonzales, in 2001.

A few days back you asked a question about USN commo on high seas. This item explains quite a lot and adds much more, http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA15Ak02.html

Cleaning-up after Bu$hCo should be very simple: pass a bill declaring ALL legislation and executive orders since 20 JAN 2001 null and void and declassified. Write a new budget, followed by a new energy bill, etc.

The "goodness" of the next administation ought to be measured by the amount of gutting it does to the overall neocon agenda and the rapidity with which it opens ALL administrative archives to citizens.

MS. QUINN & BIll from Saginaw: Thank you for the concise list. One loses track of all the sins of omission and comission committed by the criminals in charge of the "high" house & treasury.

Long after Bush is gone the United States of Empire will continue stomping all over the world in their IRON HEELs. George can watch the carnage on CNN in Crawford.
Hoa binh

There is no reason to be complacent about whoever it may be that succeeds George Bush and Dick Cheney. There is in fact every reason to think that the same essentially corporate fascist trend will continue and worsen in this country. The mainstream party politics is all corrupted by the campaign financing system. All the serious reforms that the country so badly needs now such as moving to a non-for-profit single payer health care system will be blocked by the entrenched and corrupt special interests. The democrats and repugs are both in the pockets of those corrupt interests so they too are major obstacles to change. Only when the country falls into a deep recession (as it seems likely to do soon) may enough people awaken to the catastrophe that has happened here in the past few decades. Without a massive change of consciousness in the American masses, nothing serious will change here, only window dressing pseudo-reforms which won't correct the problems.

Poor Beth Quinn--After the Shrub retires on 01/20/09 she won't have anything else to write about. Beth, have you noticed the collection of clowns vying to replace Bush/Cheney? Have you considered the do nothing but roll over and play dead Democratic congress that has held forth this past year? There is plenty more wrong with the US than just Dubya and the sneering Cheney.

Like his political godfather, Hitler, Dubya couldn't have done what he has done without the full-fledged support of Wall Street, the military establishment, and a people hungry for all the consumption that can be shoved down their overfed throats.

Yes, if we can just survive for one more year, we may be able to escape the 1994 Republican "Contract ON America".

I have my champagne bottle ready for 2009 when we are outta this hell. As much as most of the candidates suck in the current election I'll take most of em over the chimp.

Kucinich, Gravel, Richardson, Edwards, Paul. None of these men will be the next president. Of those who have an actual chance to achieve the office, none will substantially change anything. The regime of George Wanker Bush has been a monumental turning point in the history of this country. It makes no difference which two-bit jerkoff, Republican or Democrat, takes the oath of office 12 months from now. The United States will continue to shuffle heedless and half-assed toward the edge of the cliff. After that, it's 500 feet straight down to the sharpest rocks in creation. Why is this happening? Because, as Scott Ritter said, Americans no longer act as citizens, only consumers. The truth about what has happened, and what is happening, to this country is readily available, if only one takes the time to find out. Most people don't give a fat free flying fuck.

There's a Bush in your future.

Good Morning America...I see where Bushco is on a "peace mission" to Middle Eastern countries...like the rest of his BS and lies, it should be labeled as a "war mission" to attack Iran...and he states that he does not agree with the NIE's assessment that Iran stopped its nuclear program in 2003...his "gut opinion" is that he is the decider and will ignore the NIE assessment...looks like more lies similar to Iraq...now racheting up the lies to attack Iran..
For all you Democrats (Pelosi, Reid, and others) now is the time to begin impeachment proceedings against Cheney and Bush...to the statement that "impeachment is off the table" I would say to place it immediately upon the table...How much more damage can Bushco do the the time they have left in office??? They can inflict a hell of a lot of damage...Democrats & Republicans, get organized and stop these madmen from furthering their lying agenda. The latest is that they are hell bent on attacking Iran..their paper thin explanation of those Iranian speed boats sounds again like the Gulf of Tonkin deal...and look where that got us!! Stop these fools in their tracks!!!

The question will be, and I think we need to already start asking it now, why Hillary or Obama in the White House, plus a Democratically controlled Congress, will probably not prosecute a single one of these scoundrels.

So long as Democrats let the shadow government (or whatever it is) run amok, we are compelled to conclude that Dems are in cahoots. Their job is to make us feel good while the nastiness goes on, whether in office or out of office.

Karloff1 -

You're right - Alberto was White House counsel in 2001, not Attorney General until after the 2004 election when John Ashcroft decided not to return.

In late December '01, Yoo, Addington, Bybee and others were deliberately routing their sophistry around the possible prying eyes of the career lawyers in the Justice Department and State Department in order that torture, rendition, and domestic warrantless surveillance by NSA could all be denominated "legal" by the Bush White House, under the neo-cons' whacky view of what is arguably lawful. For all his faults, John Ashcroft later on refused to sign off on the wiretapping program while lying on his hospital bed.

Thanks for the link to the timely article from Asia Times. But it still doesn't explain why the US Navy doesn't identify itself as the US Navy.....

Bill from Saginaw

The "hope" for America is that we elect Barack Obama, John Edwards or Hillary Clinton. That's it this time around, and I do "hope" earnestly for one of them to take the reigns. The alternatives available in another Republican are not good.

Do you really think that these fascist Neocons are just going to fade away?? They've worked too hard to get where they are. Bush is just the front-man for something that is WAY bigger than just his two-term presidency. It's not his administration that's in control here. He's just a puppet.
Don't expect miracles. He/they still have a year. A lot can happen in the next year that could completely reshape this anticipated election. Look for another BIG event.
Don't put your party hats on just yet.
(hope I'm wrong)
~Peace

Great posts all. Too bad you can't have much say in government. But there is direct democracy...

Perhaps our optimism and enthusiasm for "change" as we come to the end of the Bush regime is just a positioning for another stage in the extension of our exploitation of the world. This article below looks at one scenario that may be in the works by our elite masters to postpone the worst short term pain for us in America, while positioning us for the longer term exploitation of the remaining assets of the South. We are very clever at figuring out how we can stay at the top of the pile, without experiencing any sense of guilt over the bloody cost it will have to others in the world.

PEAK CAPITALISM? A COMMENTARY

By Richard Moore
1/13/08

"...Now that the capitalist growth paradigm has collided with the immovable barrier of the Earth's finite resources, a bold new strategy is required in order to keep the engines of the Industrial North running. And once again that strategy will be based on finding a way to more systematically exploit the resources of the Global South. The time has come, evidently, to take a 'final solution' approach to that exploitation. ..."

http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=545#more-545

The fact that there are 372 LONG days left in this administration says a lot about the effectiveness of the Democratic party. How much more damage can the Bush administration of malformed turds do in 372 days?

It is interesting too about how the campaigns of any candidate who would remotely rock the establishment boat (Kucinich, Gravel, Paul, Edwards) have been marginalized.

It appears to me that right now Edwards is the only one left who has a remote chance. He is the only Dem who has a) anything of substace to say and b) a chance of winning. The others have one, or the other or Neither!

I have already voted for Edwards in the California Primary (we have early voting in Riverside County). I'm afraid that with any of the other "Big 3" being elected it will just be more of afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable.

For me it's Edwards now and for the nomination or the Green Party in November. Go John!

Hi Bill--Yeah, the reason must be inferred from the evidence given, the UNSC resolution that provided the fig-leaf okay for the invasion and occupation is the source of the term "coalition forces." I found the article and Law of the Sea quite interesting WRT Iran's choices for action. The most irritating would be for the straits to be "defended" by a submarine net. I'm sure you noted that for a US vessel to fire on an Iranian vessel of any sort would be enough reason to deny the US passage for ANY of its vessels through the straits, which has already happened, as ALL US vessels are considered "guests" inside Iranian waters.

"DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!" The powers that be aren't about to let go of their control over us. I am sorry to burst your bubble, but since it looks like Bush/Cheney will avoid impeachment, I see nothing but grim scenarios for this election cycle. There could be a military coup instead of an election, or else the election would be rigged (like before), or the current administration would be replaced by another (just as corrupt) front group, which is mere window dressing.

By all means, break out the champagne. And use it to drink yourself stupid.

These people show no signs that they are going anywhere just because November 2008 comes around. These people are passing the most obscene laws in secret right now about declaring the US a police state in the event of a bird flu epidemic, of all things. Does it sound like they are planning a bioterrorist attack on their own people to anyone else??

I think they have NO INTENTION of giving up one ounce of power in November. Fascist dictatorships do not let themselves be voted out. The whole 'election' process is nothing more than a charade.

Truthseeker58, after 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, nothing would surprise me. And yes, all of the infrastructure for the implementation of martial law is in place, and could be triggered not only by bioterror, but by economic disaster, which we may be seeing in the making.

It wasn't all bad in '01:

Aug 11 - Bush cut brush with a chainsaw on his phony ranch.

Aug 13,15,18 + 20 - Bush road his bike.

"Sept. 11: Terrorists organized by bin Laden crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing thousands."

Objection.
Assumes facts not in evidence --- and there's a hell of a lot of evidence to call this conclusion into question.
An accusation isn't proof no matter HOW often you repeat it.

Indeed, one of the best propaganda tricks is to insinuate a bit of misinformation into a large amount of information known to be true, thus giving the misinformation the appearance of truth "by association."

Liberty & Justice,

SJ

www.spartacusjones.com

Bu$h the inferior has immortality as the worst president. I want to tell him: NO FURTHER EFFORT IS REQUIRED. HISTORY WILL PUT YOU IN A CLASS BY YOURSELF. PLEASE GO BACK TO YOUR RANCH AND RELAX. YOUR PLACE IS SECURED.

Bush Backs Expulsion of 50 Russians - Washington Post (Mar 23, 2001)

Russia Calls Expulsions by U.S. Hostile Act and Vows to Retaliate - NY Times(Mar 23, 2001)

Mounting U.S.-Russia Spy Scandal Recalls Cold War - Reuters (Mar 22, 2001)

Moscow Says Remarks by U.S. Resurrect 'Spirit of Cold War' - NY Times(Mar 21, 2001)

Moscow attacks Washington's "Cold War attitudes" - BBC (Mar 20, 2001)

Bush Says Russia Not Enemy But Could Be Threat - Reuters (Mar 13, 2001)

U.S. policies pushing China, Russia closer - Honolulu Advisor ( May 7, 2001)

Bush attacks China's 'Iraq role'- BBC(Feb 23, 2001)

US says will not negotiate Taiwan arms package with China - AFP(Mar 21, 2001)

China warns Bush over Taiwan - BBC(Mar 6, 2001)

North Korea Lashes Out at U.S., Says It Risks War - Reuters (Mar 19, 2001)

North Korean media slams US 'warmongers' - BBC(Mar 16, 2001)

North Korea Turns Up the Heat; Calls U.S. a Nation of Cannibals - NY Times(Mar 15, 2001)

N. Korea move said to be reply to Bush - Boston Globe (Mar 14, 2001)

N.Korea Says Hard-Line U.S. Policy Could Spark War - Reuters(Apr 19, 2001)

US renews Iran sanctions - BBC(Mar 14, 2001)

Moscow defies US with Iran arms deal - The Times (UK) (Mar 13, 2001)

Asia slams Bush on global warming - CNN(Mar 29, 2001)

US facing climate isolation - BBC(Mar 29, 2001)

Bush emissions policies upsetting allies abroad - Boston Globe(Mar 29, 2001)

Anger at US climate retreat - BBC(Mar 29, 2001)

Bush kills global warming treaty - The Guardian(Mar 29, 2001)

it will be more than a year until bush goes- the world can't wait that long. they must be removed immediately. and what was it about those pathetic make believe democracy events in Iowa and new hampshire that gave you hope? the worst thing about life in the u.s. is not bushco. it is the spineless surrender of- not just the congress- but the public. what can we reasonably expect in the future? somebody needs to stand up and holler "there is no war on terror! it's all lies! 'our troops' are not fighting (and dying) for their country- they are dying for bush's lies.

If Bush and Cheney leave office next year and they...
1. Fail to declare a 'state of emergency' or 'martial law'

2. Don't detain U.S. citizens in those new Halliburton detention centers...
http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm#14

3. Fail to seize the property of anti-war activists, given the authority of NPSD 51...
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6377

4. Fail to lock down the internet, with the help of AT&T etc.

5. Don't start imprisoning political opponents and 'constitutionalists' who oppose them.

Then, yeah, let's throw a huge party. As for me, I'm not getting my hopes up.

I disagree with anyone who says Neo-cons leaving isn't a huge win for progressives. It's true that when Neo-cons leave, corporate America will still control the country... but only Neo-cons are crazy enough to use the U.S. military and security contractors against its own citizens for political purposes. I think Democrats are just as corrupt, but they just don't have the nerve or resources(crazy right-wing support) to declare martial law.

Every left-leaning American should consider themselves lucky IF we survive Bush and Cheney, and we don't need to flee the country for our lives beforehand. Maybe I'm a little pessimistic... but after 7 years of this, who isn't?

Why are we to believe that the neocons are leaving? Obama supported Liebermann over Lamont in CT, and has courted AIPAC (or vice-versa) at speeches.

There will be only neocons on the ballot at the top of the "two" corporate parties in '08. The MSM fix is in.

Problem is, Clinton could have a nice little list of his own of not just inaction on progressive causes, but actually undertaking extremely regressive measures himself.

I am with RichM, once again. Bush leaves but the system remains in tact ... Can't say I won't smile and cheer the day he leaves, if only for my own sanity

****************BREAKING**************

Kucinich won the lawsuit!!! Judge ordered that Kucinich was to debate on NBC in Nevada tomorrow or debate would be canceled!!! WAHOOOOO...

It means another year of a megalomaniac, war crime infested administration that are as predictable as rabid dogs. Another collapsing economy due to the subprime mortgage scam, just like the dot com hype and scam. I just waiting for the new 'new pearl harbor' as 911 served to distract the country from Wall Street corruption...the next one will be to end democracy in order to serve the globalist masters.

It may be Bush's last year but I hope it's not the year he escapes Impeachment. We still have a lot of work to do before the next inauguration. Will we just let him 'slip' away? I hope not.. god I hope not.

BuShit INC. - Swatchstickar with an tilted S symbol and a $ superimposed on it, won't be leaving office. Election canceled. Must not let an Election at home interfere with export of Demon-crazy to the world dominated by evil leaders who won't give their resources to U.nitary S.tatesman of A.llearth.
.
The Lemmings and Ostriches both vote more money for the occupations. But, the Investment will pay off won't it? Finders Keepers. We get to Keep the Oil we found there, right? Maybe another country will supply the Oil for free. After iWreck, maybe he can iRan another into being a wonderful friend. There is always a chance they'll just hand over the oil, right? Finders Keepers, so it's our Oil, just happens to be under the land we've loaned to them and they have not paid us for yet. So we're just foreclosing on what they owe us.
--
Off-soapbox

Bush is worried about his legacy. Well he does have a legacy: He will go down as the man who ruined this country. We will never be the same again.

Shrub's legacy is that he will go down as the worst President in American History!

As a transplanted West Virginia resident, originally from Pennsylvania, I don't agree with everything Robert Byrd has done or said as a legislator. But the day we invaded Iraq, he said "Today I weep for my country." This simple, poignant statement speaks volumes.

It's not just the war, of course; it's the dismembering of environmental protections, the damage done to our international reputation, the lies about almost everything, the shredding of the constitution, the suppression of the media, and a host of other atrocities. The list just goes on and on.

I have grave doubts, just as many other posters here do, that America can recover from this devastation. Clinton and Obama seem like poor choices for bringing democracy back from the brink of distinction. They both appear to be corporate shills, especially if the Bill Clinton presidency and Obama's rhetoric about non-partisanship are any indication. Edwards might be better, and he at least addresses the economic woes of everyone but the elite in this country.

Kucinich most closely reflects the needs of America, and he's so marginalized by the media and the other candidates, he can't get his voice heard.

I fervently hope I am wrong and one of the democratic candidates will rise above the corporatocracy - and impending theocracy - to save what's left of this great experiment. In the meantime, today, like every day, I weep for my country.

LEE ANN G: MY sentiments, exactly. Thank you for articulating them so eloquently.

Kind of reminds me of my college days. Albany was a thriving LIBERAL arts State University, until NYC became the thriving business center of the present interval of unleashed global corporate capitalism without conscience. Now the school mostly turns out business clones. Americans with power see their government as just another corporation that requires a pro-business CEO. There is no sense of the sacred in difficult things to measure like human beings and their contributions to other than materialism and its conversion into dollars; nor is there even the scantest respect for the myriad gifts that not only enhance but sustain our existence, unpaid contributions of Gaia/Mother Earth. With such short sightedness the high tech beast that represents the nation goes about devouring everything, and destroying much within its path. AS if this modus operandi considers that which would prove sustainable for citizens. It is a cancer, indeed, and Bush is born under that sign, as is our July 4 nation. The metaphors are too profound to JUST dimiss as coincidental.

Sometimes I play a little mind game with myself. It's just a little exercise to help my sanity when my mind drifts off into thinking about various acts this totally criminally insane administration have committed against Americans and other world citizens.

In the game I imagine I am in a position face-to-face with Bush, and try to think up wording that would refund him with the pain & remorse he is due. My jabs start out using reason regarding acts & crimes he has committed, but soon degenerate into little more than profane cursing when I realized his snake thick skin is impervious to complaints dealing with morals & ethics. At this point I rationalize this is an effort in futility because psychotics have no sense of remorse, conscience, or decency that sane people do.

Pushing past this point I have a choice to make:

1) Is Bush really just a very sick person, doesn't know what he is doing to others, and needs some sort of professional care?

2) Is he really as evil as his deeds portray, knows what he is doing, but enjoys seeing people blow up like the frogs he used to torture & kill with firecrackers?

3) Do #1 & #2 both apply?

I know, I know, this is a sick little excercise in futility, and a bit juvenile also, but it does serve the intended purpose. The choice I invariably turn toward is #2, which rekindles my anger. For America's sake I think we all need to keep this fire burning within ourselves until the opportunity is created (by us) to force the ship of state into drydock for much needed repairs & revovations.

Am I seeking revenge? Perhaps, but is it any different from the revenge society imposes on those sitting in jail for other criminal acts? No. The one thing that completely grabs me by the short hairs is the thought of many of these monsters slithering away into obsure hiding, like many of their brethren, the Nazis, did after WWII...and with billions of our money to boot. This is completely un-acceptable, so I will continue my little mind game until justice is done.

PAUL MAGILL SMITH: I believe the quest for JUSTICE is inborn to intelligent human life. Vengeance is retaliation, but justice says: let's set the record straight and more closely approximates the HIGH work of those who served on South Africa's Councils on Truth and Reconciliation. When truth and justice are brought to life they satisfy the hope that such travesties will not be furthered again against innocent human beings; and thus nullify any need for vengeance. Those who STILL would seek revenge are in need of their own spiritual interior house-cleaning.