Monday, October 31, 2005
The Truth Will Out.
The Independent reports,
The Independent reports,
The Pentagon has admitted for the first time that it is keeping track of civilian casualties in Iraq. The figures, slipped into a bar graph in a lengthy report to the US congress this month, show that the daily number of Iraqi casualties has more than doubled in the past 18 months.Chances that George Bush or Dick Cheney have seen these numbers, zero. Reason for keeping these figures secret, your guess is as good as mine, but George Bush's poll numbers and his "accountability moment" last November might have something to do with it. Speaking of that "accountability moment" last November, am I the only one who's noticed a real lack of terror alerts since then? I mean there was that bogus NYC subway threat, and the Baltimore tunnel thing, but really I miss the bi-monthly terror alerts.
The report says that nearly 26,000 Iraqis have been killed or wounded.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
2015
As the Bush Admin. unravels in scandal and deception the deaths and injuries in Iraq continue. FOXNews.com reports that since Thursday (10/27/05) eight US soliders have died in Iraq.
As the Bush Admin. unravels in scandal and deception the deaths and injuries in Iraq continue. FOXNews.com reports that since Thursday (10/27/05) eight US soliders have died in Iraq.
The eight deaths raised to 2,015 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an AP count.On Thursday five soliders were killed and on Saturday three were killed with four wounded. The bloodshed continues with no end in sight and yet Bush remains un-Impeached for his crimes.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Let Them Eat Cake
The NYT reports that while FEMA staff were desperately emailing Michael Brown about the situation in New Orleans he was more concerned about where he would eat dinner that night. After receiving emails detailing how conditions in the Superdome were rapidly deteriorating,
The NYT reports that while FEMA staff were desperately emailing Michael Brown about the situation in New Orleans he was more concerned about where he would eat dinner that night. After receiving emails detailing how conditions in the Superdome were rapidly deteriorating,
Brown's press secretary wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. ''He needs much more that (sic) 20 or 30 minutes,'' wrote Brown aide Sharon Worthy.Sure sounds like Brown et al really took things seriously and did their best. Why couldn't Brownie just order in some pizza or eat out of the vending machine? That after three days of being told that the medical staff at the Superdome was running out of oxygen for patients and that toliet paper was running low, Brownie's immediate staff was more concerned about where to eat dinner is just criminal. Just criminal.
''We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you.''
Going Backwards
The Bush Family to the poor and the sickFUCK OFF The NYT has the details:
The Bush Family to the poor and the sickFUCK OFF The NYT has the details:
The Bush administration approved a sweeping Medicaid plan for Florida on Wednesday that limits spending for many of the 2.2 million beneficiaries there and gives private health plans new freedom to limit benefits. [. . .] "The state will set aside a specific amount of money for each person enrolled in Medicaid," based on the person's medical condition and historic use of health care.Just hope you don't suddenly develop a new medical condition, get hit by a car, get caught in a hurricane, etc. This is the first big step of the government (that is us collectively) washing our hands of responsibility for the poorest and sickest members of our communities. These folks are going to end up at emergency rooms (and not a few will be turned away). The end result is it will cost us more to "provide" them with health care via the emregency room than it would to actually provide real health care to them via Medicaid.
Of course if you are poor and sick (or poor because you're sick and don't have a trust fund) it's your own damn fault. You should have taken personal responsibility before you got sick and set up a medical savings accoount. Fuckers. Let's review, can't declare bankruptcy because of medical bills, college tution rising through the roof, health insurance costs skyrocketing and big corporations cutting benefits, gas and other energy prices soaring, and wages stagnent. Yep, we're doing well. Let's cut some more taxes!
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Tax Cuts at Work...
I sure hope the middle class is enjoying those tax cuts they didn't really get. tution rises across the board, again. At private schools average tution rose "5.9 percent [. . .] to $21,235." At public schools tution "rose 7.1 percent to $5,491," down from a 10.5 percent increase last year.
I sure hope the middle class is enjoying those tax cuts they didn't really get. tution rises across the board, again. At private schools average tution rose "5.9 percent [. . .] to $21,235." At public schools tution "rose 7.1 percent to $5,491," down from a 10.5 percent increase last year.
While tution increases at private colleges might not have a lot to do with Bush's tax give aways to the super wealthy, the increases we've seen over the past four years at public school tution has a lot to do with Bush's economic and tax policies. As states lose more and more federal aid, as more and more good paying manufacturing and other jobs are outsourced, and as more and more states are ruled by the GOP state university trustees and presidents are faced with increasing shortfalls in state contributions to support higher education. The result is increases in tution, fees, and other costs passed on to students. So much for Bush being "the education president." All of this is striking given Bush's dislike of "elite" private universities. You'd think he'd want to fund the public ones, but his masters on Wall Street are calling a different tune, which is driving the U.S. to win the race to the bottom.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Hecka Job Georgie, Hecka Job
Of course, Georgie doesn't pay attention to polls but some one in the White House does,
Of course, Georgie doesn't pay attention to polls but some one in the White House does,
President George W. Bush's job approval rating has fallen to a new low of 39 percent in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday.I'm sure Georgie thinks he's doing a bang up job. Oh, and things aren't much better for the Rubber Stamp Republican Congress,
48 percent of respondents said they preferred a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared with 39 percent who said they preferred Republican leadership.Looks like the GOP crony gravy train may be coming to an end sooner than later. In any event, the mid-term elections are still a year away so Georgie, Big Daddy Cheney, and Money Bags DeLay can still appoint some cronies and extort and launder more cash before they head off to some undisclosed location.
Miers
Monday, October 10, 2005
From Sugarland to Crawford to Baghdad
The corruption goes on and on. The New York Times reports that billions of dollars went missing.
The corruption goes on and on. The New York Times reports that billions of dollars went missing.
Iraq has issued arrest warrants against the defense minister and 27 other officials from the U.S.-backed government of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi over the alleged disappearance or misappropriation of $1 billion in military procurement funds, officials said Monday.No wonder Bush and his cronies didn't want those Iraq reconstruction bills to have any auditing or oversight. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised to see some of that money in a Swiss bank account under Cheney's name, or Georgie's, or Rice's, or DeLay's. Or maybe some of it even found its way into the RNC slush accounts that keep the Republican Party going.
A Fatality a Day +
February 2004 was the last time the U.S. military averaged less than a fatality a day in Iraqi. In fact, February 2004 is the only month since March of 2003 that the U.S. military ever experienced less than a fatality a day. Just think about that for a moment. Almost twenty months of "turning the corner," "momentary uptick in violence," "last throes," etc.
February 2004 was the last time the U.S. military averaged less than a fatality a day in Iraqi. In fact, February 2004 is the only month since March of 2003 that the U.S. military ever experienced less than a fatality a day. Just think about that for a moment. Almost twenty months of "turning the corner," "momentary uptick in violence," "last throes," etc.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
The Killing Continues...
21 Dead Soliders, Marines, Airmen, etc. As the Bush smoke and mirrors campaign continues here in the States the blood continues to flow in Iraq. It must be because the insurgency is in its last throes or something. Or maybe it's because democracy is messy. Or maybe it's because those terrorists hate freedom. Or maybe it's because George Bush is a fucking idiot.
21 Dead Soliders, Marines, Airmen, etc. As the Bush smoke and mirrors campaign continues here in the States the blood continues to flow in Iraq. It must be because the insurgency is in its last throes or something. Or maybe it's because democracy is messy. Or maybe it's because those terrorists hate freedom. Or maybe it's because George Bush is a fucking idiot.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
The Conservation President
Washington Post reports that the smoke and mirrors program of encouraging energy conservation by consumers is picking up steam. Meanwhile the same report points out
Washington Post reports that the smoke and mirrors program of encouraging energy conservation by consumers is picking up steam. Meanwhile the same report points out
The Energy Department has not kept up with reviews of efficiency standards for residential and commercial appliances that could result in changes that decrease energy consumption. For years, the Energy Department has missed legally mandated deadlines to review a number of efficiency standards and determine whether to strengthen them. The administration is continuing to push for expanding domestic energy supplies by drilling for oil and natural gas in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.Makes BushCo's claim that "conservation has long been part of Bush's agenda" ring pretty hollow. Drilling for oil and giving large sums of money to multi-national energy companies "has long been Bush's agenda." During the 2000 election Bush made fun of those funny hybrid cars, his Energy Dept. has failed to do it's legal duty under laws passed by the Congress of the United States, and yet he still claims to have an "energy policy" that includes conservation. Bush with his limited imagination has failed to grasp one of the important lessons of the ongoing hurricane season, which is being dependent on fossil fuels is an economic liability. Real leadership would have seen this five years ago and proposed an energy policy that sought to diversify our energy infrastructure.
Oh, and the same Washington Post article notes that the average family will pay 19% more in energy costs in 2006 than in 2004. I'm not real good at math but that's almost $800. That's roughly half of what Bush claimed "the typical family with two children" would save in taxes under his give away to the rich in 2001. Add increasing college tution at most state schools and you're pretty much back to zero. So much for those tax cuts the middle class and working class didn't really get. All of this is the result of policy choices made by George Bush and the Rubber Stamp Congress--or maybe George Bush is the rubber stamp since he's never vetoed a bill in nearly five years.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Values.
Values.
Values.
A Texas grand jury today indicted U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on a new charge of money laundering.This is a different grand jury than the one that indicted DeLay last week. GOP, it's all about values. This is the GOP George Bush leads. George Bush has called DeLay a great friend and has "looked" into his soul and found it "good." We should be very worried about George Bush's ability to discern the character of anyone, let alone the qualifications of anyone for any position of any kind.
Bush Nominates Crony for Supreme Court
Bush names Hariet Miers, White House counsel as his pick for the vacant Supreme Court seat. Another crony. Just what we need, someone more loyal to George Bush than to the Constitution. She's never been a judge. She has worked for George Bush in some capacity since 1995. She has very little public record. Based on George Bush's track record on assessing the character and competency of the people he's appointed to other posts I don't think we can give him a pass on this nomination. Let's review the types of folks George Bush thinks were qualifiied for a top post in his administration, Mike Brown, Don Rumsfeld, Bernard B. Kerik, John Ashcroft, etc. Loyalty over qualifications. Loyalty to George Bush should not be the most important attribute in a Supreme Court nominee. This is clearly the pick of a man of little courage, imagination, and intellect. We've borne the brunt of Bush cronies for the past five years, we can't bear one on the Supreme Court.
Bush names Hariet Miers, White House counsel as his pick for the vacant Supreme Court seat. Another crony. Just what we need, someone more loyal to George Bush than to the Constitution. She's never been a judge. She has worked for George Bush in some capacity since 1995. She has very little public record. Based on George Bush's track record on assessing the character and competency of the people he's appointed to other posts I don't think we can give him a pass on this nomination. Let's review the types of folks George Bush thinks were qualifiied for a top post in his administration, Mike Brown, Don Rumsfeld, Bernard B. Kerik, John Ashcroft, etc. Loyalty over qualifications. Loyalty to George Bush should not be the most important attribute in a Supreme Court nominee. This is clearly the pick of a man of little courage, imagination, and intellect. We've borne the brunt of Bush cronies for the past five years, we can't bear one on the Supreme Court.