I-69: Yet Another NAFTA Super-Highway by Jerome R. Corsi: "Another NAFTA Super-Highway is moving state-by-state from the planning stage to the funding and construction process. As listed on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration’s website, the “I-69 Corridor” is planned to connect Mexico and Canada through Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan.
Still, skeptics -- even congressmen and senators in the nine states where the I-69 corridor will be built -- continue to charge that any idea that NAFTA Super-Highways are being built are nothing more than “internet conspiracy theories . . .”
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Bring on the Gas
Bush Tells Group He Sees a 'Third Awakening' - washingtonpost.com:
"By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 13, 2006; A05
President Bush said yesterday that he senses a 'Third Awakening' of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation's struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as 'a confrontation between good and evil.'
Bush told a group of conservative journalists that he notices more open expressions of faith among people he meets during his travels, and he suggested that might signal a broader revival similar to other religious movements in history. Bush noted that some of Abraham Lincoln's strongest supporters were religious people 'who saw life in terms of good and evil' and who believed that slavery was evil. Many of his own supporters, he said, see the current conflict in similar terms . . ."
"By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 13, 2006; A05
President Bush said yesterday that he senses a 'Third Awakening' of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation's struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as 'a confrontation between good and evil.'
Bush told a group of conservative journalists that he notices more open expressions of faith among people he meets during his travels, and he suggested that might signal a broader revival similar to other religious movements in history. Bush noted that some of Abraham Lincoln's strongest supporters were religious people 'who saw life in terms of good and evil' and who believed that slavery was evil. Many of his own supporters, he said, see the current conflict in similar terms . . ."
How Chafee Won
Hotline On Call: How Chafee Won: "
Late last Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Dole hurried up to Sen. Lincoln Chafee on the floor of the Senate and put her foot down. You might lose this race, she told him, if you don’t put your best ads back up.
Chafee, gun-shy about the negative ads he knew Dole was referring to, relented, as he’s done innumerable times in the year and a half since it became clear that he’d face a primary challenge.
The next night, Rhode Island television viewers were once again treated to the sounds of Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey joking that old people should die off. They heard the charges that he had doctored his resume. The tag line: “Steve Laffey: Untrustworthy, unpredictable, unreliable.” And the most important part of the ad was the FEC-mandated ending. Lincoln Chafee approved this message. A contrast was drawn.
By Tuesday, six months worth of hard-hitting spots like these, many funded directly by the NRSC, had driven unfavorable perceptions of Laffey to scary heights among non-affiliated voters . . ."
Late last Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Dole hurried up to Sen. Lincoln Chafee on the floor of the Senate and put her foot down. You might lose this race, she told him, if you don’t put your best ads back up.
Chafee, gun-shy about the negative ads he knew Dole was referring to, relented, as he’s done innumerable times in the year and a half since it became clear that he’d face a primary challenge.
The next night, Rhode Island television viewers were once again treated to the sounds of Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey joking that old people should die off. They heard the charges that he had doctored his resume. The tag line: “Steve Laffey: Untrustworthy, unpredictable, unreliable.” And the most important part of the ad was the FEC-mandated ending. Lincoln Chafee approved this message. A contrast was drawn.
By Tuesday, six months worth of hard-hitting spots like these, many funded directly by the NRSC, had driven unfavorable perceptions of Laffey to scary heights among non-affiliated voters . . ."
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Another Take on Terrorism
James Wolcott: Repetition-Convulsion Syndrome: "'What has changed, grotesquely, is the aftershock,' Simon Jenkins writes in The Guardian, delivering a splash of cold reality. 'Terrorism is 10% bang and 90% an echo effect composed of media hysteria, political overkill and kneejerk executive action, usually retribution against some wider group treated as collectively responsible. This response has become 24-hour, seven-day-a-week amplification by the new politico-media complex, especially shrill where the dead are white people. It is this that puts global terror into the bang. While we take ever more extravagant steps to ward off the bangs, we do the opposite with the terrorist aftershock. We turn up its volume. We seem to wallow in fear."
Hurting the Enemy
As I've said before, the terrorists are not evil geniuses; they're just evil. If they could figure out a way to hit us, they would have. They want to kill us all. But there are miles to go before that goal is realized. The breach between intent and action is sometimes like the great gulf betwixt galaxies. Our job is to remain vigilant and offer them the fewest possible chances to render harm, while carrying our great civilization forward-- that, in the end, will be our victory, not some amorphous clouded banner raised above the din of a distant battlefield.
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: ". . .There's a good article in this month's Atlantic by James Fallows on where we stand in the War on Terror. It's a good semi-contrarian take on the question, the upshot of which is that over the last five years we've actually damaged al Qaida much more deeply than is commonly realized. With all the caveats about what can happen tomorrow, the consensus of the terrorism experts interviewed by Fallows was that al Qaida's ability launch 9/11 style attacks on the US has been very badly damaged. That's not widely understood or appreciated because it's not in either political party's interest to have this be known . . ."
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: ". . .There's a good article in this month's Atlantic by James Fallows on where we stand in the War on Terror. It's a good semi-contrarian take on the question, the upshot of which is that over the last five years we've actually damaged al Qaida much more deeply than is commonly realized. With all the caveats about what can happen tomorrow, the consensus of the terrorism experts interviewed by Fallows was that al Qaida's ability launch 9/11 style attacks on the US has been very badly damaged. That's not widely understood or appreciated because it's not in either political party's interest to have this be known . . ."
How To Win
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: ". . . The simple fact is that Bush's approach works. Any psychologist, advertiser or propagandist will tell you that people will be more receptive to your message if you soften them up emotionally first. The Republicans understand this, why don't the Democrats? If the Democrats are serious about re-taking power they need to stop complaining about what is acceptable in political discourse and start running ads with footage of people standing on rooftops in New Orleans, chaos in Iraq, and bin Laden still on the loose and remind the American people all of these things are Bush's fault. Republicans will go wild complaining that it is not fair and it politicizes tragedies. Let them."
ABC Flogs Itself
Democrat Taylor Marsh Blogs Politics:
". . . Max Blumenthal just blasted a beauty of a scoop.
On Friday, September 8, just forty-eight hours before ABC planned to air its so-called "docudrama," The Path to 9/11, Robert Iger, CEO of ABC's corporate parent, the Walt Disney Company, was presented with incontrovertible evidence outlining the involvement of that film's screenwriter and director in a concerted right-wing effort to blame former President Bill Clinton for allowing the 9/11 attacks to take place.
Iger told a source close to ABC that he was "deeply troubled" by the information and claimed he had no previous knowledge of the institutional right-wing ties of The Path to 9/11's creators. He reportedly said that he has commenced an internal investigation to verify the role of the film's creators in deliberately advancing disinformation through ABC. ... ...
What Kind of Liar?
Andrew Sullivan | The Daily Dish: "A reader writes:
Re: your comparison of Bush's and Clinton's lies. While you very appropriately pointed out the similarities between the two equivocators, the differences are just as instructive.
Clinton is the more intelligent, calculating, and verbally acrobatic of the two presidents, and he knew damn well that he was splitting hairs when he denied having sex with Monica Lewinsky. Somehow, I don't see Bush's remarks about torture in quite the same light. They are just as disconnected from the facts as Clinton's were, and probably have far more serious, long-term consequences than Clinton's sleazy evasions. But Bush does not have a black belt in semantics like Clinton did ; he isn't fudging facts, calculating consequences, chopping logic, or coolly hedging his bets based on the probability of having to defend his statement in court at some future date. I wish that were all he was doing. Instead, the man actually believes his own lies. He is seriously deluded and appears to be suffering from a god complex that allows him to shout things into and out of existence, ignore or violate existing laws, and ultimately be accountable only to himself . . ."
Re: your comparison of Bush's and Clinton's lies. While you very appropriately pointed out the similarities between the two equivocators, the differences are just as instructive.
Clinton is the more intelligent, calculating, and verbally acrobatic of the two presidents, and he knew damn well that he was splitting hairs when he denied having sex with Monica Lewinsky. Somehow, I don't see Bush's remarks about torture in quite the same light. They are just as disconnected from the facts as Clinton's were, and probably have far more serious, long-term consequences than Clinton's sleazy evasions. But Bush does not have a black belt in semantics like Clinton did ; he isn't fudging facts, calculating consequences, chopping logic, or coolly hedging his bets based on the probability of having to defend his statement in court at some future date. I wish that were all he was doing. Instead, the man actually believes his own lies. He is seriously deluded and appears to be suffering from a god complex that allows him to shout things into and out of existence, ignore or violate existing laws, and ultimately be accountable only to himself . . ."
KO Flogs ABC
Keith Olbermann delivers one of the best speeches of the new milleniumn and flogs ABC, too! What more could you ask for? The video of the speech: here.
Firedoglake - Firedoglake weblog: "Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space… and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.
Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11.
Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible — for anything — in his own administration.
Yet what is happening this very night.
A mini-series, created, influenced — possibly financed by — the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.
The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.
How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death… after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections… how dare you or those around you… ever "spin" 9/11. . . "
Firedoglake - Firedoglake weblog: "Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space… and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.
Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11.
Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible — for anything — in his own administration.
Yet what is happening this very night.
A mini-series, created, influenced — possibly financed by — the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.
The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.
How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death… after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections… how dare you or those around you… ever "spin" 9/11. . . "
Wrong on Iraq
Rockefeller: Bush Duped Public On Iraq, CBS News Exclusive: W.Va. Senator Says Invasion Unnecessary Even If Saddam Would Still Be In Power - CBS News: ". . .But after 2 1/2 years of reviewing pre-war intelligence behind closed doors, the lead Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, who voted for the Iraq War, says the Bush administration pulled the wool over everyone's eyes.
'The absolute cynical manipulation, deliberately cynical manipulation, to shape American public opinion and 69 percent of the people, at that time, it worked, they said 'we want to go to war,'' Rockefeller told CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. 'Including me. The difference is after I began to learn about some of that intelligence I went down to the Senate floor and I said 'my vote was wrong.''
Rockefeller went a step further. He says the world would be better off today if the United States had never invaded Iraq — even if it means Saddam Hussein would still be running Iraq . . . "
...another installment from the "No Kidding" Department.
'The absolute cynical manipulation, deliberately cynical manipulation, to shape American public opinion and 69 percent of the people, at that time, it worked, they said 'we want to go to war,'' Rockefeller told CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. 'Including me. The difference is after I began to learn about some of that intelligence I went down to the Senate floor and I said 'my vote was wrong.''
Rockefeller went a step further. He says the world would be better off today if the United States had never invaded Iraq — even if it means Saddam Hussein would still be running Iraq . . . "
...another installment from the "No Kidding" Department.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Yoo Clarifies
Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald: John Yoo summarizes the last 5 years in two short sentences: "John Yoo summarizes the last 5 years in two short sentences
Bob Egelko has an interesting article in The San Francisco Chronicle today examining how U.S. law has changed over the last five years as a result of the 9/11 attack. He includes this truly revealing quote from John Yoo:
UC Berkeley law Professor John Yoo, who as a Justice Department lawyer was one of the Bush administration's chief legal theorists, summarized its view in his forthcoming book, 'War by Other Means':
'We are used to a peacetime system in which Congress enacts the laws, the president enforces them, and the courts interpret them. In wartime, the gravity shifts to the executive branch.''
Actually, I'm pretty sure that it's always the case in America (or at least it used to be) that 'Congress enacts the laws, the president enforces them, and the courts interpret them.' That's pretty fundamental to how our country works. In fact, the whole structure of the Constitution is based on that system -- not just the 'Peacetime Constitution' we have, but the actual Constitution itself . . ."
Bob Egelko has an interesting article in The San Francisco Chronicle today examining how U.S. law has changed over the last five years as a result of the 9/11 attack. He includes this truly revealing quote from John Yoo:
UC Berkeley law Professor John Yoo, who as a Justice Department lawyer was one of the Bush administration's chief legal theorists, summarized its view in his forthcoming book, 'War by Other Means':
'We are used to a peacetime system in which Congress enacts the laws, the president enforces them, and the courts interpret them. In wartime, the gravity shifts to the executive branch.''
Actually, I'm pretty sure that it's always the case in America (or at least it used to be) that 'Congress enacts the laws, the president enforces them, and the courts interpret them.' That's pretty fundamental to how our country works. In fact, the whole structure of the Constitution is based on that system -- not just the 'Peacetime Constitution' we have, but the actual Constitution itself . . ."
Confederate Yankee: Day of Denial
Confederate Yankee: Day of Denial: "Day of Denial
Today more than any other in the past five years, the Left continues to reveal how much they despise the essence of America.
They continue to mock the moment when our President found out that a sneak attack broader in scope and scale than Pearl Harbor was under way. They mock him for showing the same shock and dismay we all felt. They mock him for being moved near to tears as the realization set in that thousands of innocent Americans were dead or dying and that he, the most powerful single man on the planet, was powerless to stop it.
They belittle our pain as a nation, as if only those who had direct friends and family die had a right to grieve, feel pain, or remorse, or anger and resolve.
They lash out against those who do remember what happened under that bright blue September sky, and preemptively lash out against those who would remember future attacks before they've even come to pass.
They refer to memorial services as pornography, and seek to belittle every remembrance, every solemn moment, every tear, every voice raised in anger . . ."
I can assure you, sir, that of the forty or so blogs I have prowled through today, not one person has blogged anything approaching your assertion. You, sir, are wrong. (And no, it doesn't mean a thing to find nasty remarks in comment threads because the bulk of those are posted by right-wing trolls and meat puppets. I'm talking about commentary that can actually be attributed to a living, breathing person.)
Today more than any other in the past five years, the Left continues to reveal how much they despise the essence of America.
They continue to mock the moment when our President found out that a sneak attack broader in scope and scale than Pearl Harbor was under way. They mock him for showing the same shock and dismay we all felt. They mock him for being moved near to tears as the realization set in that thousands of innocent Americans were dead or dying and that he, the most powerful single man on the planet, was powerless to stop it.
They belittle our pain as a nation, as if only those who had direct friends and family die had a right to grieve, feel pain, or remorse, or anger and resolve.
They lash out against those who do remember what happened under that bright blue September sky, and preemptively lash out against those who would remember future attacks before they've even come to pass.
They refer to memorial services as pornography, and seek to belittle every remembrance, every solemn moment, every tear, every voice raised in anger . . ."
I can assure you, sir, that of the forty or so blogs I have prowled through today, not one person has blogged anything approaching your assertion. You, sir, are wrong. (And no, it doesn't mean a thing to find nasty remarks in comment threads because the bulk of those are posted by right-wing trolls and meat puppets. I'm talking about commentary that can actually be attributed to a living, breathing person.)
Satire, Get It?
AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth: "
The lessons of September 11
by John in DC - 9/11/2006 01:31:00 PM
* The Constitution only applies when the going gets easy.
* War is the answer, even when you forget the question.
* The truth is for sissies.
* America has never faced an enemy as dangerous and as intent on killing us as [King George, the Civil War, World War I, the Germans, the Japanese, a nuclear Soviet Union] Al Qaeda.
* The real September 11 story was badly in need of editing.
* Just because they say it makes it so.
* We have always been at war with Oceania.
* A fool is born every election day.
* Due process is for the innocent.
* Patriotism means never having to say you're sorry.
* It's all Sandy Berger's fault."
The lessons of September 11
by John in DC - 9/11/2006 01:31:00 PM
* The Constitution only applies when the going gets easy.
* War is the answer, even when you forget the question.
* The truth is for sissies.
* America has never faced an enemy as dangerous and as intent on killing us as [King George, the Civil War, World War I, the Germans, the Japanese, a nuclear Soviet Union] Al Qaeda.
* The real September 11 story was badly in need of editing.
* Just because they say it makes it so.
* We have always been at war with Oceania.
* A fool is born every election day.
* Due process is for the innocent.
* Patriotism means never having to say you're sorry.
* It's all Sandy Berger's fault."
Familiar Problems at CDC
Exodus, morale shake CDC | ajc.com:
In this long, but illuminating, article about problems at one of America's most important government agencies, one concern stuck-out like a corpse in a chorus line:
". . .The lack of trust in CDC's top leadership is publicly reflected in dozens of postings on an independent CDC employee blog that began publishing on the Internet in January, as well as in a governmentwide poll of federal employees. Between 2002 and 2004, CDC employees who said the agency's leaders maintained high standards of honesty and integrity dropped from 51 percent to 45 percent.
'There is a disconnect between what is said is happening and what we see or feel is happening,' said Bob Keegan, creator of the blog www.cdcchatter.net, which he said gets about 30,000 hits a day. Keegan, deputy director of the CDC's Global Immunization Division, is a recipient of the agency's Watson Medal of Excellence, a top employee award. . ."
Does any of this sound vaguely familiar?
In this long, but illuminating, article about problems at one of America's most important government agencies, one concern stuck-out like a corpse in a chorus line:
". . .The lack of trust in CDC's top leadership is publicly reflected in dozens of postings on an independent CDC employee blog that began publishing on the Internet in January, as well as in a governmentwide poll of federal employees. Between 2002 and 2004, CDC employees who said the agency's leaders maintained high standards of honesty and integrity dropped from 51 percent to 45 percent.
'There is a disconnect between what is said is happening and what we see or feel is happening,' said Bob Keegan, creator of the blog www.cdcchatter.net, which he said gets about 30,000 hits a day. Keegan, deputy director of the CDC's Global Immunization Division, is a recipient of the agency's Watson Medal of Excellence, a top employee award. . ."
Does any of this sound vaguely familiar?
A Quart of Values To Go
Missoulian: Burns, Tester square off in front of packed house: "By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian
HAMILTON - Republican Sen. Conrad Burns told a boisterous crowd in Hamilton on Sunday that he's the candidate for U.S. Senate who is not “a lawbreaker.”
Members of the audience took offense and shouted “psycho” and booed as Burns claimed that Democratic Senate candidate Jon Tester has an illegal slush fund, has taken “unreported” trips to Taiwan, and made illegal phone calls to raise campaign funds.
The accusations came after Tester accused Burns of no longer representing Montana values. . ."
Montana values, eh? 'Round here all the pols yak about "mountain values," or the ever popular "North Carolina values." If a pol is campaigning in Brooklyn or some other urban environ, does he talk about "Booklyn values?" I'm just wondering. Are these values some sort of moral compass that all civilized people are supposed to possess, or are these values the special province of a few chosen people, you know, like God's, people?
I have yet to hear anyone talking about the apparently predominant set of values infecting the country today:pink flamingo wife-swapping meth-snorting white-trash wave-the-flag dodge-the-draft screw-your-neighbor moral relativism.
HAMILTON - Republican Sen. Conrad Burns told a boisterous crowd in Hamilton on Sunday that he's the candidate for U.S. Senate who is not “a lawbreaker.”
Members of the audience took offense and shouted “psycho” and booed as Burns claimed that Democratic Senate candidate Jon Tester has an illegal slush fund, has taken “unreported” trips to Taiwan, and made illegal phone calls to raise campaign funds.
The accusations came after Tester accused Burns of no longer representing Montana values. . ."
Montana values, eh? 'Round here all the pols yak about "mountain values," or the ever popular "North Carolina values." If a pol is campaigning in Brooklyn or some other urban environ, does he talk about "Booklyn values?" I'm just wondering. Are these values some sort of moral compass that all civilized people are supposed to possess, or are these values the special province of a few chosen people, you know, like God's, people?
I have yet to hear anyone talking about the apparently predominant set of values infecting the country today:pink flamingo wife-swapping meth-snorting white-trash wave-the-flag dodge-the-draft screw-your-neighbor moral relativism.
The Oration of Socration Bush
Hullabaloo: ". . .They did show the 'My Pet Goat' footage, but Ari and Andy helpfully explained that it was highly unusual for anyone to interrupt the president in the middle of a photo-op so it shows just how seriously they all took it.
We then learned that he was desperate to get back to the White House, saying immediately, 'I'm not gonna let some tin-horn [dictator] terrorist keep me outta Washington.'
They portray him as being very unusually voluble throughout that day --- in private, at least. Later, after he insisted that he take marine-one instead of a motorcade because he wanted to 'land at the white house' he looked down upon the smoldering pentagon and said to no one in particular, 'the mightiest building in the world is on fire --- this is the face of war in the 21st Century.'
Sure he did. "
Gasp! Do you mean, sir, that quotation doesn't sound like our most excellent and articulate leader, Socrates du Bush?
We then learned that he was desperate to get back to the White House, saying immediately, 'I'm not gonna let some tin-horn [dictator] terrorist keep me outta Washington.'
They portray him as being very unusually voluble throughout that day --- in private, at least. Later, after he insisted that he take marine-one instead of a motorcade because he wanted to 'land at the white house' he looked down upon the smoldering pentagon and said to no one in particular, 'the mightiest building in the world is on fire --- this is the face of war in the 21st Century.'
Sure he did. "
Gasp! Do you mean, sir, that quotation doesn't sound like our most excellent and articulate leader, Socrates du Bush?
Kids Speak of Their Presidential Reader
Attytood: The Emperor's New Clothes: How 2nd graders saw what the American media wouldn't report
". . .Not everyone was so surprised. In fact, the then-second graders that Bush read "The Pet Goat" to that morning clearly saw though the emperor's new clothes even while all the "grown-up" journalists did not. They realized that the ongoing attack had scared the living daylights out of their commander-in-chief: Here's what they say five years later:
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) - Tyler Radkey and other second-graders at Emma E. Booker Elementary School didn't know what to think when an aide leaned in and whispered something to President Bush on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
"His face just started to turn red," said Tyler, now 13 and in seventh grade. "I thought, personally, he had to go to the bathroom."
For a puzzling seven minutes, the youngsters read aloud from the story "The Pet Goat" while the shaken president followed along in front of the class, trying to come to grips with what he had been told - that a second plane had just hit the World Trade Center and the nation was under terrorist attack.
"He looked like he was going to cry," said Natalia Jones-Pinkney, now 12.
It's true what they say...from the mouths of babes. In fact, check out this stunning footnote:
Suddenly, the morning returned to the script. [then-Education Secretary] Paige spoke to the stunned room of the importance of reading.
"It was so surreal," Sarasota schools spokeswoman Sheila Weiss said. "Everyone in there wanted to get out and find out what was going on, but we couldn't leave."
Tonight, on national TV, and again and again in the coming weeks, Bush and Karl Rove and their minions will try to remind you about Bush's "leadership" on Sept. 11, 2001. When they do, just remember what the little children saw that morning.
The emperor had no clothes."
". . .Not everyone was so surprised. In fact, the then-second graders that Bush read "The Pet Goat" to that morning clearly saw though the emperor's new clothes even while all the "grown-up" journalists did not. They realized that the ongoing attack had scared the living daylights out of their commander-in-chief: Here's what they say five years later:
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) - Tyler Radkey and other second-graders at Emma E. Booker Elementary School didn't know what to think when an aide leaned in and whispered something to President Bush on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
"His face just started to turn red," said Tyler, now 13 and in seventh grade. "I thought, personally, he had to go to the bathroom."
For a puzzling seven minutes, the youngsters read aloud from the story "The Pet Goat" while the shaken president followed along in front of the class, trying to come to grips with what he had been told - that a second plane had just hit the World Trade Center and the nation was under terrorist attack.
"He looked like he was going to cry," said Natalia Jones-Pinkney, now 12.
It's true what they say...from the mouths of babes. In fact, check out this stunning footnote:
Suddenly, the morning returned to the script. [then-Education Secretary] Paige spoke to the stunned room of the importance of reading.
"It was so surreal," Sarasota schools spokeswoman Sheila Weiss said. "Everyone in there wanted to get out and find out what was going on, but we couldn't leave."
Tonight, on national TV, and again and again in the coming weeks, Bush and Karl Rove and their minions will try to remind you about Bush's "leadership" on Sept. 11, 2001. When they do, just remember what the little children saw that morning.
The emperor had no clothes."
The Big Hurt
The Smirking Chimp - News And Commentary from the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy: "It's a record of failure that would be laughable had it occured in a country on some other planet.
Faced with two severe tests of character and competence, one natural, one man-made, our unduly elected leader proved himself desperately unequal to the challenges.
Yet there he is, strutting through the less devastated parts of the Gulf Coast trying to convince Katrina's victims that they're not as bad off as they think, and flying around the nation trying to convince us that we're safer now than we were five years ago.
As if a lying idiot saying something makes it so. . ."
Faced with two severe tests of character and competence, one natural, one man-made, our unduly elected leader proved himself desperately unequal to the challenges.
Yet there he is, strutting through the less devastated parts of the Gulf Coast trying to convince Katrina's victims that they're not as bad off as they think, and flying around the nation trying to convince us that we're safer now than we were five years ago.
As if a lying idiot saying something makes it so. . ."
Osama Where Are U?
BobGeiger.com: "Five-Year 9/11 Anniversary Check Of The Osama Clock
Well, it has now been five years since our country was attacked on September 11, 2001 and exactly 1,820 days since George W. Bush (The Resolute One) said that he would get Osama bin Laden dead or alive.
Five years, and our nation is mired in a civil war in a country that did not attack us and that posed no threat to America. Five years and Al Qaeda now operates in more countries than it did when they attacked us, and their leader, the man that our Cowboy-in-Chief swore he would bring to justice, is still roaming free and podcasting threats to America.
So, as we ask every week -- but never more so than today -- Mr. Bush: Where's Osama?"
Well, it has now been five years since our country was attacked on September 11, 2001 and exactly 1,820 days since George W. Bush (The Resolute One) said that he would get Osama bin Laden dead or alive.
Five years, and our nation is mired in a civil war in a country that did not attack us and that posed no threat to America. Five years and Al Qaeda now operates in more countries than it did when they attacked us, and their leader, the man that our Cowboy-in-Chief swore he would bring to justice, is still roaming free and podcasting threats to America.
So, as we ask every week -- but never more so than today -- Mr. Bush: Where's Osama?"
Priorities
The Blog | Byron Williams: Had Enough? | The Huffington Post: ". . .Back in the mid-1990s, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, logged 140 hours of sworn testimony into whether former president Bill Clinton had used the White House Christmas card list to identify potential Democratic donors.
At last count, the House has managed to take only 12 hours of sworn testimony about the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Moreover, the 140 hours also exceeds the amount of time debating whether or not Congress should authorize the president with the use of force to preemptively invade Iraq. . ."
At last count, the House has managed to take only 12 hours of sworn testimony about the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Moreover, the 140 hours also exceeds the amount of time debating whether or not Congress should authorize the president with the use of force to preemptively invade Iraq. . ."
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