|
George Bush 
Sun Jul 10, 2011 at 09:58:49 AM MST
|
( - promoted by Fong)
This is obviously a (non-economic) policy and political fight that Republicans are lying about (do they stay on message, or what?) and for which Democrats can't figure out the slightest counter message.
This, from House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson is decent, but rare: "The American people get it. They are weary of the theater and the political drama because they understand that it is their pensions, their savings, their mortgages and their 401Ks that the Republicans are playing with. This shouldn't be about who's going to be the next President or who's going to control Congress, it should be about who's going to protect their savings, their mortgages and their 401Ks in this crisis. Republicans continue to hold in disregard Americans true needs: jobs and financial security.
"For the sake of the nation, it's time to forget the politics and vote a clean debt ceiling increase, as was done seven times for President Bush." What Democrats don't get is that every time you see John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor or any one of the other lying Republicans talk about this they say the same exact thing and forcefully lay the blame at Barack Obama's feet.
The sheer incompetence of our employees on our side is staggering. It adds insult to injury, and I hope it leads to a massive refudiation of the Democratic Party Establishment, because they are failing massively before our very eyes.
|
|
Discuss
:: (2
Comments)
|
|
Fri May 27, 2011 at 10:30:37 AM MST
|
( - promoted by Fong)
Republicans never have a failure they can't rationalize or try to blame on someone else. That's why they call(ed) themselves the party of "personal responsibility", eh? And a two-bit partisan like Michael "Heckuvajob" Brownie, who was a key player in one of the saddest failures of our government and leaders (right after that 9/11 thing) would never miss a chance to try to make people forget his miserable tenure at FEMA and try to drag President Obama down to the Bush League:[Former FEMA Director Michael] Brown evidently thinks he has the moral authority to condemn Obama's handling of the tornado disaster. In an interview with Fox New's Neil Cavuto, Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" Brown blasted Obama for "playing ping-pong" while people died and "being more concerned with toasting the Queen" than taking care of tornado victims:
BROWN: In this situation, they're almost tone-deaf. I mean, you stop and think about it, your press office should be recognizing that the visuals that Americans are seeing is of this devastation. Don't put a visual of the president up playing ping-pong. It's awful. Talk about tone deaf. And talk about visuals, here's one of Bush as New Orleans was being inundated. But the immediate response was the lesser evil in Bush's reaction to Katrina. When you listen to his voice in the Brownie clip you can hear the fear and pleading in Bush's voice. His half-assed concern and lack of interest in the mechanics of government and executive powers are what led to a greater disaster in NOLA than had to be. No amount of Brown-washing can change that.
Just as the 9/11 attacks might have been prevented with the proper focus of the incoming government, Katrina's damage could have been lessened by a president who gave a shit and a FEMA Administrator who had the skills to handle the job. We had neither during Katrina or 9/11.
Michael Brown is doing his best to rewrite history and take Obama down a notch to the level of failed bureaucrat, and it's typical Republican attack-mode BS. We'll probably have to keep reminding everyone, until he kicks the bucket or gets off our airwaves, of how bad Brownie screwed up as FEMA Director and how the failures of the Bush administration are being met with mostly successes from President Obama.
I know others will, I can as well, do a heckuva job highlighting the massive failures that occurred during the Bush Administration. The usual suspects - with guilty consciences and easy access to a mic, are now trying to hide their failures with attacks on President Obama. I won't let them do it without a friendly reminder of their past.
|
|
Discuss
:: (1
Comments)
|
|
Fri Feb 04, 2011 at 18:52:44 PM MST
|
You think that just because President Obama is afraid of the consequences of investigating the criminal Bush administrations State Sponsored Torture program that the former President and his henchmen are off the hook? Well think again. And this is not just on theoretically either. I'll have a lot more detail on this on Monday, but here is what I got from a friend of mine at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
President Bush was supposed to be in Geneva on Monday. He was going to address a group at the Hotel President Wilson. It was to be one of those big dollar events where the Ex-President speaks to a rah-rah crowd for a big passel of cash. That is now canceled, and just canceled this evening. Why is that?
Well you see the CCR and its allies in Europe had been preparing a bit of a surprise for the 43 President of the United States and unindicted torturer. They had been working for months to bring two complaints against George W. Bush under the International Conventions Against Torture. One in the name of Al Jazeera reporter Sami el-Hajj and a current CIA detainee Majid Khan, who is to this day held at Guantanamo Bay without charge.
CCR and the European Center of Constitutional and Human Rights have put together a 2.500 page case against the criminal President Bush and had intended to file it Monday when Bush was in Geneva. They had been keeping the a pretty tight lid on this, talking to reporters under a news embargo and preparing a press conference. Some how it seems that it has leaked and lo and behold, W suddenly can't attend and the event is being canceled.
Of course this swill be spun by the organizers and the handlers for the former President, but I agree with Jen Nessel of the CCR when she says:
Whatever Bush or his hosts say, we have no doubt he cancelled his trip to avoid our case.
You may be able to play the law in one country. Your allies might be able to make the cost of following the rule of law so high that the administration following you finds their hands tied, but that does not make you safe from international law. It really doesn't make you safe from domestic law, it just might buy you enough time to age and die without being indicted for your war crimes.
It has been said before and it bears saying again, if you are a torturer you had better not make any plans to travel outside the United States. You might think you can brag about ordering torture and swagger around. Keep thinking that, because the wheels of justice grind slow but they grind exceedingly fine!
I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be able to talk about the real possibility of the members of Bush Administration facing a court for their war crimes. The only thing that would have made it better is if it was a U.S. Court. But justice is justice and I'll take any step towards it that I can get.
What's on your minds tonight Firedogs? The floor is yours.
|
|
Discuss
:: (0
Comments)
|
|
Tue Feb 01, 2011 at 07:34:23 AM MST
|
|
Everyone has an opinion about what the future of Egypt will be, and to some degree or another everyone is likely to be wrong. Oh sure there will be some who have the outlines correct but it is all but impossible to predict the something a inherently chaotic as a popular uprising in a long time dictatorship. This, however, does not stop a couple of Washington Post columnists from trying to use the time to prop up the discredited and slap-dash Bush administration "freedom agenda"
I know I sound like a broken record (am I dating myself by using that phrase?) , but it is the main trick of the modern conservative movement and the Republican Party to spin all of its initiatives in Orwellian names and half truths, and the freedom agenda is just one more example. The idea was that we'd go and invade a couple or a handful of Middle Eastern countries, whip a little democracy on them and we would have nice democratic Islamic allies like Turkey. A really nifty idea that would rid us of a lot of problems and secure the supply of Middle Eastern oil for us and our allies.
|
|
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 1072 words in story)
|
|
Sun Jan 30, 2011 at 11:00:29 AM MST
|
America can increase its standing in the world immeasurably by how we react to the democratic uprising in Egypt. As President Barack Obama just said the other day to Hosni Mubarak, who promised change and a hint of democracy in Egypt:I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words, to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise.
We can support Mohammed el Baradai in stabilizing the country with the help of the Muslim Brotherhood. I am not afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood nor is it viewed as a credible threat to take over Egypt.
We can also clear the air on extraordinary rendition and torture, and quite possibly turn Osama bin Laden into a relic just like Mubarak by showing that we will be the United States that the world once believed in: "If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear - never to see them again - you send them to Egypt."
Like another historic figure once said - "The time is always right to do the right thing." Now is that time.
|
|
Discuss
:: (0
Comments)
|
|
Tue Jan 04, 2011 at 07:26:28 AM MST
|
|
It is a bit of a philosophical conundrum if one can actually do good through bad methods. Of course you have to define good and bad, which are always value judgments. Let's make this a little more concrete; one of the Presidents unfulfilled promises is to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. It is a national shame that a prison was built specifically to try to avoid the legal system of the United States. There have been credible allegations of torture there, as well as statements by Bush era officials that the totality of treatment there also rises to the level of torture.
|
|
There's More...
:: (4
Comments, 1086 words in story)
|
|
Tue Oct 05, 2010 at 16:53:47 PM MST
|
Colorado has a decision to make this year for the State Treasurer's race.
Do we stay with the current Treasurer, Cary Kennedy,
OR
do we elect political newcomer Walker Stapleton?
Let's take a look at the two candidates.
Cary Kennedy has a track record of helping the State of Colorado navigate Colorado through the difficult budget crises and working with across the aisle to solve problems with our budget.
She helped author parts of Referendum C in 2005 - which was supported by Republican Governor Bill Owens as a way to keep the state budget solvent.
Since becoming Treasurer in 2007, she has made the sound investments that have kept Colorado's Budget growing at a moderate 3% annually, at a time when other states are defaulting on their loans.
What kind of leadership does Walker Stapleton have to offer?
|
|
There's More...
:: (2
Comments, 534 words in story)
|
|
Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 06:33:24 AM MST
|
|
There is something about Washington and taxes that seems to destroy the ability of law makers to do simple math. This seems to afflict Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats the worst. The Washington Post is reporting about the roll out of the Republicans Orwellianly named tax plan, the Tax Hike Prevention Act. Sen. Mitch McConnell (the man voted most likely to turn into a snapping turtle in our lifetimes) has put the idea on the table permanently extend all of the Bush era tax cuts, including the ones for the ultra wealthy, that top 2% of all earners.
From the WaPo :
"We have a spending problem. We spend too much. We don't have a taxing problem. We don't tax too little," McConnell told reporters Tuesday. "And if we want to begin to get ourselves out of this economic trough that we're in, the only way to do that is to grow the private sector."
|
|
There's More...
:: (11
Comments, 806 words in story)
|
|
Sat Jun 19, 2010 at 21:41:06 PM MST
|
Blackwater has been THE mercenary outfit of choice by the Bush - Cheney Whitehouse to conduct operations in the Global War on Terror.
Recently the Justice department and FBI discovered Blackwater had committed unjustified homicides or perhaps outright assassinations in conjunction with the CIA under Dick Cheney's orders.
Furthermore, Blackwater paid millions in bribes to local officials to remain silent after a bloody massacre of civilians in Iraq.
Now, Erik Prince is moving to United Arab Emirates, a country with no extradition policy with the U.S. coming on the heels of further investigations.
You'd think this company would never get another dime from the State Department.
You'd be wrong.
|
|
There's More...
:: (1
Comments, 277 words in story)
|
|
Tue Jun 15, 2010 at 05:38:35 AM MST
|
|
There is nothing about torture that is good or positive. The act itself is one of the most brutal and heinous that humans have ever committed. The affect on a society that condones torture is one of rising fear and brutality. The information (if it can be called that) gained under torture is so suspect as to be worthless. Perhaps the worst aspect is that torture, once accepted is used not only on enemies or bad people, but innocent victims as well.
On Monday the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of one such innocent victim of torture, Mr. Maher Arar, a Syrian born Canadian citizen. In 2002 he was returning to Canada from a trip abroad. At a stop over at JFK Airport he was detained by the US Government and held in solitary confinement for two weeks without access to an attorney. Mr. Arar was then deported, not to his nation of citizenship, Canada but, to Syria and put in the hands of the Syrian intelligence services, who are well known for their torture activities.
|
|
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 904 words in story)
|
|
Thu Jun 03, 2010 at 06:04:58 AM MST
|
|
The normalization of torture continued apace yesterday as the criminal President Bush said in a speech in Grand Rapids, MI that if he had it all to do over again he would still order the waterboarding of Khalid Sheik Mohammed. That's right this unindicted war criminal still thinks that ordering this crime, which produced no actionable intelligence was not only the legal thing to do but the right thing.
Lest we let time wash away our memories KSM was waterboarded 183 times in the course of one month. That is an average of five times a day that they tortured this man and exactly nothing came of it. Sure we got some BS that banks and malls might be attacked, but there were not operations to do that, just the desire on the part of the tortured to say anything, everything to make it stop.
|
|
There's More...
:: (3
Comments, 894 words in story)
|
|
Wed Apr 07, 2010 at 06:32:21 AM MST
|
|
I have few absolutes in my life. This is by design, the fewer things that you have no bending on the greater the chance that you can find common ground and get progress on issues or even have a happy life. The two I'll talk about today are torture and political violence.
We have seen a disturbing trend in the last few months of violence based on political views. The man who flew his plane into the IRS, the assassination of Dr. Tiller for performing legal reproductive services, the killing of police officers for the supposed plan by the Obama administration to seize the guns of private citizens, the brick throwing at Democratic political offices and the cutting of gas lines at the family home of the brother of a U.S Representative whose address was posted on the internet by mistake.
|
|
There's More...
:: (2
Comments, 1080 words in story)
|
|
|
|
Squarestate.net is owned by Open Communications Colorado, LLC. and is not responsible for the opinions expressed outside of our own.
|
|
