Pakistan + Terrorists = Mega Bucks

The Bush administration is trying to shift $230 million of anti terrorist funds to Pakistan to upgrade that country's F-16 planes, equipment ill suited to fight the terrorists residing in the rugged geography neighboring Afghanistan, but congress is balking.

Since 9/11, the U.S. has dumped more than $10 billion in military aid into Pakistan with more than half of that specifically intended to fight terrorist. Little if any evidence exists to suggest that the funding has been effective in combating Al Qaeda and the Taliban. (See The New York Times story.)

On July 24, 2003, George W. Bush violated federal law by autographing the American flag, in Livonia, Michigan. Naturally, the Dude was completely unaware that writing on the American Flag was an act of desecration. After all, if the Dude does it, it can't be illegal, can it?

Bush Trying To Make Your Workplace More Dangerous:

While you are distracted by the approaching Olympic games and the developing political race for the White House, GW is pushing a new Department of Labor bill that will make the workplace far more dangerous for workers. The Washington Post reports on the bill, the contents of which have been kept from the public.

The new rules proposed by the Bush administration will allow employers to expose their work forces to more deadly forms of chemicals over longer periods of time.

Republican Strategy for 2008:

New voting equipment in a minimum of eleven states is expected to confuse and frustrate at least half of the voters. Election officials are expecting half of the voters to be new to the process and easily turned away. There should be long lines, difficulties in verifying authenticity of registration and out right confusion about how to use the new technology. (See The New York Times story.)

Republicans learned in 2000 and had their findings reaffirmed in 2004 that the country will not seriously object to having elections stolen.

Today in History: The Sword Cuts Both Ways

On this date in 1925, John T. Scopes was convicted of violating a Tennessee state law for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. What is generally overlooked is that the textbook he was using also promoted racism and the eugenics nonsense espoused by the Nazi party in Germany.

The Dude had no idea what gasoline costs, but "It's a myth to think I don't know what's going on. It's a myth to think that I'm not aware that there's opinions that don't agree with mine, because I'm fully aware of that." — George W. Bush, Philadelphia, PA, 2005.

Today's Hot Topic: Plastic Money

Consumer debt—NOT counting mortgages—reached (now just try to think of this) $2.56 TRILLION in April of this year. Both The Washington Post and The New York Times examined the situation in their respective editions today.

This evening, National Public Radio is addressing the health care issue. Something like one out of four people in Florida, in turns out, have great difficulty paying their health care costs. And in this case they all have insurance. It just doesn't cover enough.

In other news, a man who had been involved in an accident, climbed out onto the ledge of the fifth story of the George Washington University Hospital. Authorities spent four hours trying to talk the man down. At the end, he decided they were right and started to come down from his perch, but then he slipped and fell. Currently, he remains in the hospital in critical condition.

Rich People Sneering at Working People:

You gotta love it when a multimillionaire banker like Phil Gramm, former Republican senator and top McCain advisor, sneers that regular Americans are "a nation of whiners."

NOTE: McCain dumped Gramm.

The Dude explaining "success": "Had we to do it over again, we would look at the consequences of catastrophic success, being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day." — George W. Bush quoted in Time magazine, 2004. (Or, golly gee, Mr. Wizard, these bad guys just don't play fair!)

Life in China:

The Washington Post reports on how to keep the population from complaining, or at least how the Chinese plan to keep people from protesting at the Olympics. First, haul out the students and office workers in a city, and second, drag out three people convicted of plotting terrorist activities, and third, blow the brains out of the convicts in front of the students and office workers. Makes you wonder what the Chinese plan to treat the tourists to at the games once they get under way.

The Great American Sea Change:

First there was the axis of evil. Carry a big stick and make lots of threats. Then North Korea exploded some bombs and fired some rockets. Things changed.

Now people are starting to talk in the Middle East. Israel is holding indirect talks with Syria. It's made deals with Hamas and Hezbollah.

And low and behold, the Bush administration has envoys participating in a discussion with—Iran. Naturally there are "no negotiations" being conducted, or at least that's what the Bushies claim, but still. (See The New York Times story.)

The Dude's take on diplomacy: "See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over." — George W. Bush in a private comment to British Prime Minister Tony Blair in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 17, 2006.

EPA Finally Forced To Admit Truth on Global Warming:

Yesterday the Environmental Protection Agency admitted that global warming poses very real threats to humans, not just polar bears. Deadly heat waves, hurricanes and pathogens are the direct result of global warming, as is a shortage of fresh water.

However, as The Washington Post points out "Last week, the agency decided not to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, at least not until after President Bush's term ends."

Your Military Heroes:

No one likes to criticize the the folks in uniform. It seems, somehow, unlucky. Well, I did my duty, served my time, and according to the writing on the jacket that was sold at the PX, I'm guaranteed an afterlife in heaven. (GIs will know what I mean.)

Every grunt knows that, as far as the top brass is concerned, the military exists so that the brass can have a career. And it should be plush and highly rewarding. Check out The Washington Post story on one way the generals are pursuing their goals as they fly about in perfect comfort while troops on the ground have to worry about being electrocuted while taking a shower.

Afternoon Update:

Stocks finished mixed, which they often do on Friday, ending the first week in two months when the market performed on anything like a positive note, fueled by continuing drop in oil prices.

Oil ended the day selling at $128.88 a barrel, but you probably hardly noticed at the pump. Retail sellers of gasoline will hope that you haven't yet noticed that their costs are down and won't pass the savings along until competition starts to push the price down. (See The New York Times story.)

An indication of things to come: Sales of private business jets have slumped in the U.S. traditionally the largest market for this niche item; however sales have increased in Russia, South Asia and the Mideast. (See The New York Times story.)

Oil Down Two Days in a Row:

The price of a barrel of oil fell for the second day in a row as American drivers continued to reduce the amount of gasoline they use by cutting down on unnecessary driving and using vehicles that get improved gasoline mileage. Reserves, which usually shrink during the summer months, reportedly are growing. (See The New York Times story.) Nationwide, the price of gasoline rose 35 percent in the past year.

Update: NPR reports that oil is down for a third day in a row this morning.

McCain's Flip Flop on Bush's Tax Cuts:

Why did Sen. McCain flip flop on Pres. Bush's 2006 tax cuts? A maverick, he was opposed to them at the time, so what gives? The New York Times has done some math on the subject, and it turns out self interest carries lots more weight than what's good for the country. McCain's wife and family stand to make millions if the Budweiser sale goes through, and the lower capital gains tax could make them even richer. So it goes.

Fed Chief Throws Cold Water on Bush's Rose Garden:

The day after Pres. Bush tried to place rose colored lenses on the nation's view of the economy, Ben Bernanke explained that things don't look all that good for the rest of the year, with inflation running steadily higher and loans growing tougher to acquire. (See The New York Times story.)

Maureen Dowd Whines Because It's Hard To Make Fun Of Barack:

Comics are complaining that it's just too hard to make fun of Barack Obama. They get tagged as racists, bigots, and downright anti progressive. (See Dowd's New York Times Op-Ed.) Sorry, Maureen, but making fun of politicians has never been about the humorists, it's always been about dragging the powerful down. If you want to make fun of Obama, you need to join the Fox News (sic) staff.

Washington Post-ABC News Pole Shows Obama Lead at 8 Points:

The poll indicates voters think Obama can do a better job of steering the economy than McCain, but the split is still even on the international scene.

Why anyone would think McCain would be better at dealing with international relations than just about any Democrat is puzzling. But then I'm not too bright. I still don't understand why anyone watches Fox News (sic).

The Dude likes Russians: "One thing is clear, is relations between America and Russia are good, and they're important that they be good." — George W. Bush, Strelina, Russia, July 15, 2006. (A translator's nightmare.)

Bush Declares Economy Sound:

In a speech today, President Bush asserted his belief in the soundness of the American economy. "'I think the system is basically sound, I truly do,' the president said, speaking to reporters at the White House press briefing room" (NPR.org).

Of course, President Bush has never had to balance a budget or assume any sort of financial responsibility in his life. When he wrecked businesses he was in charge of, his family's friends bailed him out. When he decided he didn't want to play in the National Guard anymore after his family had gotten him in, his family connections took care of covering that matter up. When he lied to the world about WMDs, his lackeys covered him on that by insisting he'd never been told the truth in the first place. When gasoline was approaching $4 a gallon and he was questioned about that, he was totally lost and admitted he had no idea what gasoline costs.

And yet he says he appreciates that things are tough for the average American. Does he have anything approaching a concept that accurately describes an average American?

The Dude's complaint: "Justice ought to be fair." — George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., 2004. (Aghhh!!! The irony! The Irony!)

Bush Revokes Daddy's No Drilling Order:

Bush ordered off shore drilling, overturning the 1990 order signed by his father prohibiting the drilling. However, the congress would need to do the same before any drilling could take place.

Such drilling will have no effect on the price of gasoline or heating oil, as it would not begin to produce oil, if it produced any at all, before at least another ten years has passed. (See NPR.org.) (See The New York Times article.)

The Dude pleading for your vote in 2004: "Give me a chance to be your president and America will be safer and stronger and better." — George W. Bush, Marquette, Michigan, July 13, 2004. (Safer for a few rich folks to stay rich, stronger if a few powerful people gaining more power is what was meant, better for the oil companies.)

Bet you wish you could start a business like this:

Fannie and Freddie are private businesses created at the mandate of the federal government. If they make a profit, that profit goes to the owners (stock holders); if they lose money, the taxpayers bail them out. That's guaranteed. They have no requirement to conduct business in a responsible fashion and every reason to take risks. Bet you wish you could start a business like that. It's kind of like the government creating a lottery and then reimbursing everyone who fails to win for the price of their tickets.

Sudan's President Charged with Genocide:

The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court made a formal request today for an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, charged with crimes against humanity. (See The New York Times story.)

NOTE: Did you know that a number of members of the Bush administration have been warned by their councilors not to travel outside the United States for fear they will be arrested for crimes against humanity?

Bouncing like a Red Rubber Ball:

Fannie and Freddie's stock price has been doing the yo-yo thing today on Wall Street as buyers and sellers react to the current situation. (See The New York Times story.) About half of American home loans are backed by the two companies.

Oil Reaches $147 Per Barrel:

As the federal government tries to decide whether to take over Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's massive debt load and dump it on the American tax payer (See The New York Times story), the price of oil reaches a new high. In the meantime, stocks continue to plunge on Wall Street.

Stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reportedly has fallen by as much as 50 percent as of this morning, according to NPR. Millions of home owners are expected to lose their homes by the end of this year.

The Dude explaining his leadership capabilities: "I don't know all the facts. I want to know all the facts. The best place for the facts is to be done is by somebody who's spending time investigating it." — George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., July 2005.

Iran Rattles Missiles:

Iran test fired nine missiles, including one with sufficient range to reach Israel. Mixed messages are coming out of the country. First an insistence that they have no interest in creating nuclear weapons, then two days later weapons testing that could deliver nuclear weapons. It should be noted that they are following the same pattern as North Korea, whose government has recently been more successful in negotiations with the Bush administration than previously. (See the NPR story.)

World's Rich Nations Pledge To Cut Greenhouse Gases—Someday:

The leaders of the world's richest nations got together in Japan so that they could pretend to plant trees. They also pledged to cut global warming, which George Bush denies exists, by 2050, after most of them are likely to be dead or in nursing homes at the very least. (See The New York Times story.)

Price of Oil Drops and …

No one knows why. Most authorities have denied that speculators have had much effect on the rapid increase of the price of oil over the past year, but then they also can't explain why the price of oil has dropped for two days in a row. Yes, America, it is true that you, along with your European cousins, are using less, but most authorities insist that the daily increase in demand from China and India easily offsets any savings. (See The New York Times story.)

Remember "The Space Race"?

The Washington Post reports that "China plans to cap its Olympic triumph with a spacewalk in October." Meanwhile, the "European Space Agency is building a roving robot to land on Mars," and India has already "launched a record 10 satellites into space on a single rocket."

Cheney Lied:

Vice President Dick Cheney's staff cut six pages of important material from testimony about global warming and its effects on human health in order to protect the position he and the Republican party holds.

According to The Washington Post, Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said,

the administration sought the changes for fear that Gerberding's testimony could trigger new controls under the Clean Air Act that would regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.

Last year, the EPA determined that global warming presented serious threats to human health, but to date, the document so stating has never been made public.

There's Nothing Like a Warm Gun:

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who own guns are far more likely to kill themselves with their guns than to use them for self-defense.

And Yet Another Way To Scam Taxpayers:

The Washington Post reports that since 2000 perhaps as much as $92 million was paid out for home medical equipment, like wheelchairs, "prescribed by physicians who, according to records, were dead at the time."

American Democracy: Who Benefits?

Some people benefit from America's form of democracy more than others. Not exactly earth shattering news, right? Today's New York Times focuses on some of the most immediate beneficiaries, the people who actually receive all that campaign funding, not the politicians, but the folks the politicians pay. The biggest are the Media and consulting folks. They really love American democracy.

The Dude's birthday (1946): "We want to restore honor and integrity to the White House." George W. Bush's 2000 campaign refrain—also known as "The Big Lie."

What Happened in Zimbabwe:

The Washington Post describes the campaign led by the Zimbabwe military to keep Robert Mugabe in power. According to the account, the eighty-two-year-old president was either willing to surrender power or he used the occasion to push the military to act on his behalf. Torture and murder were the key ingredients to overthrowing his opposition. The prize was continued power and wealth for the military leaders who backed him.

Portrait of a Conservative:

Michael E. O'Neill is the guy who finds the federal judges for Bush to appoint. He's chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and he's been caught committing plagiarism on a routine basis. His excuse: poor work habits.

So here's the guy who helped get Roberts and Alito appointed to the Supreme Court, where they will affect the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans for decades, and he's as lazy as a common college freshman. He cheats. And then he attempts to hide behind the skirts of his wealthy and powerful benefactors. (See The New York Times' story here.)

Your Gov't Hard at Work for You:

According to The Washington Post, "[g]overnment workers repeatedly snooped without autorization inside the electronic passport records of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans." It seems our fascination with the private lives of celebrities can never be satisfied. Undoubtedly it's a good thing that government workers have so much free time on their hands and so little imagination. Surely, one of these good folks will discover than some American celebrity is actually a terrorist.

Jesse Helms, Racist Senator from North Carolina, Dead at 86:

The senator from North Carolina, known for his strong advocacy of racist policies and supporting President Reagan's illegal war in Nicaragua and trade with Iran, died on July 4th. Conservatives are attempting to invoke something like numerology at the timing.

Bush's Legacy:

June marks the sixth straight month of job losses in the U.S. "The loss of some 62,000 jobs marked the sixth straight month that employers have trimmed payrolls — another sign of a slowing economy." (www.npr.org) In the meantime, the price of oil set a new record today at $146 per barrel. The Bush administration is currently attempting to exploit the situation to search for new oil reserves that might come on line twenty years from now.

The Dude explains his energy policy to the American people: "There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once—shame on—shame on you. You fool me, you can't get fooled again." — George W. Bush, Nashville, Tennessee, September 2002.

"Yes, Dearie, it's always been about oil; patriotism is for the fools we get to do our bidding":

More evidence that the Bush administration has its hands deep into the war for oil business is coming to light. Today's New York Times reports on Bush's knowledge about an oil deal between a company close to his family who concluded a deal with Kurdistan that undercut Iraq's current government.

The State Department, along with the rest of the Bush administration, has been asserting that it discouraged the deal between Hunt Oil, which is closely connected to the Bush family, and Kurdistan; however, documents now coming to light in congressional investigations indicate that the Bush administration has been heavily involved in facilitating the deal.

Perspective:

Retired General Wesley Clark received a ton of flack for stating the obvious—being shot down in an airplane doesn't qualify you to be president—but here's the kicker: In 1996 when the Republican party nominated Bob Dole (shot down and wounded during WWII), John McCain backed Texas Senator Phil Gramm, who was one of the biggest draft dodgers of all time. As New York Times' Op-Ed writer Gail Collins puts it, Gramm "piled up a series of draft deferments that made Bill Clinton look like Nathan Hale."

For each of the last four presidential elections, Americans have had the opportunity to elect a president who had served in the military under hostile fire, and each time they've elected a draft dodger. During the first eight years, most Americans did quite well; during the past seven and a half years, the oil companies have gotten rich, while the rest of us are racing toward economic collapse. Things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser.

The Dude explains it all: "You've also got to measure in order to begin to effect change that's just more—when there's more than talk, there's just actual—a paradigm shift." — George W. Bush, Washington D.C., July 1, 2003.

No End Seen to Economic Downturn:

More than three fourths of the Bush tax cuts have been spent and the economy continues to spiral downward while you-know-who fiddles in Washington, planning his retirement. The latest prognosis envisions the downturn lasting into 2009, which means no one can see an end to it. Economists can't envision the economy more than two or three quarters. Nor does anyone see anything on the horizon that might pull the economy out of the current funk. (See today's New York Times story.)

The best resolution would, of course, be a breakthrough in energy production that would include a solution to the global warming crisis coupled with independence from foreign oil, but to date the best answers to these problems remain impractical.

More Dirt from Guantánamo:

The New York Times reveals that the basis for prisoner treatment at Guantánamo is based on an Air Force study of Chinese treatment of Korean War prisoners: "[the trainers'] chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners" (Scott Shane, "China Inspired Interrogations at Guantánamo").

The "nutso" factor here is that the document used as a basis for the methods used at Guantánamo indicated that these methods extracted false information from prisoners.

Anyone who has ever served in the military knows that one basic truism supersedes all others: Your superiors only want to be told what they want to hear. Nothing else is acceptable. Bush/Cheney only found acceptable information that confirmed the conclusions they had arrived at before 9/11. Therefore the interrogations at Guantánamo must confirm the Bush/Cheney arguments.

Why the Rich Should Be Taxed, Heavily:

Today's New York Times reveals that Leona Helmsley has left the bulk of her estate, somewhere between $5 billion and $8 billion, to dogs. She left $12 million to her own dog, Trouble. Sure, dog lovers out there will oooh and aaah over Helmsley's love for dogs, but let's get real folks. Dogs won't get that money.

So where does the money actually go? No one is quite sure at the moment, but consider this: Helmsley's dog, Trouble, requires constant security, which costs $100,000 a year.

Helmsley, by the way, inherited her wealth from her husband.

Who Needs Evidence When You Have Divine Right?

A three panel court made up of judges appointed by Reagan, Clinton, and Bush appointees has rejected the Bush administration's argument that something is true simply because the administration says it is. Remember when Richard Nixon, after having dodged impeachment by resigning the office of president, argued that "if the president does it, it's legal"? The Bush administration has argued that simply because a detainee was accused of being an illegal combatant that he must be a terrorist. (Read The Washington Post story here.)

The case is the first to come before the court and is that of one of the detainees who was turned over to U.S. forces for pay. Turns out that the man is a member of an ethnic group from China, whom the Chinese government has marked for ethnic cleansing, and that the accusations came against him at a time when the Bush administration was courting Chinese support for U.S. military action in Afghanistan. This particular detainee is a member of the Uighurs and is one of 17 members of that group now being detained at Guantánamo. (Read The New York Times' story here.) John McCain has famously argued that the detainees should not be allowed trials. Now we know why.