Bush Declines President Obama’s Invitation to Ground Zero

May 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Excerpt of Bush’s speech at Ground Zero right after 9/11.

President Bush: Thank you all. I want you all to know — it [bullhorn] can’t go any louder — I want you all to know that American today, American today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. The nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens

Rescue Worker: I can’t hear you!

President Bush: I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!

Between all the rhetoric and the mission accomplished banners you would think that now, almost 10 years later, that the guy that started this game of international bounty hunter would want to be there to pay homage to the final chapter in that particular part of the story.

Nope.

“President Bush will not be in attendance on Thursday,” said his spokesman, David Sherzer. “He appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight. He continues to celebrate with Americans this important victory in the war on terror.”

This isn’t exactly a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Piggly Wiggly. Methinks someone seems a bit terrified of what the public’s reaction to his presence might be at this event. Or maybe he’s just mad because Obama told him he wasn’t allowed to bring his bullhorn this time.

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Rumsfeld and Jesus Torturing Evildoers to Keep America Safe

May 20, 2009 By 2 Comments

Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam HusseinIt’s hard to imagine what Bush’s to-do list looked like, but I’m guessing it was probably something like this.

  1. Campaign for President as an evangelical Christian: Check
  2. “Win” the Presidential election after the only person at the only media outlet in the country to claim that you won the state your brother was the Governor of, was your cousin John Ellis at Fox News: Check
  3. Invade an oil-rich country based on trumped and/or blatantly false allegations while preying on the fear of the American public: Check
  4. Snatch people from around the world, transport them to an American military base, torture and release them: Check
  5. Appoint a Defense Secretary who hand delivers war briefings to you quoting Biblical scripture and referring to your war on terror as a crusade: Check

Say what?

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” [The quote appears over an image of a tank at sunrise]

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” [The quote appears over an image of a soldier in Baghdad]

“It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.” [The quote appears over an image of Saddam Hussein]

“Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, The nation that keeps faith.” [The quote appears over an image of tanks entering an Iraqi city]

The briefing’s cover sheet generally featured triumphant, color images from the previous days’ war efforts: On this particular morning, it showed the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down in Firdos Square, a grateful Iraqi child kissing an American soldier, and jubilant crowds thronging the streets of newly liberated Baghdad. And above these images, and just below the headline secretary of defense, was a quote that may have raised some eyebrows. It came from the Bible, from the book of Psalms: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him…To deliver their soul from death.”

But the Pentagon’s top officials were apparently unconcerned about the effect such a disclosure might have on the conduct of the war or on Bush’s public standing. When colleagues complained to Shaffer that including a religious message with an intelligence briefing seemed inappropriate, Shaffer politely informed them that the practice would continue, because “my seniors”—JCS chairman Richard Myers, Rumsfeld, and the commander in chief himself—appreciated the cover pages.

Play him off, Keyboard Cat.

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Keith Olbermann Sums up George W. Bush: 8 Years in 8 Minutes

January 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtnE4C9Gv5U&feature=player_embedded

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Bush Gives the Country “The Shocker”

November 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment

No need to rub your eyes or check for telltale signs of photoshop manipulation, this is the real deal.  I guess since he figures it’s all over and he already has the lowest approval rate in Presidential history he may as well go out with a bang and finally show the country his plan for American people over the last eight years.  The shocker.  Or, as Xeni points out, the possibly more appropriately named, the $700 Billion Shocker.

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Bush vs. History: Which is Worse?

December 19, 2005 By Leave a Comment

Why of course the people don’t want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece?

Naturally the common people don’t want war in Russia, nor in England, nor for the Middle East for that matter.

But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. 

All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.
Hermann Goering, April 18, 1946

The same lie is still being told today. This time not by an infamous Nazi war criminal but by the President of the United States

America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
George W. Bush, October 2002

Not every item of news should be published. Rather must those who control news policies endeavor to make every item of news serve a certain purpose.
Joseph Goebbels, March 14, 1943 

The controversy over President George W. Bush’s new TV ads featuring fake firefighters and fleeting images of the 9/11 attacks threw campaign officials on the defensive.
Newsweek, March 15, 2004

TV news reports in America that showed President George Bush getting a standing ovation from potential voters have been exposed as fake, it has emerged.
Guardian, March 16, 2004

To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three.
How the Government Makes News; Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged News [NYT]

Whenever justice is uncertain and police spying and terror are at work, human beings fall into isolation, which, of course, is the aim and purpose of the dictator state, since it is based on the greatest possible accumulation of depotentiated social units.
Carl Jung, 1957 

President George W Bush has admitted he authorised secret monitoring of communications within the United States in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks.
BBC, December 18, 2005

I wonder if future generations will look back on these times and wonder whether we were all stupid, uninformed, naive or just plain sheep.

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Iraq? Check…Afghanistan? Check… Iran… Coming Right Up

July 20, 2004 By Leave a Comment

Bush may not be satisfied with invading just two countries (only one of which had anything to do with 9/11), so he’s putting Iran on notice.

President Bush said yesterday that the United States is investigating possible connections between Iran and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, renewing his periodic warnings to one of the two remaining members of his “axis of evil.” The president’s remarks staked out a hard line against the theocracy three days before the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is scheduled to issue a report that is said to accuse Iran of abetting travel by at least eight of the hijackers.

“We will continue to look and see if the Iranians were involved,” Bush said during a brief question-and-answer session in the Oval Office. “I have long expressed my concerns about Iran. After all, it’s a totalitarian society where free people are not allowed to exercise their rights as human beings.”

Bush’s remarks were his toughest about Iran since April 21, when he told newspaper editors meeting in Washington that the development of a nuclear weapon by Iran “is intolerable” and that if the Iranians do not give up that quest “they will be dealt with, starting through the United Nations.”

White House officials said Bush was not hinting at any new intelligence or at any change in administration policy. Acting CIA Director John E. McLaughlin said on “Fox News Sunday” that the government “has no evidence that there is some sort of official connection between Iran and 9/11.”

Bush repeated that yesterday but also said: “Of course, we want to know all the facts. . . . As to direct connections with September the 11th, we’re digging into the facts to determine if there was one.”

Unless the facts lead us to an answer we don’t like… then we want different facts. I just hope W can keep up his anti-terrorist rhetoric through to election day.

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Above the Law

June 9, 2004 By Leave a Comment

This whole memo issue of the Bush administration lawyers claiming that Bush is above the law when it comes to torturing people is ridiculous.

Why throughout all of the wars this country has ever fought, would it be necessary for George W. Bush to not be bound by worldwide treaties agreed upon by the United States?

“In order to respect the president’s inherent constitutional authority to manage a military campaign … (the prohibition against torture) must be construed as inapplicable to interrogations undertaken pursuant to his commander-in-chief authority,” stated the memo, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.

George W. Bush is the first President in the history of the United States who needs his lawyers to write up a memo for him saying that he isn’t obligated in any way to not torture prisoners of war.

What kind of precedent is this setting? This sounds like something the administration would have accused Saddam of trying.

How can we begin to look up to a leader who looks up to no one. He follows no rules, breaks every principle of warfare and then allows himself to be placed on a pedestal above the reigns of justice.

Had this happened anywhere else in the world you would expect the United States to be on the front lines condemning this kind of action. You would expect the world to rise up in a chorus of voices and demand equal justice for all of mankind, especially from a country who claims to be a model of justice and freedom.

This is not our America. This is not the America our forefathers founded when they rebelled against this sort of tyranny. This is not the America that our parents looked up to and taught us to respect. Our leaders are who they are because they are bound by laws, because they don’t lead by divine rule and because not only do they answer to our laws, they answer to our people.

This is nothing new. America has been fighting against this sort of tyranny and these sort of madmen her entire history. Now it is brought to the fore front. Now it is being used to manipulate us with fear and hatred. Are we at that point? Have we come to the point where we will allow our President to declare himself above the law while we stand by and have no reaction?

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Jesus is My VeePee

June 3, 2004 By Leave a Comment

In my continuing quest to even begin to scratch the surface of the shady, illegal, moronic things our fearless leader does, I bring you this.

In an effort to woo religious-minded voters, President Bush’s campaign is recruiting people in “friendly congregations” to organize rallies in churches and distribute campaign material.”In each of these friendly congregations we would like to identify a volunteer coordinator who can help distribute general information to other supporters,” said an e-mail sent to supporters who also were asked to notify the campaign headquarters in Virginia of the names of the coordinators and their place of worship.

The e-mails were sent Tuesday, the same day Bush met with a group of religious leaders to tout the administration’s decision to distribute $1.1 billion in grants to faith-based groups for social service activities.

Not only is this against everything our supposed democracy stands for with seperation of Church and State, it’s also illegal.

“I am quite surprised to see that in his campaign for re-election as chief executive that the president is encouraging churches to break the tax rules the chief executive is supposed to enforce,” said Don Alexander, who as IRS commissioner in the Nixon administration resisted efforts to politicize the agency.

But as usual the Bush administration issues its, “We don’t care what you say or what facts you present, we’re going to say it’s ok to do this” argument.

“It is not asking churches to do anything,” responded a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, Steve Schmidt.

Does he mean he’s not actually asking the building itself to do anything? Because the last time I checked a “church” is comprised of its “congregation”. This administration is so f’ing slimy you almost need a shower after you hear about some of the stuff they are trying to pull.

Believe me when I say this administrtion will do absolutely ANYTHING to get re-elected.

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Bush Wants Kerry to Identify Supporters So He Can Invade Them

March 15, 2004 By Leave a Comment

President Bush challenged Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Tuesday to identify who he is talking about when he claims that some foreign leaders privately support him over Bush.

“You don’t just walk around letting your mouth write checks your ass can’t cash,” Bush said from the Oval Office this morning. “I’d like to know what foreign leaders think Kerry would do a better job than me, I’ll be on them like a west Texas dust storm. I got about a 50 gallon drum of whoop ass left over from Iraq, that I’ve been dying to dump all over somebody. I’m a mushroom cloud layin’ motherfucker, motherfucker…literally.”

Insiders say the invasion of Iraq came shortly after the Bush Administration learned of Saddam’s personal blog and his intention to back Kerry in the primaries. The blog, www.saddamloveskerry.com, never came to fruition thanks to the quick work of the Bush team but insiders say the world impact would have been enormous.

Kerry who has been using the catch phrase “Bring it on” has been accused of seeming like a weak candidate compared to a war President like Bush, has ammended his slogan to include, “Bring it on, Bitch!” Kerry has steadfastly refused to give up any names claiming that, “he’s no stoolie.”

Kerry, meanwhile, dismissed White House suggestions that he is lying if he is not willing to identify the leaders. “Listen, I passed every single one of them notes asking whether or not they liked me better than George, almost all of them checked “yes”, they like me better. Everyone except that little bitch Tony Blair, he’s got it bad for Bush, I mean really bad.”

Political insiders say this election could come down to who is voted “most popular” by the other world leaders at the fall “World Leaders Homecoming Dance” scheduled to be held in Helsinki this year.

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Is God on America’s Side or are You a Godless Terrorist Lover

February 29, 2004 By Leave a Comment

First of all, nice way to sneak in the last Democratic debate before Super Tuesday on Sunday morning when all of the “real” democrats are still passed out from the night before. I’m onto you CBS.

So I’ll review for all of the Dem’s that were still recovering from getting crunked on Saturday night and who missed the debate. Believe it or not, “Do you believe that God is on America’s side,” was one of the questions that Elisabeth Bumiller of the new york times asked the Democratic candidates during the debate this morning. Aside from the fact that it never should have been fucking asked, (I guess seperation of Church and State only counts in non-election years), I think the answers are very interesting.

I’ll put down the answers here and you can decide who you felt gave the best answer. I’ve added some commentary to go along with it to help you out.

Question: Really fast, on a Sunday morning, President Bush has said that freedom and fear have always been at war, and God is not neutral between them. He’s made quite clear in his speeches that he feels God is on America’s side.

Really quick, is God on America’s side?

Candidate #1: Well, God will — look, I think — I believe in God, but I don’t believe, the way President Bush does, in invoking it all the time in that way. I think it is — we pray that God is on our side, and we pray hard. And God has been on our side through most of our existence.

T-t-t-today stupid, spit it out. This is pretty much how this Candidate is running his entire Campaign, like he’s Bush Lite© or something. “I believe in what Bush believes in but different, vote for me”. Blah.

Candidate #2: Well, there’s a wonderful story about Abraham Lincoln during the middle of the Civil War bringing in a group of leaders, and at the end of the meeting one of the leaders said, “Mr. President, can we pray, can we please join in prayer that God is on our side?” And Abraham Lincoln’s response was, “I won’t join you in that prayer, but I’ll join you in a prayer that we’re on God’s side.”

Thanks for the history lesson Dr. Feelgood, now we all know how Abraham Lincoln felt about it, how about you clue us in on how you feel about it now genius.

Candidate #3: I think it’s important we’re on God’s side, as I said earlier, that we must (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

But I also think we’ve got to heal this president from feeling like he and America is the same thing. God is on America’s side. That does not mean He supports what George Bush…

Bush doesn’t need to be healed, he needs to be defeated…again.

Candidate #4: We need to break the spell of fear which is over this country. Remember where we come from as a country. When Francis Scott Key wrote that “Star-Spangled Banner,” he made the connection when he said, “Does that star-spangled banner yet wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave?” The connection between democracy and courage.

I would call out the courage of the American people, and defend our rights, cancel the Patriot Act, reestablish the fullness of our democracy.

Finally, thank you.

#1 is John Kerry

#2 is John Edwards

#3 is Al Sharpton

#4 is Dennis Kucinich

I’ve said it before, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get Bush out of office, but I live in New York, and I’m definitely not in a swing state. Whether it’s spreading the word or even getting behind Kerry as an opponent of Bush, I can do that, I just don’t know if I can actually force myself to vote for the guy.

I feel like Kucinich gave the only honest answer out of the entire group. Maybe I’ll vote for him come election day.

Let me just say this too, that it’s obvious to see why it’s looking like the DNC is getting behind John Kerry, and it’s because politically, he has no fucking balls. Watching him try to backpedal away from being “the most liberal Senator in Washington”, was damn near painful.

Almost as painful as Edwards trying to laugh off his $34 Million net worth and his $5 Million dollar house plus his two $1 Million dollar houses, by pointing at Kerry and laughing saying, “he’s worth more.”

I don’t care if your daddy was a miner or your mama was a fucking waitress or your baby sister turned tricks for cheesburgers. Kerry and Edwards are so out of touch with the everyday working people of this country it’s hard to hide it.

You know the one candidate on that stage that can and has done more than blow smoke about “being in touch” with the “common man” is Dennis Kucinich. You can read about it, in a book he wrote the introduction for and which he is partly responsible for the creation of called Shafted: Free Trade & America’s Working Poor. It’s a great read, and something the rest of the candidates are afraid to talk about.

So that’s pretty much where I’m at right now. The Dean for America/Change for America camps are fighting and backstabbing and everyone is sucking Kerry off and nobody wants real change, just recognition. So I’m gonna criticize, educate, scream, yell, persuade, volunteer and vote to get Bush out of office, after that, you can have your politics back.

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Can Bush Tell the Truth?

February 26, 2004 By Leave a Comment

President Bush, why don’t you just stand up, like a man for once, and tell the American public the truth. Tell them the reason you joined the Texas Air National Guard was because you were scared shitless at the prospect of going overseas and fighting in a war that was already taking the lives of thousands of less fortunate American’s.

Tell them the reason you got into the ANG was because of your father’s political connections. It’s not like you’re alone in that, why should you be ashamed of it just because you’re in the public spotlight. Hundreds of other rich daddy’s kept their sons from fighting and dying in Vietnam, why should you be any different.

Tell them that you didn’t serve one fucking day in Alabama because quite frankly you didn’t feel like it. You had been raised your whole life being told that you were special and having mommy and daddy take care of you and get you out of jams, so you didn’t feel like this was such a big deal. If anyone is to blame it’s not you, it’s your mom and dad, or maybe even the National Guard for expecting someone as privileged as you to show up. They should not only expect that you’ll show up whenever you feel like it but be happy if you show up at all.

Tell them you were off making important political connections, which is far more important that serving our country. How on earth were you supposed to manage being appointed President by a Republican controlled Supreme Court without building a good ole boy network from the ground up. You don’t get those kind of connections in the National Guard.

Tell them you were off planning what to do after you were appointed President. I mean you can’t just come up with this stuff overnight. You don’t decide to completely re-write our national energy laws to help your corporate friends, or help your corporate friends completely destroy the environment by making our environmental legislation laxer, you don’t come up with that stuff when you’re busy having to be bothered to show up to your Air National Guard duty.

Just tell them the truth Mr. President, I’m sure everyone will understand.

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Constitutional Bigotry

February 24, 2004 By Leave a Comment

According to this AP article, Bush is going to back an Amendment banning gay marriage. (Also I just found out he held a news conference of some sort discussing this.) Bush can now officially be known as a war loving, hate mongering leader that has rarely been equivocated in the history of the world.

It is rather shocking that Bush would suddenly feel the need to take a stand on this issue, what with it being an election year and all. Bush could give a shit whether or not gay marriages did or didn’t happen. He’s a politician for Christ’s sake. Everyone knows that today’s politicians don’t take stands. They take sides. And that side is usually the side of the ultra-rich or the mega-religious.

The people who oppose gay marriages and are actually vocal about it are the same people who will actually get off their ass and vote. It allows a vocal minority to push their opinons and beliefs onto the majority because we never stand up and do anything about it.

I was talking to a gay friend of mine who lives in Columbus, Ohio. He was telling me there is a large gay community in Columbus but that, for the most part, the community itself isn’t very politically active. Not to just point fingers at the gay community, the liberal community in general is, to be kind, less politically active than the more vocal “right”.

We need to understand that the time of live and let live has passed us by. While we are busy living, the people in charge are busy doing everything they can to take away our freedoms and force their moral beliefs onto everyone else. Our rights, freedoms and jobs are being taken right out from under us while we are busy “living”.

Why does this happen? Why did Bush make this decision today?

Because he knows that the right wing minority out there is nearly frothing at the mouth to vote for a President that helps pass any law that’s a Law for Jesus©. Furthermore, he knows that the left wing majority has, in the past, shown a willingness to sit back and take it.

It’s time for us to stop being the silent majority. To stop being intimidated by the bullying tactics of the right wing. To start calling them on their bullshit and their blatant lies and propaganda. It’s time for us to put that hateful, judgemental and scared vocal minority back in its place.

Take action, get involved. Let your voice be heard, no matter how small, every act can count for something. Start calling your Congressmen and your Representatives. Let them know where you stand on the issues. Educate yourself. Read books, find websites that keep you up to date on the issues. A couple of good ones are www.moveon.org and just for up to the minute info www.atrios.blogspot.com has a lot of info you might never hear of otherwise, and there are a ton of others. Speak up, on the train, the bus in the mall, if you get the chance to talk about what you believe in do it.

The time to live and let live is gone. It’s now time for action.

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The Buying of the President

February 22, 2004 By Leave a Comment

I just got the book The Buying of the President 2004. Thought I’d share just a little of the interesting information I’ve got from just leafing through it. The top 10 career patrons of George W. Bush.

George W. Bush

1. Enron Corporation, Houston $597,625
2. Merill Lynch & Company Inc., New York $441,550
3. Vinson & Elkins LLP., Houston $399,150
4. Bass Brothers Enterprises Inc., Fort Worth $378,427
5. Credit Suisse First Boston, New York $373,200
6. MBNA Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware $358,791
7. International Bank of Commerce/ Sanchez
Companies, Laredo, Texas $343,250
8. Goldman Sachs Group, New York $274,049
9. Haynes and Boone LLP, Dallas $271,850
10. Sterling Chemicals Inc., Houston $260,000

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