randomduck

George W. Bush should simply shut up.

I mean, c’mon: calling Iran’s development of nuclear technology (which is equally likely to be for energy needs as weaponry, if not more so) a potential catalyst to World War III is ludicrous, reckless, and pedantic.

You, Mr. Bush, are a fool. You’re trying to pick a fight for the sake of picking a fight. It’s the same smoke screen that you brought up after things got boring in Afghanistan and you threatened Iraq, which we all know had nothing to do with the events of September 11, 2001!

And witness the quagmire we created: a civil war in which we play no role other than as catalyst for violence.

Iran is no pressing or major threat to the United States. Yes, it is a state that neither has a system of government that is like ours (though it’s not overly far removed, given the current situation in Washington, DC), nor is it fanatically Christian (two things that Bush and his neo-con buddies seem to think are the linchpins to “proper” government). But it is a state that is remarkably stable - something that should be lauded in the region, not demonized.

I know that Bush and his cronies - Cheney and Rice, as well as Rove, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz in the past - know nothing other than the “us-versus-them” politics of the Cold War, and have been trying their best to re-create the old system by creating a New American Empire. It’s foolish and amazingly shallow, and when Bush says that it’s his calling to do this, he inserts his religion into the matter.

Here’s a big clue for you, Mr. Bush: most of the people of the United States - to whom you should answer - do not ascribe to evangelical crusades in our name. Indeed, there are many of us who don’t ascribe to your god or to religion, in general.

And guess what: those of us who aren’t religious are not amoral heathens. As has been the case many times in history, having religion does not guarantee moral character. And in that way, Mr. Bush, you give a very bad name to Christ’s teachings.

I doubt Christ would’ve wanted you in his church.

And if you dangle the prospect of World War III over our heads in what seemed like a flip comment at your afternoon “presser,” you come across as a man so removed from morality that it leaves me wanting your input out of our international affairs equation as soon as possible.

As one of your predecessors once said: “speak softly, but carry a big stick.” Don’t spout words out of your ass, because it makes you look like one.

And one more thing, Mr. Bush: if you’re going to bash public health insurance, then I encourage you to drop the health care that you get with your current occupation. That is public health care, after all, and if you’re against it, put up or shut up.

Popularity: 67% [?]

He does not speak for me.

He does not speak for intelligent people.

He lies.

He lies to his advisers - as they undoubtedly do to him.

He lies to the people of the United States.

He lies to the world.

Under his watch, the United States has become less safe from terrorism.

Under his watch, the moral footing of the United States has been completely eroded.

He has done nothing to help the people of the United States who need help.

He has spent more money and effort on propping up a corrupt régime in Iraq, one that is not our ally in any sense, rather than help the hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the Gulf Coast states.

He has allowed Osama Bin Laden to run free because he needs a “them” for us to have a de facto enemy - this to satisfy his military “strategists” who know only Cold War politics.

To that end, his meddling in Middle Eastern affairs has, in large part, reignited the Cold War - something his own father helped bring to an end.

The president has no idea of where the actual first line of securing our country lies: in dealing with the causes of why other states and organizations dislike us.

Here’s a hint: it’s not Iraq.

This president is a complete and utter failure on all counts.

He is disingenuous.

He is disgusting.

And he needs to be told that he is no longer the only cowboy in town.

To the Democrats: taking cautious, calculated, semi-coherent baby steps is not leadership: please grow a spine and stand up to the criminal activities of the executive branch.

To all members of congress: do not heed the president’s plea for more funding for our misguided adventures in Iraq.

Cut the funding.

He keeps saying “give it six more months.” Time and again, our congress has rolled over and bought the lies.

And that’s what they are: lies.

Bring our troops home now.

End this madness before it completely destroys our country.

Popularity: 63% [?]

Some things that have crossed my mind today:

• WAMU’s decision to relegate their bluegrass programming to the HD range is flat-out stupid. The powers-that-be at WAMU continue to prove that they know how to implode a local radio station, creating more of the same (political talk radio and over-syndicated NPR content) rather than provide a format that’s unique. If anybody from the “home of Kojo” is reading this: take a long, hard look at WFUV, KRCL or WXPN to see how independent public radio is done. Seriously: we don’t need rehash of stuff that every other NPR affiliate is doing.
• The first public beta release of Eudora’s new mail client, code named “Penelope”, is a major letdown. Let me summarize: it’s essentially Thunderbird with Eudora’s icons and sounds. If I were a Eudora user, I’d be miffed that we’ve waited all this time for a version of Thunderbird with new curtains. Where are the features of the old program that made it a standout? Are they in some internal build that will see the light of day in 2012? Disappointing, Mr. Dorner and open-source dev crowd - simply disappointing.
• It was refreshing to hear a Republican consultant on this past Sunday’s Meet The Press admit that Fox News is the official media outlet for the GOP. Finally: a theocon who says something that isn’t mealy-mouthed and half (if that) true!
• I’m still not sold on any of the current crop of presidential candidates. However, there are some who continue to inch their way down in favor, including Bill Richardson (miffing the question on whether being gay is a choice or genetic, and doing an “I don’t know” on the $50 billion Iraq funding bill).

Now, off to a ball game….

Popularity: 100% [?]

If you believe that we are going the wrong direction in our Middle East military engagements, please vote against President Bush’s request for an additional $50 million in emergency war spending.

That the president is already requesting such funding before the Patraeus shill report is issued shows that Bush will turn a blind eye to the reality of the situation in Iraq. We are losing this war, we have exhausted all military options, the surge is not working (nor will it ever work), and democracy can’t be force-fed to those who don’t want it.

Mr. President, your allusion to Vietnam was ironic, especially given that Nixon was loathe to accept the reality that our vaunted - and supposedly “perfect” - system of governance is not a cookie-cutter solution to the world’s political ills. Perhaps, Mr. President, you would have learned this first hand had you not evaded your military responsibilities.

But no. You have shown that history is not something to be learned and used as a roadmap for progress, but some fictitious fairy tale that can be re-interpreted to serve your own gains. It’s a strategy that was used to great effect by such leaders as Lenin, Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Mao, Pinochet and Amin:

• distort history
• create an “us vs. them” conflict where one did not previously exist
• try and frame the issue as a “holy,” ideological struggle
• fight symptoms rather than fix causes

It’s time for congress to listen to its constituents: stop this madness now.

It’s not true that voting against this funding is a sign of weakness on national defense. Spending additional, obscene amounts of money on Iraq is not defending our home soil. All it is doing is entrenching our men and women, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, friends and neighbors in a land where they serve no purpose other than to reduce our country’s favor in the world view. All the additional spending does is further weaken security on our home soil: not just the decimation of the National Guard, but vital services that the middle class needs in order to survive.

So, dear members of congress, please do something to help all of the citizens of the United States: vote against the continued funding of the Iraq military action.

Popularity: 66% [?]

Keith Olbermann is a rare entity in journalism these days: a man who knows no fear, and who is willing to speak things that the corporate shills who run the major media outlets dare not say for fear of offending the Bush propaganda machine.

And last night, as he has many times before, Olbermann said what needed to be said: rather than choose a scapegoat for his own failures in foreign policy, war and statecraft, Mr. Bush should:

Go to Baghdad now and fulfill, finally, your military service obligations…. Go there and fight, your war…yourself.

It’s a great piece - read and see the whole thing at Crooks & Liars.

I’m very glad that the powers-that-be at NBC Universal are giving Olbermann a platform with which he can bring us his commentary, reporting and interviews.

Popularity: 71% [?]

Tonight’s Countdown featured Keith Olbermann’s most pointed, focused and necessary commentary on the corrupt folly and danger that is the presidency of George Walker Bush that has ever been set to video or audio archive.

Olbermann’s point: Bush must resign to preserve what’s left of this delicate union we call the United States of America.

And I agree with him 100 percent. And just to make things right: Cheney should resign, too.

And both should be tried for crimes against the United States and the people of this great country.

Crooks & Liars has the full video, as well as a full transcript of Olbermann’s powerful piece, and I urge everybody - Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative, American or non-American - to watch the piece, hear it out, and simplydo something to bring back a true moral center to the United States.

Bush and his theocon friends have so warped the definitions of what “morality” is that it’s no wonder that the United States is no longer held in high esteem by most of the world. Recent elections in France and Germany, and the turnover of power in the United Kingdom, point to this reality: the world is no longer willing to take our word on anything. We are no longer “The Greatest Nation”; rather, we are listing ever closer to the edge of irrelevance on the world political stage.

Since taking office in January 2001, the Bush administration has done more damage to this country than any foreign or separatist power ever managed to do before. The Constitution is in tatters. Civil liberties are mostly a thing of the past. Intelligent reason is damned by the powers that be, replaced by pseudo-religious zealotry and closed-mindedness that borders on the cult-like.

And congress needs to wake up and take action.
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Popularity: 69% [?]