Bloomberg.com: WorldwideAren't you glad we're burdening our children and grandchildren with a $2.4 trillion bill, for a war designed to keep us dependent on oil, the product making these countries rich and keeping these guys in power? It's a brilliant strategy. Take out a ton of loans from China, which makes us vulnerable to their political whims. This then devalues the Dollar, which makes us more vulnerable to all other countries. OK, then with that loaned money, fight a war which triples the price of oil (which also puts pressure on the Dollar) and enriches some of the worst dictators on earth, all the while being a bully, which drives them together to join forces against us. Finally, enact policies which run counter to your rhetoric of spreading freedom and democracy, thus destroying the U.S.'s reputation, Constitution, and symbol of hope to the world all at once.
All these KNOWN, sunk costs have been spent on THEORY (one that no one should believe anymore) that if you kill SOME guys living in the desert who hate America and wish to do it harm, you will stop people from hating America and doing it harm.
It's time to bring them home. Can't you see we are making our country weaker and less safe? Our country's strength was in our financial health and our political example to the world. We beat the USSR with these things, not by invading and occupying.
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Russia
on Friday gave the clearest indication yet that it was ready to send
uranium to fuel Iran's first atomic power station, upping the stakes in
a diplomatic crisis surrounding Tehran's nuclear program.
Ynetnews.com
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When we look back someday at the catastrophe that was the Bush
administration, we will think of many things: the tragedy of the Iraq
war, the shame of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, the erosion of civil
liberties. The damage done to the American economy does not make
front-page headlines every day, but the repercussions will be felt
beyond lifetimes.
The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush: Politics & Power: vanityfair.comPowered by ScribeFire.
Isn't strange that the most popular Republican president had the same principles as Ron Paul. Remember that Ron Paul was one of the four Congressman to support Reagan's candidacy for president. You could just take Ron Paul's likeness and impose it on this video and it would be very hard to tell the difference.At the 4:00 minute mark, he denigrates those that would trade their freedoms for security. At the 17:00 minute mark he suggests that the U.S. gives too much money to countries in foreign aid, and that the money we give is used for illegitimate purposes.
Money, Banking and the Federal ReserveThis video is 41 minutes long, but if you want to learn about the Fed, this is a good starting point. As Americans we hear a lot about how our country is based on free-markets and against central planning. But, as you learn more and more about how our system really works, you'll find we are a lot more "planned" than many think. The Fed is nothing more than a tool for the federal government to increase its spending secretly, without taxpayers realizing it. The inflation that creates is a tax. It is a tax not many talk about, but it one of the most important.
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Every aspect of Bush's foreign policy has now collapsed. Every dream of neoconservatism has become a nightmare. Every doctrine has turned to dust. The influence of the United States has reached a nadir, its lowest point since before World War II, when the country was encased in isolationism.
Bush's old world disorder | SalonPowered by ScribeFire.
Already this year, 25 million Americans have had background checks by the federal government, a number that's risen every year since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Ohio.com - APThat's nearly 10% of all Americans, and around 20% of adults, maybe 30% not counting senior citizens...just this year.
Only 36 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the GOP “does an excellent or good job” of “standing up for traditional GOP positions” on issues like reducing the size of government, cutting taxes and promoting conservative social issues.That’s a decline of 25 points since July 2004. In fact, it’s the lowest Republican rating for the GOP since Pew began tracking the issue in 2000.And while the Democratic Party had only a slight lead in July 2004 as the party “better able to manage the federal government” and as the party that is “more honest and ethical,” today Democrats lead both categories by double-digit margins.
Poll finds GOP in worse shape than ever - David Paul Kuhn - Politico.comPowered by ScribeFire.
The way Bush sold the country on going to war against Iraq is well traced by Draper in quotations from speeches in late 2002. Saddam “is a man who would likely team up with Al Qaeda,” Bush said on Nov. 3. Later the same day: “This is a man who has had contacts with Al Qaeda. ... He’s the kind of guy that would love nothing more than to train terrorists and provide arms to terrorists.” The next day: “Imagine a scenario where an Al Qaeda-type organization uses Iraq as an arsenal.” And repeatedly, Draper says, Bush used the line: “This is a man who told the world he wouldn’t have weapons of mass destruction, promised he wouldn’t have them. He’s got them.”
Dead Certain - Robert Draper - The Terror Presidency - Jack Goldsmith - Book Review - New York TimesPowered by ScribeFire.
On October 8, 2007, the US Court of Appeals granted the government's request for a full-panel hearing in US v. Warshak, centering on the right of privacy for stored electronic communications. The position the US gov't is taking, if accepted, may mean that the government can read anybody's e-mail at any time without a warrant.
No email privacy rights under Constitution, US gov claims | The Register
General Musharraf’s move to seize emergency powers and abandon the Constitution left Bush administration officials close to their nightmare: an American-backed military dictator who is risking civil instability in a country with nuclear weapons and an increasingly alienated public.
Musharraf Leaves White House in Lurch - New York Times
The White House plans to try implementing as much new policy as it can by administrative order while stepping up its confrontational rhetoric with Congress after concluding that President Bush cannot do much business with the Democratic leadership, administration officials said.According to those officials, Bush and his advisers blame Democrats for the holdup of Judge Michael B. Mukasey's nomination to be attorney general, the failure to pass any of the 12 annual spending bills, and what they see as their refusal to involve the White House in any meaningful negotiations over the stalemated children's health-care legislation.
To Implement Policy, Bush to Turn to Administrative Orders - washingtonpost.comUsing more administrative orders to implement new "policy." I'm pretty sure that's not how Schoolhouse Rock told me the U.S. government works in its epic, "I'm only a bill."Powered by ScribeFire.
The U.S. spent at least $38 million to give Iraq's government a computerized accounting system -- and no one noticed when it was not working for a month, a report said Wednesday.It was the latest in a series of reports from the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., that detailed slow progress on some projects and waste and chaos in the management of another.
azdailysun.com - National News
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But something didn't seem right. The reporters were lobbing too many softballs. No one asked about trailers with formaldehyde for those made homeless by the fires. And the media seemed to be giving Johnson all day to wax on and on about FEMA's greatness...Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters. We're told the questions were asked by Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of external affairs, and by "Mike" Widomski, the deputy director of public affairs. Director of External Affairs John "Pat" Philbin asked a question, and another came, we understand, from someone who sounds like press aide Ali Kirin.
Al Kamen - FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA - washingtonpost.comRemember in elementary school when they told us that the U.S. had a government of, by, and for the people? I don't think that's true anymore, if it ever was.Powered by ScribeFire.
"This notion that presidents in our system of government don't have to carry out laws authorized by Congress is absolutely preposterous," the speaker said. "If that were the case - if Congress's laws are merely advisory - why would you need a veto?" A president who disapproves of a bill should say so in a veto message - that's why the Constitution gives him veto power. Bush's hundreds of signing statements are an "open power grab" that Americans should find intolerable. "We ought to be adamantly opposed to any claim that the president doesn't have to abide by laws that Congress has passed and he has signed."
Debating the scope of presidential power - The Boston GlobePlease read up and understand "signing statements" and their increased use.Powered by ScribeFire.
