Results tagged “Bush” from Michael Pellegrini's Blog and Rants and Stuff

It really kills me how Bush has been touting his record in the last week or so, listing as one of his major accomplishments that since 9/11, there have been no further foreign terrorist attacks on US soil.

With his approval rating running at a meager 22% - the lowest rating in history for a sitting president, I guess Bush feels like he has to try and clear his name. But his arguments don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Let’s take a quick look backwards and examine the validity of Bush’s claims.

Okay, Bill Clinton served from 1993 till 2001. There was one actual foreign terrorist attack on the US during Clinton’s presidency – the February 26, 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center where six people were killed.

However, since the attack took place only a little over one month from the time Clinton took office, it’s kind of hard to lay the blame on his administration.

Okay, so who was the slacker president that let this 1993 bombing happen? Why it was daddy Bush, that’s who. George H.W. Bush served as president from 1989 to 1993.

Looking back from 1993, we find that, well – there really aren’t any other attacks by foreign terrorists on American soil.

A picture of Sarah Palin at her best.

I just can't believe anyone is taking Sarah Palin seriously any more.

In picking Palin for his running mate, it looks like John McCain was trying to appeal to women voters and “just plain folks.” And initially, his strategy appeared to work. It gave him a good boost in the polls.

A young, vibrant woman – a former beauty contestant and now governor of Alaska at the tender age of 44, she’s certainly a rising star – “Sarah Barracuda” – what a great nickname. And topping it off, she’s very, very conservative. Basically, she was a dream candidate for the republicans. The perfect foil to attract the disgruntled Hillaryites.

However, if you take a close look at Palin, things start to fall apart.

First, there was the interview with Katie Couric, where Palin stumbled badly. Question: How does being governor of Alaska prepare you for foreign affairs? Answer: because Alaska sits right next to Russia. Here's the clip, and then another clip here. The whole interview was pretty much a disaster.

Jim McDermott Does It Again

Seattle (AP) – Riding the success of his revelations of a cell phone conversation featuring former Speaker of The House, Newt Gingrich, Congressman Jim McDermott (D – Seattle) today made public the transcript of a new cell phone conversation – this one between President George W. Bush and presumed Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain (R – Arizona).

Mr. John W. Dean, a ham radio operator in the Washington DC area, recorded the conversation on June 4th by accident. After sitting on the tape for several weeks, debating what to do, Mr. Dean finally decided to approach Mr. McDermott with the tape on July 12th.

In a press conference today, Congressman McDermott stated, “After conferring with my attorney and my friends and my family, I’ve decided to come forward and make a transcript of the call between Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain available to the public.” Mr. McDermott continued, “Privacy concerns aside, I think it’s important that government be as transparent as possible and the public has a right and a duty to know the full story about its leaders.”

According to Mr. McDermott, independent experts have verified the authenticity of the tape.

Initial reaction from the Whitehouse was to deny the existence of the tape, then later, characterizing it as a bad practical joke. But yet later this afternoon, when confronted with certain facts guaranteeing the tape’s authenticity, Whitehouse Spokesperson Dana Perino issued a curt, “No comment,” then moments later stated Mr. Bush would have a formal reply about the tape later tonight.

Despite repeated attempts to contact the McCain campaign, Presidential candidate McCain’s spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

We’ve all heard the excuses on TV. Oil company executives sitting in front of congress, answering questions about why gas prices are so high, and explaining away their record profits.

“Well we’re really only making pennies on the dollar. The profits aren’t really that high.”

“We don’t have any control over gasoline prices. The prices are all set by market forces”

“We need more refining capacity and we need to drill in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.”

I find it totally amazing that anyone at all would believe the current gasoline prices are not 100% wholly contrived by the oil companies.

The facts are that 2006 and 2007 were the very best years ever for Exxon Mobile: in 2007, Exxon surpassed the 2006 windfall of $39.5 Billion with a record smashing profit of $40.6 Billion.

The number two US oil company, Chevron’s 2007 earnings were up 9% over 2006, with record profits of $18.7 Billion. Put that in with similar profits from Shell and ConocoPhillips, and you have over $100 Billion in profits from the oil industry in the United States in just one year. Click here for the news story from US News and World Reports.

Of course, that $100 Billion in profits really isn’t such a big deal – pennies on the dollar.

What a load of tripe! These guys must use the same accountants as the movie studios – like where you can have a blockbuster movie that does $100 million in the first weekend, but by creative bookkeeping, it doesn’t show a profit. Complete and utter bullshit.

Nope. What we really have here is a Texas oilman for president, and he’s simply paying his buddies back.

The oil companies are jacking up the prices, deliberately, simply because they can – and no one can do a god damned thing about it. They’ve got protection.

A Puppet Government In Iraq Equals Disaster for the US

"The will of the people... is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object." --Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waring, 1801. ME 10:236

After five years of trying to impose an artificial democracy onto the people of Iraq, it’s clear the experiment is failing.

Bush’s surge is winding down, and without the American “cops” on every corner, violence is again returning to the streets in Iraq.

Why? Because Nouri al-Maliki’s government is not popularly supported by the Iraqi people. It’s a puppet government set up and maintained by the United States. And puppet governments just don’t work. They didn’t work, for example, in Vietnam, and they won’t work in Iraq.

Why not? Let’s look at some facts:

In Iraq, Shi’a Muslims comprise over 65% of the population; Sunni Muslims about 37%. Christians constitute a much smaller minority.

Through the Ba’ath Party, Sunni Muslims have ruthlessly controlled Iraq, subjugating the Shi’a as well as all the other religious minorities since 1963. Much of that time, the Ba’ath Party worked hand in hand with the CIA, including during most of Saddam’s reign – Saddam really didn’t fall from grace with the CIA or the US generally, until after he invaded Kuwait in 1990. That, of course, precipitated the First Gulf War.

Then came the current war.