9/11/01: Where Was George?

September 11 is often said to be the defining moment in the Bush presidency, even of modern history. How strange, therefore, that Bush's behavior that morning--along with that of his Administration--is almost never examined in any detail. This is all the more incredible when one considers the fact that 9/11 is among the most exhaustively chronicled days in human history and Bush among its most heavily covered individuals. No less odd has been the media's willingness to let the many inconsistencies in White House stories pass unexamined. They seem content instead to let Showtime tell the story, Leni Riefenstahl-style.
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The various accounts offered by the White House are almost all inconsistent with one another. On December 4, 2001, Bush was asked, "How did you feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?" Bush replied, "I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower--the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident. But I was whisked off there. I didn't have much time to think about it." Bush repeated the same story on January 5, 2002, stating, "First of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error, and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake...."

This is false. Nobody saw the jetliner crash into the first tower on television until a videotape surfaced a day later. What's more, Bush's memory not only contradicts every media report of that morning, it also contradicts what he said on the day of the attack. In his speech to the nation that evening, Bush said, "Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans." Again, this statement has never been satisfactorily explained. No one besides Bush has ever spoken of these "emergency plans," and the mere idea of their implementation is contradicted by Bush's claim that at the time, he believed the crash to have been a case of pilot error.
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What we do know is that Bush continued to read to the children and pose for the cameras long after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the National Military Command Center, the Pentagon, the White House, the Secret Service and Canada's Strategic Command were all aware that three jetliners had been hijacked. The President's entourage hung around a full fifty minutes after CNN broadcast the news of the first crash. Half an hour after the first plane hit, Bush told the children, "Hoo! These are great readers. Very impressive! Thank you all so very much for showing me your reading skills. I bet they practice, too. Don't you? Reading more than they watch TV? Anybody do that? Read more than you watch TV? [Hands go up] Oh that's great! Very good. Very important to practice! Thanks for having me. I'm very impressed."

White House staff members claimed that Bush remained with the children so as not to "upset" or "alarm" them. This is a truly bewildering excuse. If the country was under attack, Bush might be forgiven for upsetting a few schoolkids. If the President's life was in danger, then so was the life of every little child in that room. At the time, fighter jets had been dispatched to defend New York City. But according to one of the fighter pilots, it would have done no good to catch up to one of the hijacked planes before it landed in a murderous explosion at the next population center. The only person with the authority to order the plane to be shot down, noted the pilot, was the President, who was still reading to schoolchildren.

The panic motif runs through the rest of the President's actions that day. While the presidential motorcade did finally head for the airport, Bush is alleged to have spoken on the phone to Cheney and ordered all flights nationwide grounded. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta has also tried to take credit for the order, but according to Slate, this too is false, though "FAA officials had begged [the reporter] to maintain the fiction." In fact, according to USA Today, it was FAA administrator Ben Sliney who issued the order. Amazingly, Air Force One took off with no military protection. It remained unprotected in the sky for more than an hour, though Florida is filled with Air Force bases just minutes away with planes that are supposed to be on twenty-four-hour alert.

Bush's aides later offered, and retracted, the excuse that he spent the day flying around the country because of threats to Air Force One believed to have been received at the White House. What nobody has ever explained is this: If you think Air Force One is to be attacked, why go up in Air Force One?

I don't have the answers to these questions. But why is no one asking them?

People interpret this as saying "Bush Knew!" No, it isn't saying that, it is saying that he failed to act that day, and lied about it that very night in a speech to all of America. 9/11 needs investigating because there were massive faliures at every link in the chain. America was prepared, in had systems in place, and on that day they all failed. 9/11 needs to be investigated because our "allies" Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were involved, and Saddam was not, but we act as if the opposite is ture. We need to investigate 9/11 because the only thing reported that seems factually true is this (thanks to Michael Moore for the clipping):

The following is an interview with the First Couple from the current issue of one of my favorite magazines, Ladies Home Journal (Oct. '03). They are asked about what September 11, 2001, was like for them personally, and, although over 3,000 people had just perished, George W. was able to find some humor by the end of that day:

Peggy Noonan (the interviewer): You were separated on September 11th. What was it like when you saw each other again?

Laura Bush: Well, we just hugged. I think there was a certain amount of security in being with each other than being apart.

George W. Bush: But the day ended on a relatively humorous note. The agents said, "you'll be sleeping downstairs. Washington's still a dangerous place." And I said no, I can't sleep down there, the bed didn't look comfortable. I was really tired, Laura was tired, we like our own bed. We like our own routine. You know, kind of a nester. I knew I had to deal with the issue the next day and provide strength and comfort to the country, and so I needed rest in order to be mentally prepared. So I told the agent we're going upstairs, and he reluctantly said okay. Laura wears contacts, and she was sound asleep. Barney was there. And the agent comes running up and says, "We're under attack. We need you downstairs," and so there we go. I'm in my running shorts and my T-shirt, and I'm barefooted. Got the dog in one hand, Laura had a cat, I'm holding Laura --

Laura Bush: I don't have my contacts in , and I'm in my fuzzy house slippers --

George W. Bush: And this guy's out of breath, and we're heading straight down to the basement because there's an incoming unidentified airplane, which is coming toward the White House. Then the guy says it's a friendly airplane. And we hustle all the way back up stairs and go to bed.

Mrs. Bush: [LAUGHS] And we just lay there thinking about the way we must have looked.

Peggy Noonan (interviewer): So the day starts in tragedy and ends in Marx Brothers.

George W. Bush: THAT'S RIGHT-- WE GOT A LAUGH OUT OF IT!

(end)

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Wouldn't it be something to hear a political candidate to talk about the true treasure of America, the true importance of calm political discourse? Wouldn't it be something to hear a candidate speak of ideas that make you realize there is a spark of intelligence behind the words? Isn't it pathetic that we hear nothing of that from the President?

Here is Clark on the Bill Maher show (full transcript here)

MAHER: Okay. [applause] I’m just – I’m just wondering, of all the people who has the credentials to say, “liberal” is not a bad word, I’m wondering if I could get you to say that.

CLARK: Well, I’ll say it right now.

MAHER: Good for you.

CLARK: We live in a liberal democracy.

MAHER: Right.

CLARK: That’s what we created in this country. [applause] That’s our—

MAHER: That’s right. Thank you.

CLARK: That’s in our Constitution. [applause continue] Let me follow on this, okay? I think we should be very clear on this. You know, this country was founded on the principals of the Enlightenment.

MAHER: Right.

CLARK: It was the idea that people could talk, reason, have dialogue, discuss the issues. It wasn’t founded on the idea that someone would get stuck by a divine inspiration and know everything right from wrong. I mean, people who founded this country had religion, they had strong beliefs, but they believed in reason, in dialogue, in civil discourse. We can’t lose that in this country. We’ve got to get it back. [applause]

MAHER: Thank you.

CLARK: I’d like to follow that. Can I follow that?

MAHER: Yes.

CLARK: Because, you know, a lot of people have said, “What are you interested in? Why would you even consider running?” And they say, “Isn’t it just about Iraq?” It really isn’t. Iraq is part of it. I think the foreign policy has serious problems.

MAHER: Right.

CLARK: But I think the economy and the way the administration has dealt with the economy has serious problems. But more fundamental than that, it’s about what kind of country we want to live in. I think this nation wants open, transparent government. I think it likes a two-party system. I think it likes to hear reasoned dialogue, not labeling, name-calling and hateful politics. [applause] And I think 2004 is the election that voters have to put that back in.

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Jay Leno's opening monologue earlier this week:

"Today, retired General Wesley Clark announced he is running for president of the US. Pretty amazing guy. Four star general, graduated first in his class at West Point, supreme commander of NATO, served combat in Vietnam. What, he won the bronze star, silver star, the purple heart. Wounded in battle. See, I'm no political expert, but that sounds pretty good next to choking on a pretzel, falling off a scooter and dropping the dog."

Thanks MediaWhoresOnline!

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Where are you on the list?

globalrichlist.com

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Steel Tariffs Appear to Have Backfired on Bush

In a decision largely driven by his political advisers, President Bush set aside his free-trade principles last year and imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel to help out struggling mills in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, two states crucial for his reelection.

Eighteen months later, key administration officials have concluded that Bush's order has turned into a debacle. Some economists say the tariffs may have cost more jobs than they saved, by driving up costs for automakers and other steel users. Politically, the strategy failed to produce union endorsements and appears to have hurt Bush with workers in Michigan and Tennessee -- also states at the heart of his 2004 strategy.

"They tried to play politics, and it looked like it was working for a while," said Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist with ties to the administration. "But now it's fallen apart."

This actually sums everything about Bush up. He doesn't stand for anything. Every decision has a political or pro-business motive (which in the end is also political, as that is where is campaign cash comes from).

He is not a leader.

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Kennedy Says Iraq War Case a 'Fraud'

Okay, its not like Kennedy is being brave or noble or anything by mentioning this now, when it is should be obvious to everyone. But it isn't obvious to everyone, so this is good news. Another nudge towards reality. And Kennedy was one of the few (23) senators last October to vote against giving Bush Carte Blanche for doing what ever he wanted in Iraq.

BOSTON - The case for going to war against Iraq was a fraud "made up in Texas" to give Republicans a political boost, Sen. Edward Kennedy said Thursday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Kennedy also said the Bush administration has failed to account for nearly half of the $4 billion the war is costing each month. He said he believes much of the unaccounted-for money is being used to bribe foreign leaders to send in troops.
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The Massachusetts Democrat also expressed doubts about how serious a threat Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) posed to the United States in its battle against terrorism. He said administration officials relied on "distortion, misrepresentation, a selection of intelligence" to justify their case for war.

"There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office showed that only about $2.5 billion of the $4 billion being spent monthly on the war can be accounted for by the Bush administration. emphasis added.

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Some TCS Store updates for this Friday:


The return of the military bear

and


A new shirt noting why we all should always be hoping for Bush's good health

and we've also got a new "I Miss America" Trucker hat.

So check out the store, lots of things are on sale this week (not sure why).

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Oh, Clark's official web site is up.

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Tom The Dancing Bug

Bush must save the world from a 50 mile asteroid! Watch him jump to action and lead! First, drill for oil, then expand the patriot act, cut taxes, and invade Iran!

Brilliant.

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Bush Lauds Mich. Power Plant As Model of Clean Air Policy

I can see clearly now his brain is gone....

MONROE, Mich., Sept. 15 -- Everyone agrees the Detroit Edison power plant here, which President Bush visited today, is a model -- but of what?

Bush came to demonstrate how, under his policies, power plants could be expanded and upgraded without any increase in air pollution. He said Monroe is a "living example" of why the administration this summer eased clean-air rules for the nation's oldest, coal-fired power plants -- allowing the plant to modernize and "continue doing a good job of protecting the quality of the air."

"You're good stewards of the quality of the air," the president told the Detroit Edison workers and executives.

Environmentalists and a number of Democratic lawmakers see Bush's visit here as a symbol of something entirely different. They say the Monroe plant is one of the nation's dirtiest polluters and, under Bush's plan, would not have to reduce pollution for the next 17 years. According to projections by Bush's Environmental Protection Agency, the plant is predicted to continue pouring its current annual level of 102,700 tons of sulfur dioxide into the air each year through 2020.
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Environmental groups said Monroe is an example, but not a good one. They cited a 2000 study by Abt Associates, a group the EPA has used to gauge health effects of pollution, showing that the amount of pollution from the plant is responsible for 293 premature deaths, 5,740 asthma attacks and 50,298 lost workdays each year. They also cited an EPA model of Bush's initiative that showed the plant was not forecast to cut its sulfur dioxide.

The plant also produces 45,900 tons of nitrogen oxide and 810 pounds of mercury, the other two pollutants covered under Bush's initiative, and 17.6 million tons of carbon dioxide, which is not capped under Bush's plan.

"I'm amazed that the president would choose this plant to highlight, given how dirty it is, and how much dirtier it could become because of the administration's rollbacks of clean-air rules," said Becky Stanfield, a lawyer with U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

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Bush: No evidence Saddam was involved in 9/11 attacks

Bush: There are no weapons, there was no connection to 9/11, but Saddam was awful, so there.

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Hunter S. Thompson becomes coherent enough to let us know what he things about Mr. Whistle Ass.

The Bush League

Why are we seeing George Bush on TV every two hours for nine or ten days at a time, like some kind of mutated Mr. Rogers clone? Something is dangerously wrong in any country where a monumentally-Failed backwoods politician can scare our national TV networks so totally that they will give him anything he wants.

The answer to that one comes in two parts. One is that Bush will have to run for re-election next year, which three months ago seemed like a harmless waltz -- but which is now looking like a dangerous gang-fight that Bush might not win because his overall game plan for Iraq was so hopelessly flawed that it could never have been successful. It was arrogant and ignorant and stupid, and now the vultures are coming home to roost.

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Man Fails in Uncontested School Board Race

Miner was on Tuesday's ballot, unopposed for a school board seat in south Mississippi County. No one voted for him -- and the candidate didn't even cast a ballot for himself.

Officials say Tuesday was the first time in Mississippi County an entire precinct didn't vote.

Okay, please repeat after me:



Thanks Jer for the story.

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Search

For those of you who want to see how often Diebold, or Whistle Ass, or Neil Bush comes up on this fine site, we now have a Search feature.

Soon we'll even link to it from the right site of the page. Someday.

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Editorial: Truth / Too little of it on Iraq

It starts with:

Dick Cheney is not a public relations man for the Bush administration, not a spinmeister nor a political operative. He's the vice president of the United States, and when he speaks in public, which he rarely does, he owes the American public the truth.

In his appearance on "Meet the Press" Sunday, Cheney fell woefully short of truth. On the subject of Iraq, the same can be said for President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz. But Cheney is the latest example of administration mendacity, and therefore a good place to start in holding the administration accountable. The list:

• Cheney repeated the mantra that the nation ignored the terrorism threat before Sept. 11. In fact, President Bill Clinton and his counterterrorism chief, Richard Clarke, took the threat very seriously, especially after the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000. By December, Clarke had prepared plans for a military operation to attack Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, go after terrorist financing and work with police officials around the world to take down the terrorist network.

Because Clinton was to leave office in a few weeks, he decided against handing Bush a war in progress as he worked to put a new administration together.

Instead, Clarke briefed national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Cheney and others. He emphasized that time was short and action was urgent. The Bush administration sat on the report for months and months. The first high-level discussion took place on Sept. 4, 2001, just a week before the attacks. The actions taken by the Bush administration following Sept. 11 closely parallel actions recommended in Clarke's nine-month-old plan. Who ignored the threat?

And goes on and on with many more examples, and ends with this:

Cheney also said that an investigation by the British had "revalidated the British claim that Saddam was, in fact, trying to acquire uranium in Africa -- what was in the State of the Union speech." The British investigation did nothing of the kind. A parliamentary investigative committee said the documents on the uranium are being reinvestigated, but that, based on the existence of those documents, the Blair government made a "reasonable" assertion and had not tried to deliberately mislead the British people.

To explore every phony statement in the vice president's "Meet the Press" interview would take far more space than is available. This merely points out some of the most egregious examples. Opponents of the war are fond of saying that "Bush lied and our soldiers died." In fact, they'd have reason to assert that "Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz lied and our soldiers died." It's past time the principals behind this mismanaged war were called to account for their deliberate misstatements.

I don't think this was the kind of press Rove wanted Bush to have after the war, but then, I'm not a professional.

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Seeking honesty in U.S. policy

During the gulf war in 1991, when I was in charge of the American Embassy in Baghdad, I placed a copy of Lewis Carroll's ``Alice in Wonderland'' on my office coffee table. I thought it conveyed far better than words ever could the weird world that was Iraq at that time, a world in which nothing was what it seemed: The several hundred Western hostages Saddam Hussein took during Desert Shield were not really hostages but ``guests.'' Kuwait was not invaded, but ``liberated.''

It is clearly time to dust the book off and again display it prominently, only this time because our own government has dragged the country down a rabbit hole, all the while trying to convince the American people that life in newly liberated Iraq is not as distorted as it seems.

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Rumsfeld Sees No Link Between Iraq, 9/11

So if you're keeping track (and the Administration really hopes you aren't):

There are no weapons of mass destruction
There was no nuclear weapons program
There is no connection between Iraq and 9/11 and al-Qaida

It was just a war for, you know, the heck of it.

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You've got a good connection? You've got 8 minutes to spare?

Then go see: The Voice of the Prophet

A truly chilling example of foreshadowing, The Voice of the Prophet is an interview with Rick Rescorla, the head of security for the investment firm Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Filmed on the 44th floor of the World Trade Center in 1998, Rescorla details the future of warfare long before Osama bin Laden became America's Most Wanted.

A retired Army colonel, veteran of combat in three wars and a survivor of the 1993 bombing of the twin towers (in which he saved the lives of hundreds of Morgan Stanley employees), Rescorla was killed in the WTC attacks of September 11, 2001. In this interview, Rescorla all but predicts the events that lead up to the September 11 attack and the war on terrorism that followed.

Thanks for the link Sy.

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Is it funny or is it scary?

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The administration of integrity

So you’re VP of the United States, that can’t possibly pay well, I mean, you don’t do anything; so it’s a good idea to have secondary income. Well Cheney’s got that covered, what with a little money (hundreds of thousands) coming in every year for Halliburton.

Halliburton? But didn’t Cheney just say this past Sunday "I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now for over three years."

Well, okay, that was what is called a “misstatement,” you know, a bald-faced lie.

So maybe the Democrats are right in asking for some investigations in how Halliburton seems to be getting these real nice billion dollar no bid contracts, but silly Democrats you know have to do that. There is an office at the Pentagon that is non-partisan that investigates contracts like this, it is called: The Defense Department’s inspector general office. They just got a new Chief of Staff so you know they are being given the respect they deserve and not being dragged into all the political muck that surrounds the Bush administration.

The new appointee is L. Jean Lewis. She used to work for the RTC (Resolution Trust Corp) and as an investigator initiated the whole White Water investigation. She also sold t-shirts on the site that said “President BITCH” about the Clintons. Yep she created the entire Whitewater – Ken Starr fiasco. But she was an honest investigator, that’s why the RTC started investigating her:

A far more serious threat to Republican plans occurred in July when the RTC finally drew up charges against Lewis and Iorio for an agency investigation, among them improper disclosure of confidential documents, secretly taping RTC employees (Lewis said the recorder "turned itself on"), keeping confidential documents at home and using government equipment for personal gain.

But don’t worry: On Aug. 22, in his first official act, Starr subpoenaed the RTC's records on Lewis. On Sept. 27, he ordered the RTC to suspend its investigation of her and instead impaneled a grand jury to investigate those at the RTC who were investigating Lewis. Lewis and Iorio were reinstated at the RTC, and testified against the Clintons in November l995 Senate hearings.

In Lewis' 1995 appearance before the Senate Whitewater committee, she was confronted with her "lying bastard" letter, and then was exposed as having lied about surreptitiously tape recording the RTC lawyer. Lewis collapsed into tears, was briefly hospitalized and has since dropped from sight. Starr continues to protect her and the Bush administration by keeping under wraps the RTC investigation into her activities.

It sounds like a sad story for such an honest and non-partisan person, but with this new appointment, you can see, all is well in Bush land.

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Like or Hate Michael Moore, he sometimes has something good to say:

A Citizen's Appeal to a General in a Time of War
(at Home)

September 12, 2003

Dear General Wesley Clark,

I've been meaning to write to you for some time. Two days after the Oscars, when I felt very alone and somewhat frightened by the level of hatred toward me for daring to suggest that we were being led into war for "fictitious reasons," one person stuck his neck out and came to my defense on national television.

And that person was you.

Aaron Brown had just finished interviewing me by satellite on CNN, and I had made a crack about me being "the only non-general allowed on CNN all week." He ended the interview and then turned to you, as you were sitting at the desk with him. He asked you what you thought of this crazy guy, Michael Moore. And, although we were still in Week One of the war, you boldly said that my dissent was necessary and welcome, and you pointed out that I was against Bush and his "policies," not the kids in the service. I sat in Flint with the earpiece still in my ear and I was floored -- a GENERAL standing up for me and, in effect, for all the millions who were opposed to the war but had been bullied into silence.
...

This is not an endorsement. For me, it's too early for that. I have liked Howard Dean (in spite of his flawed positions in support of some capital punishment, his grade "A" rating from the NRA, and his opposition to cutting the Pentagon budget). And Dennis Kucinich is so committed to all the right stuff. We need candidates in this race who will say the things that need to be said, to push the pathetically lame Democratic Party into have a backbone -- or get out of the way and let us have a REAL second party on the ballot.

But right now, for the sake and survival of our very country, we need someone who is going to get The Job done, period. And that job, no matter whom I speak to across America -- be they leftie Green or conservative Democrat, and even many disgusted Republicans -- EVERYONE is of one mind as to what that job is:

Bush Must Go.

This is war, General, and it's Bush & Co.'s war on us. It's their war on the middle class, the poor, the environment, their war on women and their war against anyone around the world who doesn't accept total American domination. Yes, it's a war -- and we, the people, need a general to beat back those who have abused our Constitution and our basic sense of decency.

The General vs. the Texas Air National Guard deserter! I want to see that debate, and I know who the winner is going to be.

The other night, when you were on Bill Maher's show, he began by reading to you a quote from Howard Dean where he (Dean) tried to run away from the word "liberal." Maher said to you, so, General, do you want to run away from that word? Without missing a beat, you said "No!" and you reminded everyone that America was founded as a "liberal democracy." The audience went wild with applause.

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Leadership For America - General (Ret.) Wesley K. Clark

Not his official site, but a site he's had since 2002. He's been thinking of running all along, I think. Anyway, here's the vision for that website, hopefully he channels that to his vision of our country:

Our Vision:

Leadership for America is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the national dialogue about America’s future. Through a wide range of activities, the organization aims to stimulate discussion about America and offer solutions to the challenges our country faces today.

We begin from a basic premise: that we need a strong America, respected not only for its military might or material wealth but also for its values, vision and generosity. We believe in an America that works with others to end misery as well as war, tyranny as well as terrorism. We seek renewal and fulfillment of the traditionally held belief of an America as a land of opportunity, as a beacon of hope, as a protector of rights and as a vibrant experiment in democracy.

As we enter a new century, Leadership for America seeks to bring Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs together on a strategy for moving this country forward. Through active citizen participation in this important national conversation, we can strengthen our leadership at home and redefine America's role in the world. For how the United States expresses its goals and strategies today will shape its global strength and character for years to come.

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Read up on our next Prez!

Wesley Clark FAQ: Clark’s Stand on the Issues

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Everyday Bush misleads in a new way.

That's the theme of Misleader.org, where you can visit each day to read a new Bush Lie (tm). You can even sign up to get the lie via email.

Here's today's:

President Bush Shortchanges Funding for His Own Emergency AIDS Program


The President heavily promoted his emergency relief for AIDS after announcing it at this year's State of the Union speech, signing a $15 billion law to be spent over five years. But while the President is publicly calling for full funding, he's actively seeking to underfund his own program.

The President said in Africa this July that "The House of Representatives and the United States Senate must fully fund this initiative, for the good of the people on this continent of Africa," Less than a week later, he sent a letter to Congress asking for 1/3rd less than full funding.

The law that Bush signed authorized $3 billion a year, but President Bush has requested only $2 billion in his 2004 budget. Despite the claim to fully fund the program in the State of the Union, the Bush Administration is now claiming that AIDS service organizations cannot absorb full funding immediately. The service organizations themselves disagree with the White House's position.

The Republican-led Foreign Operations subcommittee also disagreed when it approved a doubling of the commitment for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS from $200 million to $400 million, despite a letter from the White House requesting the lower figure. It was later scrapped by the full committee under White House pressure.

And the bottom line? The president's push for $1 billion less than authorized by Congress (and promoted by the President himself) blocks 1 million people from treatment and nearly 2.5 million new HIV infections that could be avoided.

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Clark is in. I'll update the link to his campaign site (from the Draft Clark site) as soon as he has one. This is good news all around.

Clark, 58, believes his four-star military service would counter Bush's political advantage as a wartime commander in chief, friends say. The retired general has been critical of the Iraq (war and Bush's postwar efforts, positions that would put him alongside announced candidates Howard Dean, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio as the most vocal anti-war candidates.

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The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 126

1. The Bush Administration
Ah, remember when we were going to get Saddam Hussein, find his weapons of mass destruction, pay for the war using nothing but Iraqi oil revenues, and the only thing getting in our way would be the Iraqi people throwing flowers at us? Yes, those were the days. Unfortunately things haven't quite gone according to the neo-con plan, and now we can't find Saddam or his weapons, the Iraqi people are blowing us and each other up with car bombs, and Our Great Leader had to make a groveling speech to the nation last week asking for another $87 billion to rebuild Iraq. And that's just for one year. That brings the total budget for the war - so far - to $166 billion. But pay no attention to the enormous $550 billion budget hole we're slowly digging, if another $87 billion is what's needed, then another $87 billion is what we shall pay. Just to put things in perspective, $87 billion is three times the amount Bush intends to spend on education this year, twice the budget for Homeland Security, and ten times the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency. To put it further into perspective, the 1991 Gulf War cost the United States about $20 billion total. And to put things even further into perspective, ask yourself how much of that $87 billion is going to go directly into Halliburton and the Carlyle Group's back pockets. Let's face it, Bush and Cheney probably don't even care about next year's election - in a few short years the CEO president has already managed to set himself up for the world's biggest golden handshake.

2. Congressional Republicans
Funny how one day Republicans are all "smaller goverment this" and "cut spending that," and then the next day they're "crack open the piggy bank and let's SHOP TILL WE DROP!" Last week Congressional Republicans gushed over Dubya's $87 billion request, practically soaking the Capitol Building with spittle. Not only that, but to drive the point home they played their "treason" card - again - suggesting that Democrats who criticized Our Great Leader's Great Economic Toilet Flush were "endangering U.S. troops." Ri-i-i-ight. Rep. Ed Schrock of Virginia said that the Democratic presidential candidates were "trying to make this look like the worst thing that's ever happened. Frankly this administration has done a magnificent job and more people need to come out and say that." This administration has done a magnificent job? ON WHAT PLANET IS THAT, ED? This adminstration has screwed the pooch at almost every possible opportunity - alienating our allies, rushing to start a war based on false pretences, lying about the costs - how exactly do you define that as MAGNIFICENT? Anyway, I guess this means the days of the Republican party as a bastion of fiscal responsibility are well and truly over since they're now practically orgasmic at the possibility of throwing good money after bad. Oh and by the way - as George W. Bush is so fond of saying, that's your money.

3. Halliburton
Speaking of Halliburton, as we were a moment ago, a recent Reuters report indicates that they're making out like, well, bandits in Iraq. The current cost of their no-competition contract to repair Iraq's oilfields is just shy of $1 billion - around $200 million dollars higher than projected last month. Meanwhile - if you can believe this - Halliburton is having such trouble getting the oilfields restored that the United States is currently importing oil into Iraq, which is costing the U.S. taxpayer around $6 million per day. So much for Our Great Leader's claim that we'd be paying for the war using Iraqi oil revenues. Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root has also managed to incur around $1 billion in costs. Incidentally, when Halliburton's no-competition contract expires next month the Army Corps of Engineers will be awarding two new contracts for the long-term rebuilding of Iraq's oilfields. And while a Corps spokesman last week "declined to disclose the number or identity of bidders," one of the companies bidding will be... you guessed it - Kellogg, Brown & Root. Gee, I wonder who's going to get those new contracts?

- rob 1:47 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Iraq WMD report shelved due to lack of evidence

London: After failing to get any evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the US and Britain have decided to delay indefinitely the publication of a full report on the controversial issue, media reported today.

Efforts by the Iraq Survey Group, an Anglo-American team of 1,400 scientists, military and intelligence experts, to scour Iraq for the past four months to uncover evidence of chemical or biological weapons have so far ended in failure, The Sunday Times claimed in its report.

And for an american take:

U.S., Brits Block WMD Report?

In July, David Kay, the survey group's leader, suggested that he had seen enough evidence to convince himself that Saddam Hussein had had a program to produce weapons of mass destruction. He expected to find "strong" evidence of missile delivery systems and "probably" evidence of biological weapons.
...

The United States and Britain invaded Iraq because they believed Saddam's regime was developing nuclear arms as well as chemical and biological weapons. So far, no weapons of mass destruction have turned up in Iraq, nor has any solid new evidence for them been reported by Washington or London.

Last week, in a confidential report obtained by The Associated Press, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief said U.N. inspectors found Iraq's nuclear program in disarray and unlikely to be able to support an active effort to build weapons.

Mohammed ElBaradei reiterated that his experts uncovered no signs of a nuclear weapons program before they withdrew from Iraq just before the war began in March.

Okay, okay, we know, there are no weapons.... Well, we know, but not the VP of the United States he still thinks we did. What, is he living under a mountian?

Either Cheney is a Complete Liar or is Too Stupid to be Vice-President Based on His September 14th "Meet the Press" Interview

(nice title)

- rob 1:35 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Shrub doesn't even measure up to his dad.



Cracks appear in Bush's armor

The latest poll by the independent Pew Research Center shows 53 percent of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 37 percent disapprove. This is 2 percentage points below his approval rating before the war. His father's approval rating, according to Pew, did not fall as quickly to prewar levels in 1991.

Meanwhile, another independent pollster, John Zogby, has published the results of a recent survey putting Bush's approval rating at 45 percent and his disapproval at 54 percent.

- rob 1:21 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Feel like signing some petitions today?

Democrats.com has a few for some work time fun:

Tax The Rich!

Impeach Bush and Cheney

Stop Bush's 9-11 Coverup

Stop Exploiting 9-11, Move the GOP out of NYC

Thank our Soldiers - Restore Veterans' Benefits Cuts

Protect a Woman's Right to Choose

- rob 1:14 PM - [PermaLink] -

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