New Bush books and quotes

Over in the Bush section of supak.com, I've added new Bush quotes and new Bush books. I didn't have to do a thing to the election 2000 section, because if you live in a big state, your vote for president still counts for about half (or even less!) than a vote in a little state. In fact, if a person's vote in Wyoming counts as ONE VOTE, then, because of the the electoral college, a vote in Massachusetts is worth 37% of a vote. Go figure. It's because of the bonus 2 electors per state, which rewards voters in sparsely populated states. That's why they're all talking about NASCAR Dads now. It's the middle class redneck vote in those red states.... So write all your redneck friends and tell them how Bush's tax cuts are moving the tax burden from wealth to work, meaning they're actually going to be paying more of the nation's tax burden.

Remarks by former President George HW Bush At the Dedication Ceremony for the George Bush Center for Intelligence

"We need more human intelligence. That means we need more protection for the methods we use to gather intelligence and more protection for our sources, particularly our human sources, people that are risking their lives for their country. (Applause)

"Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors."—26 April 1999

Well, then. Seems we have at least two "insidious" traitors inside the White House. While Mr. Novak, who started this shit, says it's just "Bush Bashing," it seems Pappy, who actually ran the CIA, thinks it's something else. After all, who's going to want to be a CIA agent if the people you're working for would so easily expose you, risking your life over political embarrassment?

Say you're out there in the field finding information about REAL WMD threats to the United States and your husband discovers that your bosses at the White House were lying about someone else's WMDs in order to start a war... You'd think, "I don't have to worry. These people are professionals. They'd never reveal my name as some sort of school-yard payback to my husband, would they?"

I'm sure Mr. Novak will continue to protect his sources at the White House, so that he can say it's just Bush bashing, and not treasonous as W's old man suggested. But my question for the White House is, "If you guys didn't do it, then where did Novak get the info on Wilson's wife?" Here is what Novak said in his column Mission to Niger on July 14, 2003:

"Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report."

Two "senior administration officials? And then the White House says nobody? Are they calling their friend Bob Novak a liar? Hey, Novak may be the most pompous ass ever to back a Republican tax cut, but he's no oaf, and I doubt he'd make shit like that up. And I doubt if when he says "senior administration offical" he means somebody's intern.

What I find even more incredible is that Novak should have known that by publishing the info on Plame, he could be breaking the law? Doesn't his publisher have lawyers who would have known they were abetting a felony? Or was Novak in such a rush to try to discredit Wilson (as if saying his wife suggested him for the job would do that) that he didn't really care if Pappy Bush thought he was committing treason?

Meanwhile, W's biggest contributor in 2000, Ken Lay of Enron infamy, refused to turn over documents to the SEC. Well, of course he did. He shredded them all! And to think that the SEC, which refused to prosecute W himself over breaking the law in his Harken Energy deal while HW was President, would actually go after Kenny Boy Lay is a joke! That's like believing John "Big Brother" Ashcroft will actually investigate who at the White House called all those reporters saying that Ambassador Wilson's wife was "fair game." Or that's like believing that a Republican congress will investigate the no-bid contracts that earned Halliburton a billion dollars (and counting) in Iraq. Or, that's like thinking that all the lobbyists turned regulators will actually keep an eye on the industries they used to lobby. And if you do believe that crap, I have a bridge for you to shove up your ass.

A 4-year-old boy in Landover, Md. today found a loaded handgun, picked it up and fired it through his door, killing his 5-year-old sister and hitting a 7-year-old boy in the back. No doubt the NRA is making plans to hold a rally in Landover as soon as possible, to defend the right of idiots to own guns.

Meanwhile, the NRA's favorite person down the hall, president Bush, had his impartial news reading by an advisor this morning and I wonder if they told him that Ashcroft will be burying, uh, investigating reports that two "high-level" White House aides leaked former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife's name to Robert Novak, who printed it, even though she was an undercover CIA agent who's life was endangered by the leak. Of course, if there were a special prosecutor for this (as their would be if it were Clinton's White House), whoever leaked the name committed a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

"It's pretty clear to me that, knowing that they could not shut me up because I had already told my story, the purpose for doing this was to intimidate others and keep others from stepping forward," Wilson said.

A source said reporters quoted a leaker as describing Wilson's wife as "fair game."

Wilson said Aug. 21 at a public forum in suburban Seattle that it is of keen interest to him "to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs."

Oh, I can see it now. If Karl Rove were in Prison, would that make Bush brain dead?

The Awful Truth

We rented The Awful Truth, Michael Moore's television show from 1999 and 2000. Wow. The most creative in-your-face guy I've ever seen. Watch this and then watch Bowling for Columbine and you'll see how toned down he was for Columbine.

Mike's new book, Dude, Where's My Country, will be out Oct. 7. This is the beginning of the end for George Bush.

For some real fun, we get to help Mike figure out how to spend his tax cut!

I'd like to point out that the booing on the Academy Award stage during Mr. Moore's acceptance speech for his Best Documentary Oscar was done by a few right wing, gun-totin' union stagehands (not teamsters as Steve Martin put it) from IATSE Local 33.

Yes, that's right, I know it's an oxymoron. Right-wing union guys. But there's plenty of them. Big, burly, biker guys with bad backs and big guns. Even some little fire-plugs who just want tax cuts no matter what. All of them give me the I'll-stop-them-with-a-baseball-bat attitude when I say the guys they vote for would like to crush their union and make this a right-to-work (for less) state.

My contacts at the Oscars that night tell me the main culprit, Steve Ross, was near a microphone and booed loudly enough to be picked up on it. Then, the backstage incident, which Steve Martin apparently witnessed, featured brother Ross walking up to Oscar winner Moore and faking a sneeze that was really a loud "Bullshit."

I sent an open letter to the union saying that no matter what you believe, we're there on a professional level, working, and not in a position to say anything. In fact, it made us look bad to the Hollywood elite who we want to employ us. We say we're worth more money than non-union guys because we're better. More professional. I suggested that if Steve Ross wanted to say something that was pro-gun and pro-war, he should win an award that gets presented in front of a billion people.

I think it's time I sent out another letter to point out the irony that what Mr Moore said about a "ficticious war" being fought for "ficticious reasons" turned out to be, well, not "Bullshit." Turns out that all of the pseudo-patriotism Brother Ross displayed was the, ah, ah, ah....

BULLSHIT!

I'm sure if Brother Ross had a family member in Iraq being shot at, he'd still be an asshole. And Bush would still be a liar.

George W Bush - enemy #1

After last night's Democratic debate, MSNBC had a focus group with some Republicans who were upset over Howard Dean calling George Bush the "enemy." In fact, in full Tom "draft-dodger" DeLay form, they said that was treason. I'm not sure if they meant it or were just trying to help Ann Coulter sell her book.

But let's look at the word enemy. If someone is trying to kill you, then they are your enemy. I'm sure the Republicans on pollster Frank Luntz's MSNBC "American Voices" panel would agree. So, when George "Orwell" Bush changes air pollution rules to allow 20,000 premature deaths every year, isn't he at least the enemy to those 20,000 people? And what about the asthma many more children will get? Isn't someone who allows more childhood asthma the enemy of those children and their parents?

Luckily, we live on the west coast, so the weather patterns keep my family out of the fallout pattern. But, like the rest of the country rallied to call terrorists the enemy for 9-11, is it treason to say that Bush is the enemy? No. In fact, based on the pure numbers, he's the biggest enemy.

This takes me back to an argument that flared for a while a few months ago, comparing George Bush to Saddam Hussein. Of course, that was back when the Bushies hadn't stressed that Saddam wasn't involved in 9-11. Well, everyone but Cheney stressed it. I submit that there is very little difference between Saddam and W.

Saddam killed members his political opposition. Poor people are overwhelmingly against Bush. And the 20,000 premature deaths from Bush's air pollution program? There's a lot of poor people in that number. And who lives around the superfund sites that aren't being funded? How many of them will die sooner because the pollution they live near won't, as Bush has mandated, be cleaned up?

Furthermore, how many innocent lives has George Bush caused the death of in Afghanistan and Iraq? How many soldiers will die? And finally, if you believe, as many Americans do, that Bush has done Al Qaida's recruiting for the next 20 years at least, how many Americans are going to die in future attacks that would live had we not attacked Iraq?

George Bush is the enemy. This is not vilification. These are facts. He is reckless and is causing death everywhere we look. That makes him an enemy of the free world, an evil doer, and he should be tried for his crimes against humanity. I only wish I could say it as venomously as Tom DeLay would if Clinton were doing these things.

Swirling Super Bowl Dreams of Real Representation

As Arnold "Super Bowl Debater" Schwarzenegger (and, no doubt, many of his supporters) fantasized about something perhaps worse than stuffing Arianna Huffington's head in a toilet during last night's debate, Peter Camejo must have been thinking that at least a few people were logging onto his web site. The fact that I feel guilty for wanting to vote for him is a sad state for a Representative Democracy.

We don't have a Democracy that looks much like us. We get to choose the lesser of two evils. We chicken out of supporting the positions we care about because we know that if 1726 of the 96,837 (0.017%) green votes for Nader in Florida had voted for Gore, Al would have won Florida by one vote. Instead, those 1726 Green voters in Florida got the diabolical opposite of what they actually wanted.

5.3% of Californians voted for Camejo in the 2002 Gubernatorial election (many more wish he was the leading Democrat in the race). But 5.3% of the legislature isn't from the Green Party. If you go to Tom McClintock's Ventura district, you'll find Hispanics, Blacks, and Greens. But Tom doesn't represent those greens, or even most of those minorities. In fact, many of the farm workers in Tom's district would get deported if he had his way.

While Lt. Governor Bustamante tried to keep his cool when Arnold interrupted him, he risked looking patronizing with his “Yes, Arnold's. Arianna made her excellent point, as usual, and we should all thank her for doing so. She sagely used the debate to help launch the Clean Elections Initiative for public financing of campaigns paid for with a tax on oil extracted in California. Camejo said he supports the initiative.

Which led me to think that this man who stands for everything the Democrats claim to stand for, who once ran for President as a socialist, would make a damn fine Governor. And as I'm thinking this, Arnold just insists on talking right over everybody. And yet they love him. If McClintock bailed, Arnold would win. Thanks, Tom. I admire a man who keeps his promises. Even though I agree with the pundit who suggested McClintock was building a bridge back to the 15th century.

I though, “What a shame I can't just vote for Camejo.” I'm sure Peter would say not. He helped the California Green Party. He helped the multi-party system idea. He got the message out. As did Huffington, Bustamante, and McClintock. Arnold got something out, and let's hope he keeps flushing before he sticks anyone's head in it.

"George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld care about the troops in the same way that Tyson Foods cares about chickens."— Retired Army master sergeant Stan Goff whose son was recently deployed to Iraq (thanks to workingforchange.com)

Today's honorary Stupid White Man Ann Coulter said in September, 2001, "This is no time to be precious about locating the exact individuals directly involved in this particular terrorist attack.... We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity." I have a better idea. We should send Ann Coulter to Iraq, and let someone who's been there a while come home. As Tim Robbins said on last week's Real Time, I'd like to see a Sgt. O'Reilly, and a Lt. Limbaugh.

Everything I've read today about the new Newsweek poll showing Wesley Clark leading Democrats and only a few points behind Bush in a head-to-head said that a problem for Democrats was that 45% of those polled still didn't know who Wesley Clark was. I don't get it. 45% of those polled didn't know who Clark is, but in a matchup with Bush, 47 percent of voters backed the president and 43 percent backed Clark. That's good news! That means that the more people get to know Clark, the worse it is for W.

T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, helped liberate the area that now includes Iraq from the Turks during WWI. Britain ruled the new area under a mandate from the league of Nations. After being freed from the Turks, you'd think they'd show some gratitude. Instead there were uprisings and assassinations of British soldiers and civilian administrators. So, they sent Lawrence back to Baghdad to report. He wrote these words:

"The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honor. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. ... things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows. . ... We are today not far from a disaster."

I got the above from an article in today's LA Times by Michael Keane, a fellow of the U.S. Department of Defense's National Security Education Program, and a lecturer on strategy at the USC Marshall School of Business, titled: "Eigth Pillar of Wisdom? Iraq is a Deep Morass." It's a great article where he reviews Lawrence's thesis about what it takes to make a successful rebellion. You guessed it: have an unassailable base, have an occupying force that's too small to pacify the contested area, and have a friendly population. This is certainly true in the Sunni Triangle, if not most of the country by now.

How many more misspeaks will we hear from the Bushies? How many more people will die?

General Wesley Clark for President

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."— President Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

Wounded in Iraq, deserted at home
U.S. wounded are airlifted to overcrowded and understaffed hospitals and left out of media's war coverage.

Yes, these are the new disabled veterans who will lose benefits under a centuries-old rule. Mr. Bring-em-on just received another letter about it. If you're not angry, you're not paying attention.

"Our President said in his speech in March that when we go into Iraq, we are going there because Saddam Hussein has harbored, trained and funded terrorists, including those connected to al-Qaeda. If we are going to attack a nation and occupy it because of a connection to al-Qaeda, which never appeared, then what are we doing with Saudi Arabia? They are effectively occupying us financially. We have become a financial colony of the petro-fanatics."
-- Greg Palast, interviewed in Buzzflash

"And I said on my program, if, if the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he had nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again." -- Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, March 18, 2003

We're waiting, Bill.