Going to England to get news about America.

I keep scratching my head after reading stories like this and ask myself why do I have to read English papers to find out what my government is doing here.

Still a big hats off to law student and blogger, Thad Anderson, who under the US Freedom of Information Act has posted truth and helped people learn the real history of why we are in Iraq at his blog at http://outragedmoderates.org.

Disasters + Military = another disaster for taxpayers!

In a report issued this week the Bush Administration tried to make the case to use the Military for natural disasters in this country including taking over control from the State and Local authorities. In short creating another disaster. The Military is supposed to blow things up and kill people. They are not trained to cut tree limbs and serve food. They are trained to make a mess not to clean it up. As Bush's misadventure in Iraq shows the U.S. military can invade, and kill like no other force on earth. Lucky for us. But, when it comes to the aftermath it gets bogged down. Let the Military do what it does best death and destruction.
What is really going on here my fellow taxpayers, is more Crony Capitalism and that means more U.S. taxpayer money being pushed to Bush and Cheney's buddies in companies like Halliburton. Because in in Iraq it is firms like Halliburton not the military that feed the troops thanks to lucrative contracts they received. If the Military takes over in a disaster it will not be any different except that once again the howling winds will be replaced by the sucking sound coming out of U.S. taxpayers wallets and going into the coffers of companies like Halliburton.

Another Bush unacountability moment!

From the Washington Post:

"Faced with an unprecedented Republican revolt over national security, the White House disclosed yesterday that President Bush was unaware of a Middle Eastern company's planned takeover of operations at six U.S. seaports "

Not being aware seems to be a normal policy in the Bush Administration

On energy Bush does the talk but, not the walk!

"The issue, of course, is whether good intentions are met with actual dollars spent," he said. "I think we have cleared up the discrepancy." -George W. Bush

Not really George. President Bush went to the National Renewable Energy laboratory after the White House did a financial scramble over the weekend to rehire the 32 workers that had been laid off. It would have been kind of embarrassing for him to talk about his support for renewal energy after laying off the workers. It's all about the politics not about the policy.

Bush has the Texas talk but does not do the walk. As this post from October shows that his crocodile tears about the state of U.S. energy consumption are nothing but, a Karl Rove political move. In the meantime like allowing the sale of control of our shipping ports to foreign countries he is also pushing for more nuclear power plants that will be in effect bombs in our backyards to the terrorists.

Mary Matlin and her smoke and mirrors act.

As the old Monkees tune sez: Mary, Mary where ya going to.

On Meet the Press Sunday Mary Matlin the Republican PR gun for hire and whiney Ice Queen said:

" You know, in the average American, in the parallel universe, it’s not about us, it’s not about President Bush, it’s not about Dick Cheney, it’s about them, and they would like us all to focus on what are we doing for them? "

Yeah Mary like starting wars and getting tens of thousands of people killed and maimed.

And how about the deficit. Thanks George

Or how about offering amnesty for millions of illegal aliens who have violated our immigration laws and and look the other way as unscrupulous business hire them and the middle class are forced to subsidize them.

Oh yeah remember the response to Katrina!

Or coming up with an energy policy cooked up behind closed doors with the energy executives. But, not allowing the American people to even know who the were. And gas at $2.50 plus.

Warrentless spying.

etc...

We have met the enemy and he is...

In light of Vice President Cheney shooting Mr. Whitington last week this quote from George Bush takes on new meaning.

"Our enemies...never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we. "
– George W. Bush

Perhaps it was all part of the Bush Administration policy after all.

Still more Nukie for Bush.

Yesterday in his radio address President Bush called for building more nuclear plants among other stupid ideas that came out of the secret meetings with the real President (Dick Cheney) had back in early 2001. Of course I'm sure nobody in the Bush bubble told the puppet man about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission memo of January 23, 2002 which warned of a terrorist plans to fly planes into U.S. nuclear power plants and to divert them into a a tall building if fighter jets show up. The Bush plan would give them more nuclear targets on U.S. soil to aim for! Another dumb ass plan from those in power in Washington. He also wants to take more risk away from the the companies who will build the plants and put it on the U.S. taxpayer. The insurance industry has already looked at nuclear plant risk and has decided that they are to risky that's why congress passed the Price-Anderson Act where U.S. taxpayers assume the risk for nuclear accidents. Hello suckers, get ready to open your wallet even more if Bush pushes this plan through. The free market has already decided that nuke plants are too risky and expensive. That's why none have been built since the seventies and in the post 9/11 era having already been picked out by the terrorists as targets they have become even more risky to our safety

and another thing Vice President Cheney!

There are still a lot of questions about Dick Cheney's accidental shooting Mr Whittington. Beyond Vice President Cheney's use of citizen spokesperson Katherine Armstrong because she was a "witness" even though she was 100 yards (a football field) away from the scene and originally thought when she saw Cheny's security detail running that Cheney had had a heart attack. The information that came from her and Cheney still leave a lot of questions unanswered as this Washington Post article points out. But, that's nothing new when you have an administration that uses fear as a political tool and wants to keep the American people in the dark. It was also interesting to see how the Bush administration and their Republican spinners tried to shift the story to the Washington Press corp who are just doing their job asking questions and looking for answers that people like Cheney would rather hide from the American people.

Not so fast Mr. Cheney!

While Vice President Cheney is trying to leave his shooting of Harry Whittington behind him questions remain. Like who were the other guests at the ranch. None are mentioned in the Police report issued so far. And while Dick Cheney said in the Brit Hume interview there were "Oh probably 10 people" we still don't know their names. Arianna Huffington has a little bit about the kind of crowd that goes hunting at the Armstrong Ranch. Seems the Cheney has a real problem with facts and truth and that is troubling.

Cheney shoots first then makes it legal.

Stamps? We don't need no stinking bird stamps! We're the Republican elite!
One of the first things the Vice President Office did after the accidental shooting was send a $7.00 check to the authorities in Texas for theupland bird hunting stamp that would allow him to LEGALLY shoot the birds he and the others in his party were going after. It seems that at least Cheney maybe others in the party don't think that certain laws apply to them. Especially when it comes to hunting it seems and he has been hunting at the ranch alot as he says:

"I've gone there, to the Armstrong ranch, for years. The Armstrongs have been friends for over 30 years."

So will Cheney plead ignorance of the law? Well that would be a hard sell especially since Katherine Armstrong the ranch owner was, Well let's let Deadeye Dick Cheney tell us a little bit about her from the Brit Hume interview:

"she was the immediate past head of the Texas Wildlife and Parks Department, the game control commission in the state of Texas, an acknowledged expert in all of this."

But, not expert enough to know that everybody needed permit dispite being "head of the Texas Wildlife and Parks Department, the game control commission" . Ah but, then again being the elite Republicans maybe they thought we don't need no stinking bird stamps! Stamps are for the little people. I guess it was shoot first then we'll see if we can make it legal. Sounds like the Bush administration's Iraq policy doesn't it?

Cheney shoots again and drops a bombshell.

Way down in the interview with Brit Hume (who did a pretty good interview) is this little exchange that raised my curiosity as it should others:

"Q Let me ask you another question. Is it your view that a Vice President has the authority to declassify information?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: There is an executive order to that effect.
Q There is.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q Have you done it?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I've certainly advocated declassification and participated in declassification decisions. The executive order --
Q You ever done it unilaterally?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't want to get into that. There is an executive order that specifies who has classification authority, and obviously focuses first and foremost on the President, but also includes the Vice President."

Don't want to get into it or step into it Mr. Cheney? Like maybe unilaterly declassifying the name of a covert CIA agent named Valerie Plame telling your underling Scooter Libby to release her name to the press. Even though she was undercover and involved in intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in countries like Iran.

Cheney's Chappaquiddick moment.

Like Ted Kennedy at Chappaquiddick Vice President Dick Cheney has some explaining to do. He has taken responsibility for shooting his Republican buddy which is a good start. Now if he and Bush would only take some responsibility for the other messes they have created.
But, with Cheney giving an interview to the Bush Administration butt kissing Fox News Channel you can bet there will be only softball questions allowed, maybe even screened in advance. If you think the interview will be "Fair and Balanced" I've got a bridge on Chappaquiddick I can sell you.

Alan Simpson does Rosemary Woods

It was funny watching on Hardball that Wyoming wacko former Senator Alan Simpson being wheeled out to do his best Rosemary Woods imitation to explain how Deadeye Dick Cheney shot his fellow Republican. His explaination for the delay in the White House not reporting the shooting by Vice President Dick Cheney was that they wanted to protect the ranch. You can't make this stuff up!

Cheney shoots his load into fellow Republican!

It took the Whitehouse 24 hours to tell the world that Vice President Dick Cheney shot a fellow Republican during a hunting trip. If he had killed him we might never had found out knowing the secrecy of this administration. It was also interesting to see on who's land this hunting trip was happening on.

IRAQ: A billion here, a billion there......

60 Minutes is supposed to have a report this weekend about how some 8 BILLION U.S. Taxpayer dollars can not be accounted for. So much for Republican fiscal responsibilty. As George W. Bush said it so well "It's your money! You paid for it!" Unfortunately George you and your bungling bonehead administration can not even tell us taxpayers exactly where this money went. But as readers of Beer Can Politics know that this accounting train wreck has been going on for awhile now.

Here is your Social Security Suckers!

"anyone who thought that Bush would wait for bipartisanship to deal with Social Security was wrong. Instead, he stuck his own privatization proposals into his proposed budget."

In a screw you I'm from Texas fashion King wanna be George W. Bush asked Congress to join him in a bipartisan fashion to offer private accounts in Social Security. Well forget that. Deep within the budget he proposed on Monday is funding for doing exactly that. I guess the White House was hoping nobody would read that part. Luckily journalist Allan Sloan did read it and you can read about it here. Let's hope those in Congress read about it too. Because the boomers are about to have the rug pulled out from under them by George Bush if they don't stop him.

Say it ain't so Sailor.

As a sailor I long to be out on the water whenever I can. I'm sure that is one of the reasons why some join the Navy as many of my family have. Now out of DoD comes word that the Navy will transferring personnel to take over some functions that the Army are doing on land in Iraq and Afghanistan. All the while Secretary of Defense Dumsfeld say that our forces are not near the breaking point. Yeah right. Even though a report released last month said our forces are getting streched. Who are we to believe Donald Rumsfeld or our own lying eyes and ears.

Another lying Bush Administration official! What a surprise.

Hardly a day goes by when another ethical lapse or lie does not come out of the Bush Administration. Today is no exception as the latest Republican liar has been caught in the web of deception that seems to be a natural occurrence with the crowd around Bush and even George W. himself. His name is George C. Duetch and being a good Republican storm trooper was given a job at NASA. He graduated from Texas A & M. Oops! Well, not exactly. The gang at TPM has the whole story.

The Neocons in handcuffs. It's about time!

Finally after all the murder and mayhem that the Neocons caused. They were the people who helped push the blundering George Bush into starting the Iraq War it good to see some of them being led out in handcuffs and the United States returning to a saner foreign policy. But, the damage they caused to U.S. reputation and the lives they destroyed both here and aboard will be causing pain for years to come.

Pay no attention the man behind the curtain.

As Senate hearings get undeway to look at the Bush administrations's warrentless spying on American citizens even though the administration refuses to even say how manyAmericans have been spyed upon which is no surprise for this administration as they try to hide everything including their accountability for their screw ups.

News from the Department of Hypocrisy.

"WASHINGTON -- Leaks that led to articles on secret prisons and a terror spying program hurt the U.S. efforts in the war on terror, CIA Director Porter Goss said. "-UPI

Yeah just like we used the exposure of Saddam Hussein's torture rooms hurt the reputation of Iraq and the publicity of the Russian Gulags hurt that countries reputation. The problem with Goss's is the world knows hypocrisy when it sees it. That's what bothers Goss it is that our hypocrisy is exposed. As the WHO song says:
"Meet the new boss same as the old boss."
Instead of being a beacon of truth the Bush crowd has been trying to hide everything from energy policy meetings to the use of U.S. use of torture. All the while running away from accountability for their actions and ruining the U.S. reputation in the process. They make a big todo over NSA spying but, don't seem concerned that Jose an illegal illiterate alien has crossed the border of the United States and traveled 1500 miles across the country to stand on the corner of towns here on Long Island. If Jose the illegal immigrant can get here then Al Quieda certainly could but, they don't see that threat to our National Security. What a joke Goss's concern is about NSA spying when our borders are just open gates that millions of illegal visitors have poured through..

So this is what the Iraq war is was about!

President Bush in his State of the Union address said:

"America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world,"

Really? So Iraq was really about the Oil after all. Maybe that is why U.S. troops rushed to secure the Oil Ministry and let the museums get looted. Now it all makes sense. Why didn't he tell us that in the first place. I never would have known. So I guess Bush actually does tell the truth but, not right away.

What's the difference?

There was good news in the mining industry this week. Unfortunately it was only from Canada where 72 miners were rescued thanks to the safety procedures and facilites that are part of the regulations of that country. The news in the U.S. has not been as good as several mine disaster have resulted in the deaths of a number of miners. What is the difference in the outcomes between these two countries. Perhaps it's that one of the countries has an offical in the number two position of the Interior Department who has said: "‘My goal is to turn out the lights on the mine safety agency." Here is a hint he's not in Canada and was appointed by George Bush.

Bush speaks only suckers believe him.

Well it did not take long for the Bush Administration to back track from the words Bush spoke at the State of the Union about the United States dependence on Oil. Just another example of the bait and switch rhetoric of the Bush administration. When he speaks only suckers believe him especially when it comes to making the country less dependent on oil or doing anything that affects the profits of his buddies in the oil business..