* * political doodle * *

LUCILLE: Bush Speaks for Himself; No Need for Comment

ON THE ECONOMY:

"I know you believe, and I firmly believe, that those tax cuts were part of that engine for that economic vitality. And the economy is not doing as well as we'd like to do -- like it to do today, but there's no question that the tax cuts provided economic vitality."

- President Bush at the Executive Office Building, 6/2/08

ON IRAQ:

"The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on."

-President Bush on the USS Abraham Lincoln, 5/1/03

ON HEALTHCARE:

"We've got the best health care system in the world. And we need to keep it that way. We need to keep it that way by keeping the private market strong, by resisting efforts that are happening in Washington, D.C., to say the federal government should be running health care."

- President Bush at the Executive Office Building, 1/28/04

ON THE ENVIRONMENT:

"I think we have a problem on global warming. I think there is a debate about whether it’s caused by mankind or whether it’s caused naturally, but it’s a worthy debate. It’s a debate, actually, that I’m in the process of solving."

- President Bush to People Magazine, 7/6/06

ON WORKERS:

"If you become a more productive citizen, you'll make more money. Better productivity, better skills means higher pay."

-President Bush in Cleveland, Ohio, 3/10/04

AND, FINALLY, ON EDUCATION:

"I know No Child Left Behind has worked. And I believe this country needs to build upon the successes. The philosophy behind No Child Left Behind was in return for money there ought to be results. It's pretty commonsensical it seems like to me."

-President Bush in Chicago, Illinois, 1/7/08

LUCILLE: George W Bush has approved this message of Torture

This is absolutely incredible to me. George Bush's top advisors - Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney,  Condi Rice - not only approved torture but choreographed exactly what could be done to whom, how often. They decided who should be physically hurt, who should be waterboarded, who should be attacked by trained dogs.

But that's not the worst.

George Bush told ABC News that he personally approved of the approval of torture by his top advisers. Our President personally approved torture. Have you heard about it in the news? Only if you're watching  The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or Countdown. No front page stories. No replaying the news clip, over and over on Fox News. Not a peep from most of the media.

Well, it makes me sick. And maybe these pictures will make you sick, too. Now that we know - because he admitted it himself - that torture in Iraq wasn't the work of a "few rogue soldiers" but approved and choreographed by the sickos inhabiting the White House - I want you to look at these pictures - a chronology of one night of torture in Iraq approved by George W Bush - and tell me that this is your America.  

Abu Ghraib prison, Baghdad Iraq
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December 12, 2003 10:47:30 PM




WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING



 

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LUCILLE: Osama Bin WHO?

Notwithstanding the "success" of the surge (almost as successful as my attempt to regain my virginity), I found myself arguing with a co-worker about the original decision to go into Iraq. He gave the usual reasons - Saddam was a terrible person, we thought they had WMD (don't even go there); and, then he brought up 9/11. My former brother-in-law (my niece's father and a friend of mine), Rod Coppola was in the WTC on that day and was one of the victims. It was a terrible, tragic event and a  very sad time for all of us. It hit me and my family personally.

But what did Iraq have to do with 9/11?

And, why can't my co-worker - and so many of you - remember who attacked us on that day?

It was the Saudi, Osama Bin Laden, with the help of mostly Egyptian co-conspirators, calling themselves Al Qaeda and working in tandem with the Taliban. . . centered in Afghanistan. Remember Afghanistan? Where the real "war on terror" is being fought? And where the violence is growing at an exponential rate. . .  like the amount of money spent in Iraq? And where Osama is quite close to, in the border region of Pakistan (according to military intelligence experts)?

LUCILLE: To Serve Man

Remember hall monitors from when you were in school? They were the kids with the yellow sashes who were on the lookout for any transgressions: chewing gum, running in the halls, fighting. You knew better than to break the rules in front of them, because you'd end up with demerits or in the Vice Principal's office and that went on your "permanent record". Well, welcome to the 21st Century and "monitoring" the Bush way: lucrative, no-bid contracts for Administration cronies.

There is a long list of Bush Administration scandals. Just to name a few, in case you forgot: the Jack Abramov lobbying scandal, hiring columnists to write articles favorable to the Administration, the firing of the US Attorneys scandal to bring in Administration  supporters.  I could go on for days, but I'd rather tell you about the "monitor" scandal,  because it's new, it's hip, it's oh so Bush.

This scandal involves John Ashcroft, late of the Justice Department and it has to do with companies that  escape prosecution by promising to change their ways - and agreeing to be monitored by the government so we can be sure they're keeping their promises. They even have to agree to pay for the monitors themselves. And therein lies the wrinkle.

LUCILLE: (Un) Lucky 7: Numbers that Prove George Bush is Destroying America

Let me begin by acknowledging that someone else composed these numbers, putting them on a handy card that my friend, Tim McCorry gave me yesterday. I'm not really a numbers person - but these were so compelling I just had to share them and make it easy for people to understand how much damage this man has done to this country.

#1. $50 BILLION: This is how much the Iraq War was estimated to cost, prior to the invasion.
Remember when they told us this? All the Administration neo cons harumphed when we questioned whether or not this number was accurate. Back in January of 2003, the White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels told The New York Times that the conflict could cost $50 billion to $60 billion --  just about the price tag of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.  You remember the  brouhaha when Bush's economic adviser Larry Lindsey estimated that it could cost $200 billion? He was run out of office - and the estimate of $60 billion was called "the upper end of a hypothetical," by Daniels. I guess the "upper end" ended up on the rear end, or in other words, their estimates were ass backwards.

#2.$1.2 TRILLION: This is how much the Iraq War will REALLY cost

Lucille: Shazam! There's Magic in the Air

Did you know that the word "magic" is directly related to the Magi?

Back in the 5th Century BC the Greeks used secret words - curses - to inflict harm on their enemies. In the 7th Century AD Chinese Buddhists believed in the Sovereign Lord of Spells, Amoghapas Dharani. Most recently, Harry Potter gave us magic words and phrases like Avada kedavra and the Imperius and Cruciatus curses, the latter of which comes from the Latin word for torture.

Now we can add a new magic phrase to our vocabulary: executive privilege. Or, as I like to say - Shazam!