* * political doodle * *

LUCILLE: Why Americans are (red, white &) Blue

Over and above the obvious - the cost of gas and food, the loss of millions of homes, the first time incomes have not grown for Americans - there are a few other things making us blue:

No bid oil contracts

Yes, once again the FOB (friends of Bush) get a leg up in Iraq. First in 2007 Hunt Oil secured an oil deal with the Kurds with the help of the State Department - which denied it until email messages were uncovered by a Congressional Committee. That pesky Congressional Committees! Just think how much easier it would be for  Cheney's buddies at Halliburton to make a profit without them. And now American companies are getting no-bid contracts that will give them an extreme advantage in future oil drilling awards. Who says we didn't go there for oil? Not the Iraqis.

• Political hiring/firing by the Justice Department

This time it was the Justice Department's own inspector general who uncovered the scandal that the Department had illegally used "political or idealogical" factors in recruiting and hiring, weeding out candidates they considered "leftists" or - heaven forbid - for social justice. Even Attorney General Mukasey said that using politics in hiring career lawyers was "impermissible and unacceptable". For example, in 2002 all 7 honors applicants who were members of a liberal group, the American Constitution Society (sounds like a group we should be really scared of, right?) were rejected white 27 of 29 members of the conservative Federalist Society were hired.

• Ignoring the Bill of Rights

Yes, I realize the Bill of Rights is so unimportant to Americans - the right of free speech and so on. But some of us draw the line at letting the President and his cabal spy on us, unfettered by a court order. George Bush always had the right to spy on us, as long as he got a search warrant from the FISA court - he could even get it after the fact. But that's just not good enough for him. He wants to listen to your phone calls and read your email whenever he damn well pleases. Sort of like the way my father described what Russia did, as in "if you don't like this country (the Viet Nam war, the draft, segregation, etc.), you can move to Russia." Well, now we don't have to!

Pop quiz: what group's charter is to protect the Bill of Rights?

• The un-Progress in Iraq

Yeah, I know that the violence is down, which is great. But it's still a pretty dangerous place to be.  The level of violence is still as bad as it was in 2003.

That said, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office released a report last month claiming that the measures that the Bush Administration is using to demonstrate progress in Iraq are either incorrect or more  mixed than they are admitting.

For example, the President - in his strategy called "The New Way Forward" - set out a plan that would take 12 to 18 months to enact a law to regulate Iraq's oil industry and handing over all of the provinces to Iraqi control.  That was in January 2007. Now, almost 18 months later, only half of the 18 provinces  have been handed over to Iraqi control and the oil law is still not enacted.
"The New Way Forward" only covered the period through July 2008. What is the strategy for next month?

The Pentagon says that 70%  of Iraqi units are in the lead in counterinsurgency operations. But an analysis  based on a study of Iraqi Army battalions done by the GAO finds that only 10% are capable of operating independently.

The Iraqi Parliament enacted a law reforming the Baathist purge; but no members have been named to the commission to carry out this law.

So, though violence is down, it's still higher than it was pre-attack and the political measures are much worse than the Bush Administration will admit

• The White House can deny knowing about greenhouse gases - because it simply refused to open the e-mail from the EPA

Really. Not kidding.  The EPA sent an email in  December 2007  with the conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, and  the White House told agency officials that that document would not be opened, said seniior EPA officials in late June.
Really. Not kidding.

• Talking with the enemy

Won't do it. It's unAmerican. Except Nixon spoke to Brezhnev, met with  Mao,  negotiated in secret with North Vietnam; Reagan met with Gorbachev, as did George HW Bush. Israel is meeting with Syria. Note to George: you don't gain anything by only negotiating with your friends.

• The Manchurian President

This is my favorite. Do you know where we got those "highly effective" interrogation techniques that we use in Guantanamo? You got it - from the Chinese!  They've been using the same interrogation techniques that were used on American P.O.W.s in Korea by Chinese captors. They took a 1957 chart describing death threats, degradation, sleep deprivation and worse and made it a part of their handbook for interrogators at Gitmo.

You can't make this stuff up.

But here''s the best part: the original author, Albert Biderman, wrote that the Communists techniques mainly served to "extort false confessions", that the techniques were the same that "inquisitors had employed for centuries" and that "inflicting physical pain is not a necessary nor particularly effective method" to persuade P.O.W.s. I guess that's why American P.O.W.s made false statements themselves.

So, we're (red, white &) blue this July 4 weekend. But - hopefully - not for long.

Pop quiz answer: The group whose charter is to protect the Bill of Rights is none other than the American Civil Liberties Union - the ACLU. So, if you support the bill of rights, you too must be a Commie left wing pablum puking liberal. Or not.

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: The Straight To Hell Express

While Obama and Clinton duke it out in an amazingly democratic (small d) nomination race, let's take a look on the other side of the aisle and start to consider what kind of President John McCain would make.

And just to show you that I can talk beyond Iraq (since that's a subject on which McCain will no doubt falter), I'm going to focus on the economy and how Johnny Mack's plan for the US will reverberate if we're unlucky enough for him to get elected this fall.

Keep in mind, this is the man who admitted he knows very little about he economy - so, hey, let's put him in charge. My guess is he'll do a heck of a job. . .  just like Brownie.

First and foremost, let's look at what he wants to do about taxes. Was there ever an easier way to pander? Promise tax cuts - and make it sound like everyone gets them - and everyone loves you. Only one thing: he's not saying how we're going to pay for running the country once he puts us into debt that will make your head spin.

LUCILLE: Fuel for Thought

A NATION BUILT ON UNSUSTAINABILITY - FUEL, FOOD, AND DEBT
     •     With trucking diesel fuel prices now over $4 per gallon in many locations, food prices are reaching an all time high, since the average grocery store item has traveled 1500-3500 miles.
     •     Over the past year, alone, consumers have been forced to pay significantly more for staples like eggs (25 percent), milk (17 percent), cheese (15 percent), bread (12 percent), and rice (13 percent). This is partially due to increased costs of transportation and partially due to massive amounts of cropland being converted to biofuel production. As a result, consumers are paying more for their food and paying $15 billion in increased taxes per year for biofuel subsidies.
     •     Fuel prices have nearly doubled the expenses of commuters over the last year. Recent polls show a strong majority of U.S. citizens are in favor of allocating a larger portion of the federal budget for mass transportation.
     •     In contrast, the amount of federal money earmarked for mass transit projects (example: rail and bus) has been reduced by nearly 70% since the Bush Administration took over in 2001.
     •     A record number of consumers are using credit cards to pay for increased fuel costs. Although the recession has negatively impacted employment, the New York Times reports one of the few booming occupations in the current job market is as a Debt Collector.
     •     Since 2001, the top five oil companies have increased their annual profits by an average of 500%.

Source: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_11013.cfm

LUCILLE: George Bush and WMW*

The only thing more mind-numbing than Bush's absolute disengagement over the current (and growing) financial crisis is the steadfast, continued support of him by a small minority. Now, that's loyalty - or is it ignorance?

• The master of "What, me worry?*" leadership will always be remembered as the guy who:

• Was positively shocked to find out that gas will probably go up to $4 a gallon this year,

• Believes we're facing a financial "rough spot" (Is that what you call taking $30 billion from American taxpayers to bail out Wall St. fat cats?);

• To this day, refuses to admit we're facing a recession -  won't even use the word  - despite the fact that his own boy, Paulson, has admitted as much;

• Has refused to hold a top-level bipartisan economic meeting to address the growing mortgage crisis (Yes, I said growing. You ain't seen nothin' yet.)

• Is tooling around the world, making speeches about NATO, while Fed Chairman Bernanke is delivering the bad news about the economy.

Hey, Mr. President, forget about simply focusing on some possible future terrorist attack; we are being destroyed right now from within and all you want to do is shuck and jive in Eastern Europe.

You want to know about 1000% more than your uninterested President does? Read on.

LUCILLE: Welfare Kings Rule!

Let me see if I understand: Bear Sterns employed lax lending practices and ended up with about $46 billion in risky mortgages and related securities. And it lost billions for its clients last summer when two hedge funds that invested heavily in mortgage securities crumbled. Do I have it right so far? Last Monday Bear put out a press release claiming, "there is absolutely no truth to the rumors of liquidity problems that circulated today in the market." Three days later, the Welfare Kings had their hands out for one of the biggest welfare payouts in history, a $30 billion dollar bailout. . . from your tax dollars.

LUCILLE: George Bush's "Romantic Adventure" and other True Stories

Here's one for the books. George Bush actually called the war in Afghanistan a "romantic adventure" when speaking to troops there last Thursday. He even claimed he was "a little envious" of them.  I have an idea; why doesn't he have his own adventure and finish his military service (cut short to help Daddy get elected) and join the troops over there? It's interesting how the loudest supporters of war - Iraq as well as Viet Nam - feel it unecessary to actually fight them. By contrast, even Prince Harry made it to Afghanistan to fight - by choice. George Bush's choices have all been a little more self centered.

Speaking of choices, who in God's name is choosing his words for him? Or have they just given up and let him speak for himself? He was absolutely giggly over the economy, calling the news on the US's economic meltdown "a interesting moment." (My high school English teacher, Dan Flynn, must be apoplectic over that interesting grammar.)

Any economist will tell you that the price of a currency reflects the country's overall economic health. And our has been diving for so long that pretty soon we'll be lucky if we can afford to even buy stuff made in China. Oil has gone up to over $110 a barrel, the Dow has been hovering under 12,000 and retail sales fell by 6/10ths of a percent last month.

"I'm coming to you as an optimistic fellow" was what Bush had to say to the Economic Club of New York just this past Friday, while acknowledging that we poor folks "are concerned about making their bills." Can he have fallen off the wagon or is he just trying to act like Herbert Hoover after the crash in 1929?

LUCILLE: MY State of the Union

It's time for a REAL State of the Union address, from someone who not only has been paying attention, but will tell you the truth for a change.

The Economy
Let me ask you the same question the GOP demi god Ronald Reagan asked when he was running for President: are you better off than you were 8 years ago? Believe it or not, the GOP candidates (except Huckabee and Paul) actually tried to claim you are. But let's look at the facts:

• George Bush was bragging in his speech about "a 52 month streak of uninterrupted job growth". . . Well, the new jobs report shows a 17,000 decline in jobs in January. Oh, and that was coupled with the  Commerce Department's report of infinitesimal growth of the economy of .006%. The long term unemployed (unemployed at least 6 months) are up 16.2% from a year ago. And, yet, Bush doesn't feel the need to extend unemployment benefits as part of his "stimulus" package. I guess it's more important to make that Paris Hilton tax cut permanent.

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: Free Market or Free Lunch?

How much interest can a financial institution charge you? I'm wondering: do you know what the limit is? 18%?  25%? 99%??? Keep going. There is virtually no limit to the interest rate you can be charged.

You must think I'm crazy; back 20-30 years ago they passed usury laws, capping interest rates. No more. You are now at the mercy of the banks, credit card companies and other legal loan sharks that, thanks to the GOP and their "free market" mentality, have free reign.

Why has this happened? Because since the time of Ronald Reagan, laws and regulations that once helped the middle class have been systematically changed to favor the wealthy and politically connected.

We're constantly being told how great our economy is doing (although lately they can't avoid the rising unemployment, bankruptcy and foreclosure rates), but little mention is made of the fact that most of this "wealth" is concentrated at the top with the rest of our incomes stagnating or going down.
Let me give you a few examples how this "steal-from-the-poor" corporate socialism is making you pay for the rich to get richer.

MR. MILESTONE: Laissez Un-Fair(e): The Injustice of Robin Hood Taxation

Most people have a deep resentment for financially successful people.  Examples abound of television and cinematographic portrayals of “the rich” as greedy, selfish, unscrupulous, snobby, and generally loathsome Scrooges.  It is often implied that their wealth is derived either through unethical means such as shady business practices, taking advantage of others, and cheating; or undeserved means such as inheritance, a cushy position in a family business, and insider information.  And in these portrayals, the rich stingily hoard and preserve their wealth without giving so much as a crumb to those less fortunate.  They are bad tippers, uncharitable, and showoffs.  And worst of all, they value money ahead of family, friends, and society.  In short, they are despicable, miserable bastards.

Given these views, is it any wonder that we have a tax structure that punishes the well-off?  The message is clear:  Live the American dream, pursue financial freedom, and acquire wealth – but don’t dare go beyond the middle class.  For if you do, your earnings will be decimated by a draconian tax system designed to wedge you back into the fold with the masses.  For why should you enjoy wealth when so many others are struggling to make ends meet?  Never mind the fact that you may have worked harder or taken the time to acquire education and credentials.  If you are earning more than the median, give it back!

LUCILLE: The Only Successful Infrastructure Project in Iraq

What has 21 buildings, covers 104 acres, includes everything from a department store, landscaped swimming pool and tennis courts to a sewage plant, irrigation system and office space for 100's. . . oh, and will cost over $750 million to complete and $1.2 BILLION a year to maintain?

Give up? It's the American embassy in Baghdad.

Yes. An embassy. And it only cost us $750 million.

LUCILLE: I Cares About You

Let's talk about phoniness

Rush Limbaugh made headlines again (and increased his show's advertising revenues) by calling Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and founder of VoteVet.org, a "phony soldier" because he wants us to get out of Iraq.

Apparently, according to Rush, any soldier, sailor or marine  who doesn't support Bush's failed policy is "phony". So, apparently that includes the 7 members of the 82nd Airborne (authors of a NY Times op-ed piece) quoted in one of my posts. Two of them recently died in Iraq. Too bad. According to Rush, they must be "phony soldiers. "

LUCILLE: For the Rest of Us, There's MasterCard

 

My late mother-in-law was a sweet, wonderful woman who absolutely lacked an iota of money sense. When her fairly successful husband died, she was left with a comfortably sized insurance settlement. What did she invest in? Herself. She traveled, she golfed, she beach-clubbed, she lunched. And she ran up a pretty big debt.

My brother-in-law and husband (a little before I entered the picture) decided to bail her out by co-signing a bank loan to pay off her multitude of credit cards. She paid off that loan, but guess what else she did? You got it; she ran up about twice as much on her credit cards as she had the first time. Why not? There was no reason to change her lifestyle because the promise of a bailout was implied by past experience.

It's what I'm reminded of when I read about the Fed's bail out of the billionaire hedge fund managers and millionaire traders. Why punish them for their risky behavior?

 

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