But that seems to be the trouble with most americans. They have the attention span of a comercial. Raised on TV sucking on the glass teat I think messes up the thinking. Here you have a country taken to its knees by a criminal government and people just wish to move on. The entire world knows what slime these filthy, warmongering, thieving liars are. They will never live a day on aerth when nearly everyone does not hate them for the destruction they have wrought.

as predicted.

I would think a wise person would actualy read the article and then make a comment

Im sorry I wont stop untill criminal charges are made for the crime of the century.

try reading the article

George W. Bush, on January 15, 2009, you stood before the American people and said that there is a battle being waged between "a small band of fanatics [that] demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology" and "[an]other system [that] is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God and that liberty and justice light the path to peace."

Make no mistake, Mr. Bush, you belong to that small band of fanatics. That band of fanatics has been terrorizing people since the beginning of recorded history and probably well before. You are only the latest incarnation of an evil and timeless beast that has worn the faces of Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Tojo Hideki. Let us not mince words, Mr. Bush, what you did to this country is exactly what those men did to theirs: you stole power by filthy means, you committed the nation to disastrous wars, and left your country in ruin. If this was your goal, then you can pronounce a hearty "Mission Accomplished."

Mr. Bush, you have indeed left this country in ruins. In the course of our history, we have faced many determined and terrible enemies, from King George to Adolph Hitler, but none have done what you did: you have brought this country to its knees. When you think of your legacy, you can be sure of only one thing: future historians will point to your presidency as a turning point in the nation's history - the start of a long and perhaps irreversible decline in our fortunes and our prestige.

You, Mr. Bush, are the result of a tragic accident: the apocalyptic convergence of absolute power with the complete absence of virtue. You are the scion of a family that has long used political power for personal gain. Your people are parasites clinging to the jugular of the nation. You used your father's connections at every step of your career: to get into school, to start businesses, to escape from service in Vietnam, to become governor of Texas, and to become a candidate for the presidency of the United States. As a child you tortured small animals, as a Yale student you engaged in sadistic initiation rites in your fraternity, as governor of Texas you executed 152 people. You had blood on your hands when you took office, Mr. Bush, and you have added oceans of blood during these eight long years.

In your speech, you said, "I have been blessed to represent this nation." Mr. Bush, you never represented this nation. You represented only a small group of criminals who used the apparatus of government to channel money - our money - into their pockets. You and your henchmen looted the Treasury of the United States. You ran up debts that we, our children and our grandchildren will have to pay off. You used the entire Middle East as a money laundering operation for corporations like Halliburton, Bechtel and the Carlyle Group. You sent our tax dollars via Iraq and Afghanistan to bank accounts in Houston and Zurich. Make no mistake, you did not represent the people of the United States: you represented a group of gangsters, criminals and fascists. You robbed this country blind and called it government.

In your speech the other night, Mr. Bush, you reminded us that, "I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe." On this score, you failed miserably and thousands of Americans are dead because of your failure. One of your first acts as president was to eliminate the cabinet-level position of Director of Counterterrorism and discontinue the Clinton administration's policy of pursuing Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. That's right: you stopped chasing the terrorists who threatened this country. And when your top aides warned you about impending terrorist attacks on American soil, you ignored them.

On September 11, 2001, planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and into a field in Pennsylvania. Over 3,000 innocent Americans were sacrificed on that day. In a debate with Al Gore in 2000, you boasted that you would respond to any crisis this nation faces with "leadership," but on September 11, 2001, you climbed aboard Air Force One and ran like a frightened rabbit. Then, when the smoke cleared, you did everything in your power to prevent a thorough investigation into the causes of the tragedy and your complete and utter failure to prevent it.

Mr. Bush, in your speech the other night, you claimed that, "As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 911." In a speech rife with shameless lies, this was perhaps the most shameless, because you used the attack on our country as a pretext to pervert our nation, trample our Constitution and murder thousands of innocents across the Middle East.

First, you attacked Afghanistan, where you claimed the mastermind of the terror attacks was hiding. You failed to capture him, but he was not the real prize; the real prize was the oil hiding under the sands of Iraq. Despite massive evidence to the contrary - from our own intelligence services and those of our closest allies - you claimed that Iraq was behind 911 and that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. You knew that most Americans were too traumatized by the attacks of 911 to tell the difference between truth and lies.

Mr. Bush, you ordered the invasion of Iraq and, in doing so, you killed over 100,000 innocent Iraqis. You built prisons and ordered the vilest acts of torture. You allowed the treasures of an ancient civilization to be looted and destroyed. You destabilized the entire Middle East and sowed the seeds of hatred of our country that will bear the fruit of murder and destruction for generations to come.

Mr. Bush, you claimed that, "around the world, America is promoting human liberty, human rights, and human dignity." But we have the pictures from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. We know what you did. Those pictures will not go away. You put that man on the box and strapped the electrodes to his fingers. You let the dogs loose on those prisoners. You left those men out kneeling in the sun. You did that, Mr. Bush.

Mr. Bush, over 4000 young American men and women are dead because of you. You sent them to die in Iraq. Tens of thousands more are hideously maimed. They died in the service of your lies. They died because you wanted to make a small group of obscenely wealthy individuals even more obscenely wealthy.

Mr. Bush, this nation was once a model of democracy. This is the nation that defeated fascism in Europe and Asia. This nation put men on the moon. This nation was the hope of all nations aspiring to democracy, freedom and prosperity. But you have soiled the reputation of the United States of America. You have put blood on our name.

Mr. Bush, the soul of our nation is the Constitution. It is a sacred document, for it enshrines the fundamental principles of democracy. It represents the right of the people to rule their own affairs, instead of being ruled by kings. You violated both the spirit and the letter of the Constitution. You made a mockery of the Bill of Rights. You invaded the privacy of citizens. You imprisoned Americans without recourse to lawyers or a fair hearing in a court of law. You declared yourself a "unitary executive," beyond the power of the Constitution, Congress, the Courts and the will of the people. You declared yourself a king like the kings of England our forefathers fought and died against to give us our precious freedom.

Mr. Bush, you not only desecrated our name and our sacred documents, you tore this nation apart. You divided this nation between red and blue, Republican and Democrat, north and south, east and west. You cast those who disagreed with you as unpatriotic. You set this nation at war with itself. Under you, there was only suspicion, discord and hate.

In your speech, Mr. Bush, said, "we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy." No, Mr. Bush, you took decisive measure to bring this country to the verge of a Second Great Depression. When you entered office, this nation was enjoying a $200 billion annual government surplus. But you slashed taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals, committed the military to two ruinously expensive invasions, exploded the Pentagon budget, and eliminated oversight of government spending. Now, as you leave office, the United States is facing a yearly budget deficit of $1 trillion. And this is just the yearly total; in your two terms of office, you doubled our total national debt, bringing it to $10 trillion.

In your speech, Mr. Bush, you said, "For eight years, we have also strived to expand opportunity and hope here at home." No, Mr. Bush, you have presided over the worst economic disaster since the 1930s. On your watch, millions of people have lost their jobs, their homes and their retirement savings. Under you, the stock market has crashed, banks have failed, and the entire American automobile industry is on the brink of collapse. Make no mistake, Mr. Bush, because of you, Americans of all ages and economic classes are significantly poorer. Millions now face hunger, homelessness and an uncertain future. And you did this so that you could transfer the wealth of this nation into the hands of your criminal cronies.

Mr. Bush, the damage you did will hurt this nation for generations to come. We may never again enjoy the prestige or power that we enjoyed in the year 2000. You trashed the NATO alliance and mocked our oldest allies as "Old Europe". You squandered our blood and treasure in the Middle East, while nations like China and Russia were building their own wealth and power. On your watch, North Korea developed nuclear weapons. On your watch, a Pakistani scientist sold nuclear technology to all of our enemies. On your watch, you increased the chance of terrorists acquiring and using a nuclear bomb. That's right, Mr. Bush, if we see the mushroom cloud that you and Condoleezza Rice spoke of, it will probably be a direct result of your actions and your negligence.

Mr. Bush, you mentioned Thomas Jefferson in your speech the other night. There is one thing you can be absolutely sure of: if the Founding Fathers had met you, they would revile you as a base cur, for you represent everything they fought against. You were able to seize power only because of the weaknesses inherent in their design. In truth, you represent the repudiation of American Democracy, for America started as a revolt against taxation without representation, and under your government the masses were taxed but only the kings of arms manufacture and oil extraction were represented.

Mr. Bush, you may try to convince yourself and the world otherwise, but we know who you really are: you are a door through which evil enters the world. You are a tool for forces that you don't even understand. You are the crack along which the jewel shatters. Behind you, lies a wake of death and destruction. Your natural language is the lie. You cannot but open your mouth and falsehoods fly out. You are hate made manifest. You came as a curse upon this great land. You are the revenge of the Indian, the napalm-burned children of Vietnam, the murdered nuns of Guatemala and the martyrs of El Salvador. You are the karma of these United States.

Know this, George W Bush: The corporate media may try to whitewash your crimes. The next president and his allies in Congress may fail to prosecute you. Your family and friends may still treat you like a human being. Your power and wealth may insulate you from your victims. But there are hundreds of millions of people - Americans and non-Americans alike - who know who you are and what you did. We saw every one of your crimes and heard every one of your lies. We will never forgive you. And we will never forget.
_______



About author
Chris Rowthorn is an American journalist based in Kyoto, Japan. He has written for the Japan Times and Kansai Time Out.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/19846

There isnt much I disagree with at all.

We stand with the majority. We will not be silent on Gaza.


by International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)

We stand with the majority.
We will not be silent on Gaza.

We write with grief and rage as we watch the horrifying Israeli air and ground attacks on Gaza. As Jews committed to ending Zionism, the founding ideology of Israel, and all forms of colonialism, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, who continue to struggle in the face of these attacks, much as they have against more than 60 years of ethnic cleansing and racism. As Joseph Massad recently wrote, Gaza is in uprising against genocide, and is receiving today the same indifference from the capitals of the West that the rebels in the Warsaw Ghetto received in 1943.

We stand with the hundreds of thousands who have taken the streets in solidarity with Gaza’s resistance. We stand with all those who struggle against racism, dispossession and genocide.

We stand with the majority. We will not be silent on Gaza.

We reject Israel’s pretense to act in response to rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas. Israel broke the ceasefire on November 4, 2008, while world attention was focused on U.S. elections.

What the Israeli government calls “security” is fundamentally opposed to the real safety of all people living in the region. Residents of Sderot and other towns bordering Gaza have begged the government of Israel to maintain the cease-fire and accused it of “wasting that period of calm, instead of using it to advance understanding and begin negotiations.” With United States, European Union, and Egyptian collusion, Israel imposed on Gaza a siege and blockade for over two years, intentionally preventing its economic recovery, degrading its civilian infrastructure, attempting to dismantle self-governance, and preventing travel and obstructing humanitarian aid. That siege, which was and continues to be a gross violation of human rights and a crime against humanity, led directly to the present escalation. As of today, Israeli forces have killed over 700 people and injured thousands. Israel has bombed mosques, universities, police headquarters, roads, office buildings, and residential neighborhoods, and schools, causing indescribable and horrible destruction. This isn’t defense. This isn’t a war between two sides. This is terrorism. This is genocide.

We stand with the majority. We will not be silent on Gaza.

As Jews, we have an additional responsibility to speak and to act against these despicable acts, because we are heirs to the victims of a genocide, because Israel is claiming to “defend” us through the ethnic cleansing of Palestine with the ultimate goal of erasing the Palestinian people, and also because of the role played by the Jewish organizations in the United States and the West in justifying, perpetrating, and escalating Israeli state terrorism against Palestinians.

We recall that the violence in Gaza today is the inevitable outcome—the latest link in a chain of terror—that results from an ideology based on the dispossession of the indigenous people of Palestine in favor of European Jews. Just as the ideology of White racism was the backbone of Apartheid in South Africa, so the ideology of Zionism explains the history of violence in Palestine, the ethnic cleansing of 1948, the occupation of the West bank and Gaza in 1967, and the many massacres that Israel perpetrated periodically since 1948 to the present one in Gaza. The maintenance of the Israeli state as a state founded on and perpetuating Jewish privilege requires the denial and attempted annihilation of the Palestinian people.

We recall that unless this ideology is delegitimized and defeated, the violence in the Middle East will continue to escalate until either Palestinian or Jewish existence in the area ends, and possibly both. Racism and colonial domination will never be the basis for peace.

We stand with the majority. We will not be silent on Gaza.

We insist on an immediate end to Israel’s assault, a complete withdrawal of all Israeli forces, a complete and unconditional end to the siege, and the restoration and extension of the ceasefire. We insist on the establishment of a special international tribunal for investigating the crimes of the Israeli leadership of this siege.

We affirm the urgent need for Jewish resistance to Zionism and stand committed to the extrication of Jewish history, politics, community, and culture from the grip of Zionism.

We situate our work in a long legacy of Jewish people throughout history who have stood in solidarity with others in common struggles against all forms of racism, empire building, and repression. As a growing sector of the Palestine solidarity movement, we call upon all Jews of conscience to take a strong stand against the current escalation of violence, as well as the murderous ground upon which Zionist ideology and the Israeli state has been constructed. We call on Jews to put an end to complicity, to break the silence, and to confront the fallacy of a Zionist consensus. We call on anti-Zionist Jews around the world to organize in escalation against the massacres on Gaza, and to continue to support Palestinian resistance through campaigns of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, and through actions that target their own governments’ financial and political support for Israel.

We stand with the majority. We will not be silent on Gaza.




WE call on you to JOIN US in continued ACTION!



>> Mobilize creative actions to disrupt and confront pro-Israel events, propaganda and businesses. Zionists and their supporters should not have their events, propaganda or business contributions in support of Israel go without confrontation. Creative actions are those which use creative tactics, visuals and art to convey a message about the reason for the disruption such as die-ins, projections of images on the outside of Zionist organizations, public art displays, street theater, etc. Targets may include Zionist organizations that have been mobilizing a lot of support for this attack, events to fundraise for the siege on Gaza, or billboards or poster campaigns to justify Israeli violence.

For people in North America:
The United Jewish Communities Federation of North America is sponsoring a Rallies Across North America: A week of solidarity with Israel. Click here for a list of activities to disrupt.

Other ways to take action…

>> Join or organize emergency protests and direct actions in partnership with Palestine solidarity and social justice organizations in your area.

>> Donate money for Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) cargo of medical supplies and their delivery. IJAN is partnering with MECA in collecting funds and organizing pressure to allow over 5 tons of medical supplies into Gaza through the Rafah border with Egypt. The current conditions in Gaza medical facilities are dire. Please DONATE to MECA now! In the next week IJAN will send an update out about the shipment, please be prepared to organize any necessary pressure in response to this update.

>> Contact government officials and call on them to act by denouncing the attacks and demanding an immediate cease-fire.

>> Flood Israeli embassies and consulates with letters and calls decrying the attacks. Find contact info for Israeli embassies around the world.

>> Continue circulating the petition in support of UN General Assembly President Father Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann who has spoken out to condemn Israeli "Apartheid" and call for boycott, divestment and sanctions. He has received death threats for his statement.

>> Call to Jewish Students: Efforts are underway to make visible and support the activism of Jewish students who condemn Israel's actions in Gaza and who support the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions. Join the "Jewish Students Condemn Israel, Support BDS Campus Campaigns!" Facebook cause. Email to be added to the contact list for when IJAN student campaigns are launched and send reports for the website about Jewish student participation in Gaza solidarity actions.


Global Research Articles by International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11880

White flags ignored and houses bulldozed with families inside, claim residents

By Fida Qishta in Khuza'a and Peter Beaumont in London

January 18, 2009 "The Observer" -- Israel stands accused of perpetrating a series of war crimes during a sustained 12-hour assault on a village in southern Gaza last week in which 14 people died.

In testimony collected from residents of the village of Khuza'a by the Observer, it is claimed that Israeli soldiers entering the village:

• attempted to bulldoze houses with civilians inside;

• killed civilians trying to escape under the protection of white flags;

• opened fire on an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded;

• used indiscriminate force in a civilian area and fired white phosphorus shells.

If the allegations are upheld, all the incidents would constitute breaches of the Geneva conventions.

The denunciations over what happened in Khuza'a follow repeated claims of possible human rights violations from the Red Cross, the UN and human rights organisations.

The Israeli army announced yesterday that it was investigating "at the highest level" five other attacks against civilians in Gaza, involving two UN facilities and a hospital. It added that in all cases initial investigations suggested soldiers were responding to fire. "These claims of war crimes are not supported by the slightest piece of evidence," said Yigal Palmor, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman.

Concern over what occurred in the village of Khuza'a in the early hours of Tuesday was first raised by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. Although an Israeli military spokesman said he had "no information that this alleged incident took place", witness statements collected by the Observer are consistent and match testimony gathered by B'Tselem.

There is also strong visible evidence that Khuza'a came under a sustained attack from tanks and bulldozers that smashed some buildings to pieces.

Pictures taken by photographer Bruno Stevens in the aftermath show heavy damage - and still burning phosphorus. "What I can tell you is that many, many houses were shelled and that they used white phosphorus," said Stevens yesterday, one of the first western journalists to get into Gaza. "It appears to have been indiscriminate." Stevens added that homes near the village that had not been hit by shell fire had been set on fire.

The village of Khuza'a is around 500 metres from the border with Israel. According to B'Tselem, its field researcher in Gaza was contacted last Tuesday by resident Munir Shafik al-Najar, who said that Israeli bulldozers had begun destroying homes at 2.30am.

When Rawhiya al-Najar, aged 50, stepped out of her house waving a white flag, so that the rest of the family could leave the house, she was allegedly shot by Israeli soldiers nearby.

The second alleged incident was on Tuesday afternoon, when Israeli troops ordered 30 residents to leave their homes and walk to a school in the village centre. After travelling 20 metres, troops fired on the group, allegedly killing three.

Further detailed accounts of what occurred were supplied in interviews given to a Palestinian researcher who has been working for the Observer, following the decision by Israel to ban foreign media from the Gaza Strip. Iman al-Najar, 29, said she watched as bulldozers started to destroy neighbours' homes and saw terrified villagers flee from their houses as masonry collapsed.

"By 6am the tanks and bulldozers had reached our house," Iman recalled. "We went on the roofs and tried to show we were civilians with white flags. Everyone was carrying a white flag. We told them we are civilians. We don't have any weapons. The soldiers started to destroy the houses even if the people were in them." Describing the death of Rawhiya, Iman says they were ordered by Israeli soldiers to move to the centre of the town. As they did, Israeli troops opened fire. Rawhiya was at the front of the group, says Iman.

Marwan Abu Raeda, 40, a paramedic working for the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, said: "At 8am we received a phone call from Khuza'a. They told us about the injured woman. I went immediately. I was 60 or 70 metres away from the injured woman when the Israeli forces started to shoot at me." As he drove into another street, he came under fire again. Twelve hours later, when Rawhiya was finally reached, she was dead.

Iman said she ended up in an area of rubble where a large group of people had sought cover in a deep hole among the debris of demolished houses. It is then, she says, that bulldozers began to push the rubble from each side. "They wanted to bury us alive," she said.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21786.htm

Call me old fashioned but normaly thanks are given for a job well done, at least were I come from

George w. Bush’s gift to the American Republic may be that he has discredited a host of right-wing theories and practices – “trickle-down economics” “selfregulating markets” “tough-guy” foreign policy; the “imperial presidency”; and the notion that “government is the problem.”
Now and forever more this vile BS is put to rest

He had political pedigree and little else. He was a child of privilege and entitlement. His name, not his merit, brought him to Yale and Harvard where the affirmative action of legacy provided him slots denied to the more accomplished lacking his royal family’s wealth and heritage.

For him, life was like an elite box of chocolates where he always knew what he would get. Just ask daddy and it’s done. Do what you like, fail and never face the consequences.

He cut in line to get into the Air National Guard and avoid the perils of a war he said he supported but others -- those with no influence or money- should bleed and die for. He skipped officer candidate school, got a direct commission and become a pilot, just like daddy.

Duty quickly bored him. Neglect and dereliction marked his service. He has yet to explain his whereabouts for the entire year of 1972. He mothballed his flight suit and spent hard hours working on the Houston nightlife, snorting cocaine in the company of his dearest friend, Jack Daniels.

In business, he failed consistently. His M.B.A degree was of little use in the oil business as he bet on dry hole after dry oil. Bankruptcy would look bad on his resume so his daddy’s friends consistently bailed him out.

In one of his business ventures, he used inside information to unload stock that was about to tank. He got caught. A friend of his daddy’s at the S.E.C. slapped his hand and he promised he wouldn’t steal again from the other shareholders. The report on the dirty dealing remains sealed to this day.

He failed in his first flirt with politics, loosing a race for a congressional seat. If only it ended there. But the family’s political gene is never recessive. Politics is power and power means money. We must protect our investments. Besides, the glory and comfort are fun.

His daddy’s run for the White House pumped up his campaign adrenaline and he chose to hang out with political thugs and right wing religious leaders, a foretaste of his own climb to the top. Daddy had to settle in as Ronald Reagan’s Veep until his turn came later.

His boy wanted to cash in on his daddy’s success and have some of his own. Brain damaged and tired from decades of hangovers, he gave up the booze and found Jesus. But he never treated the demons and they still gripped his soul. He became a textbook dry drunk, no longer drinking but still lost in clouded thinking.

He was unyielding, inflexible and extreme. The stinking thinking made him testy, prone to erratic behavior and mood swings. He followed his gut resulting in delusions and deceptions. Single-mindedness and grandiosity drove him.

He refused to listen to anyone who disagreed with him. Later, in departing the public stage, he said,“ I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right.” In fact, he could never admit error and is incapable of remorse. That would require reflection and introspection, abilities beyond his damaged mind.

Daddy’s pals set him up with a piece of a baseball team. No capital of his own, just a famous name and backslapping style. He liked the game and through public subsidies-welfare for the wealthy- his shares blossomed into millions of dollars, his own private fortune.

He longed to become Commissioner of Baseball. The owners wouldn’t have him, worried that he lacked management and executive skills. Oh their prophetic souls! But really how much harm could he have done to baseball? Instead he went out to bring great harm to a nation and world.

With money, a famous name and willingness to spread rumors that the incumbent Texas Governor, Anne Richards was a lesbian, he won his first elective office. Running Texas was easy. He didn’t have to do much. The State constitution gave most of the power to the legislature and Lieutenant Governor.

He could sit back, enjoy his title and grandeur, reward campaign contributors and polluters, and sign execution orders that included many people with demonstrable mental disabilities and illnesses.

But now, his resume showed he was a leader and he set his sights on the office from which the voters had unceremoniously booted his daddy. He was confident he could bring the family restoration and the Republican moneyed interests, especially from oil and insurance companies, quickly rallied around the candidate with the familiar name. They trusted him to protect their interests. They were right.

He didn’t win the election but his daddy’s friends on the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the vote count in Florida, spit at democracy and selected a manifestly unfit man to become President of the United States.

He promised decency and compassion, but delivered division and cynicism. Every policy, every decision was based on politics, not on what the facts indicated. He coasted and enjoyed the trappings of office and the game of politics. He was a superb fundraiser.

He gave huge tax cuts to his rich friends, paying for them with debt he passed on to working class Americans. Wages dipped, poverty grew and millions of jobs disappeared. Millions more would loose health care.

The environment meant nothing to him. Climate change did not exist. He handled natural disasters with indifference and stunning incompetence. The poor and dispossessed suffered greatly under his watch..

The defining moment of his presidency came- not on September 11th as he likes to think- but the month earlier on August 6, 2001. That’s when a CIA briefer told him the agency was getting fresh information and presented him with a report entitled: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”

In his usual flippant manner, he told the briefer “Okay, you covered your ass.” There is not a scintilla of independence evidence showing that he did anything about the dire warning. No heads up to airlines, in spite of other intelligence indicating al Qaeda had plans to hijack airplanes and use them like bombs. No summoning of the National Security Council. No consultations with allies.

He went back to playing video games and cutting brush at his Crawford, Texas ranch, the Potemkin village his handlers urged him to buy to polish his image as a regular guy.

The episode brought all his inadequacies to the forefront-incurious, disinterested, intellectually lazy, visceral, glib and supremely confident, above all else, in his own instincts.

He had surrounding himself with a fawning set of simpering sycophants. If they had worries about his grasp of matters of great importance, they wouldn’t dare tell him. He didn’t like hearing uncomfortable truths. Those who dared to quickly departed.

The preventable tragedy of September 11th became an opportunity that would not be missed. His negligence and malfeasance -- with the shameless compliance of the slavish mainstream media -- would be transformed into the image of the brave leader who would heal a wounded nation and seek revenge on those responsible for the carnage.

Fear and cowardice were his greatest allies. Congress gave him authoritarian powers. Others, he seized in secret, spying on tens of millions of Americans outside the law. He trampled on a Constitution he considered a quaint nuisance. He approved torture and committed war crimes.

He deceived and lied about the threat of a nation that had nothing whatsoever to do with September 11th but with the unabashed complicity of the media he peddled a propaganda campaign that convinced a majority of Americans that the threat was real and imminent and involved nuclear weapons.

The war was a breeze and in no time mission accomplished. When the insurgency began he said, “Bring ‘em on.” He created more debt to pay for the war that would soon cost a billion dollar a month. Military contractors raked in fortunes for shoddy and phantom work.

More than one million Iraqis were killed or maimed and, so far, 4200 Americans were have died. When his lies for waging war were exposed all he could say was that it was “a disappointment.”

He has done nothing to help the Palestinians or work for peace in the Middle East. He has insulted and ignored our neighbors Canada and Mexico and alienated nearly every other nation in the Western hemisphere.

The United States is now viewed as the world’s bully and hostility toward our nation has grown dramatically. We are less secure. Our allies are few and he created more enemies.

The American people ultimately must bear the responsibility for the incalculable damage done to the nation. Most of them bought the big lies and, when given the opportunity, failed to boot him out of office. One of every four still approves of the job he did.

He’s shutting down the Crawford ranch, moving to a swank, gated community in Dallas and returning to his base- the country club set. He’ll drink again, write a book, ride his bike, play golf, make tons of money and try to get his relatives elected to office to carry on the family business.

This week brings us hope. But, tragically, the consequences of vile deeds will live on for some time. The long national nightmare George W. Bush brought our nation is far from over. History will remember him as the worst president in our history. We must pray to never see another like him.
_______
BILL GALLAGEHR


About author
Bill Gallagher, a Peabody Award winner, is a former Niagara Falls city councilman who now covers Detroit for Fox2 News. His e-mail address is gallaghernewsman@aol.com.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/19833

This is my final column written during the George W Bush presidency. While I have never been a fan, I was incredibly taken by this president’s ability for consistency. No matter how many opportunities to make the past eight years somewhat bearable for the Union, his judgement mostly sided against what the American people would have wished. He called them tough decisions. His favorability ratings called them wrong.
Many in the right wing have called it Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS), believed to be originally coined by Anything Not Far-Right Derangement Syndrome (ANFRDS) sufferer, neo-conservative pundit, Charles Krauthammer. Krauthammer defined BDS as “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency — the very existence of George W. Bush.”
It stems from the belief that some extreme criticisms of President Bush are emotional rather than based on facts or logic.

In the hands of the functionally literate BDS would be considered an honest take if it applied to those who blanket-hate the President. But it has been applied by the Right’s entire noise machine to anyone who doesn’t have their tongue so far up the President’s butt you can taste his chewing gum.

Problem with Krauthammer’s assertion is that the polls show that vitriol lobbed towards this president consistently climbed during his presidency. Did our emotions change or did the facts? Did we fall out of love just because the dew had fallen off the rose or were we so regularly physically beaten by our suitor’s bad judgement that we needed to attain a restraining order because we were tired of explaining to the world that the fresh black eye we greeted them with each week was caused by a flying door.

The fact is, the door that slammed into our collective faces was a President and his administration who didn’t give a damn about what we thought. Bush, Cheney and their minions are famous for the “we don’t pay attention to the polls” style of administering their duties. The President has called them a snapshot of yesterday’s news. Problem is, the snapshot has grown into a seven and a half years of “Shoah.”

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a lawyer courageous enough to get us out of the marriage until this abusive presidency died of natural causes.

As they have done for years the Right just added BDS to the nomenclature built on dismissing disagreement with the President or his actions as emotional or anti-American.

Bill O’Reilly sold half his show this past week asking his objective pundits - Glenn Beck and Bernie Goldberg: Does the Left senselessly hate President Bush or are they just sick? The “Did you stop beating your wife” question is at the core of most talk radio debate. It doesn’t open the discussion for actual…discussion. For if it did, they’d be discussing lost lives in Katrina and Iraq: vice presidents who feel that “I think so,” is an appropriate answer to whether 4500 American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqis dead was worth invading Iraq; that torture was approved; that covert American spies could be outed…by their own government; that environmental standards could be lowered; that justices selected were being chosen politically ; that…oh hell, I guess I’m just being all emotional.

But as the ANFRDS sufferers, the few of them left, would say, he did keep us safe - though if they weren’t just being emotional they’d have to add - “…from a SECOND attack on his watch.”

Sick, full of hatred, or just plain tired of watching this country being pulled every which way but up, this BDS afflicted American can only say…

DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE ASS ON THE WAY OUT.

http://steveyoungonpolitics.com/confessions-of-a-bush-hater/

Thank you Mr BUsh for forever makeing the republican party worthless. We americans will never forget what you have done to our country and never forgive you. Your name will go down in history with that of Hitler and Vidkun Quisling.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two days from the White House, President-elect Barack Obama joined a vast throng Sunday at a joyous pre-inauguration celebration staged among marble monuments to past heroes. "Anything is possible in America," declared the man who will confront economic crisis and two wars when he takes office.

"Despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead, I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure — that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time," the president-elect said at the conclusion of a musical extravaganza that featured U2, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and a host of other stars.

Obama and his family held the seats of honor at the event, and a crowd of tens of thousands spilled from the base of the Lincoln Memorial toward the Washington Monument several blocks away in the cold, gray afternoon of mid-January.

It was the high point of a full day of pre-inaugural events that included a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and a morning church service where children recalled the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Obama's motorcade drew ever-larger crowds as the day wore on and he and his wife, Michelle, and their children Sasha and Malia crisscrossed the city.

"Just another typical Sunday," deadpanned the Rev. Derrick Hawkins, pastor at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, where the soon-to-be first family prayed.

Of course it was anything but — a run-up, in fact, to the first inauguration of an African-American president in a nation founded by slave-owners.

Obama's aides said he was readying an inaugural address that would stress twin themes of responsibility and accountability, and they predicted he would devote his first week in office to economic recovery, setting in motion a 16-month troop withdrawal from Iraq and decreeing a code of ethics for his administration.

With the economy weak and growing weaker, banks in trouble and joblessness rising, Obama's team was careful to warn against any expectation that he would be a miracle worker once in office. "I think it's fair to say that it's going to take not months but years to really turn this around," said David Axelrod, a political strategist expected to have White House space mere paces from the Oval Office.

Obama said as much in his own brief remarks. "I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many," he said.

He stood alone at the base of the steps before the statue of a seated Lincoln looking out at a crowd every bit as large as the one King addressed a generation earlier in his "I have a dream" speech that was a defining moment of the civil rights era.

An even larger audience is forecast for the inauguration outside the Capitol on Tuesday, with estimates running into the millions. Agencies in charge of logistics and security said they would enforce a ban on personal auto traffic across the Potomac River bridges from Virginia into Washington and seal off a large portion of the downtown area. Access to buildings along the Inaugural parade route down Pennsylvania Avenue was limited to those who gained Secret Service approval in advance.

Obama's day began at the Tomb of he Unknowns at Arlington National cemetery, where he and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden laid a wreath in memory of fallen heroes. The two men placed their hands over their hearts as a uniformed bugler played taps in a somber opening to a festive day.

The scene was quite different at the church a few miles away, where the congregation erupted in applause when Obama and his family walked to their seats.

"Understand that God has prepared you, and God has placed you, and God will not forsake you," Harkins told the incoming president.

Children sang and spoke selected readings that recalled King, killed in 1968.

"Martin Luther King walked so that Barack Obama could run," said one boy. "Barack Obama ran so that all children could fly," added another, standing a few feet away from the first African-American ever elected president.

At the Lincoln Memorial a few hours later, King's son, Martin Luther King III, had a brief speaking role.

For the most part, the program was a festival of music, the songs chosen to make their points. Mary J. Blige sang, "Lean on Me," Springsteen performed "The Rising," and Obama mouthed the words as 89-year-old Pete Seeger pitched in with "This Land is Your Land."

Many in the crowd sang along with Beyonce's soulful finale, "America the Beautiful."

In film clips at earlier moments, Obama was cast as heir to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and even Lincoln, who the president-elect said was "the man who in so many ways made this day possible."

As Obama moved around town in a pre-inaugural motorcade, his aides blanketed Sunday's interview programs.

With the nation facing the most difficult economic crisis since the Great Depression, they all agreed that recovery was the principal challenge facing the new president.

"What's important ... is ensuring that those that have had the short end of the stick for the last few years — make sure that they get the help that they need, that this administration begins to create the jobs and give some financial stability to families so that they can feel hopeful about going forward," said Robert Gibbs, who will serve as Obama's White House press secretary.

"Three million, 4 million jobs is going to make a very big difference," said Lawrence Summers, a top economic adviser to the incoming president, referring to the goal Obama has set. "It all depends on psychology, but we are going to be leaning forward throughout this administration. The president's made it clear that our errors are not going to be of standing back."

The Democratic-controlled Congress has already made a quick start on the president's recovery program, clearing the way for use of the second $350 billion for the financial industry bailout created last fall, and launching an $825 billion stimulus measure. Democratic leaders have pledged to have the legislation ready for Obama's signature by mid-February.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also endorsed Obama's call for a summit meeting to begin controlling spending on huge government benefit programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. She said even benefit cuts should be included as an option for discussion. "You put everything on the table. The only thing we didn't want to put on the table is eliminating" the programs, she added.

The Senate appears ready to confirm several of Obama's Cabinet appointees as soon as he signs the formal nomination paperwork on Tuesday, although not everything has been smooth for Obama and his transition team.

Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner's confirmation has been delayed for at least a few days because of his disclosure that he had failed to pay some federal taxes earlier in the decade. Bill Richardson withdrew as Obama's commerce secretary choice because of a grand jury investigation in New Mexico, where he is governor, and Obama himself was tripped up by controversy surrounding the appointment of his successor in the Senate.

Sen. Roland Burris D-Ill., was sworn in on Thursday — and swiftly voted with Obama to release the bailout funds. The president-elect and Senate Democrats had initially balked at allowing him to take the seat, saying his appointment was tainted because Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces criminal charges that he sought something in return for appointing Obama's successor.

Incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said in a televised interview that in his conversations with the governor, Blagojevich did not seek anything improper.

Pelosi and Gibbs appeared on Fox; Summers on CBS; Axelrod on ABC and Emanuel on NBC.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gJKgWvqj_NGE3zAYxnidI319krhgD95PQGFO3

I mostly agree. The Dems though are more pro environment and Labor. the repubs more for the rich. I will be happy to support a viable third party when it surfaces. lets face it we realy are a one party system (capitalist) Its to bad they believe in free market competetion in everything except our elections.

Its use is illlegal on civilian populations

Chickenhawk n. A person enthusiastic about war, provided someone else fights it; particularly when that enthusiasm is undimmed by personal experience with war; most emphatically when that lack of experience came in spite of ample opportunity in that person’s youth.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070205062444/http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=list&category=+NEWS;+Chickenhawks

.

Worse for these major league hypocrites is that they scammed their way out of Vietnam not because of noble ideals that the war was a misguided tragedy. Rather, these guys were just plain cowards looking to save their skins.

It's an abiding fact that the right wing continues to foamingly deride Clinton for protesting Vietnam because it was a bad war, while refusing to criticize the GOP leaders who evaded Vietnam because they were just plain yellow-bellied. Moreover, it is a glaring indication of the advanced pathology of the rabid right wing hordes that they don�t give a hoot that their leadership has a yellow streak as wide as Texas running down their backs.

The Limbaugh loonies are, after all, beyond reason in matters of politics. They needn�t bother with the truth, even if their own leaders (including pork boy Rush) exemplify everything they claim to scorn in the way of no guts and fairweather patriotism. The hypocrisy is so rank, it smells like an Iowa Hog farm in a heat wave.

http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/2001/05/121501_Cowardly_GOP.html