Thanks To U.S. And Russia, The End Of The World Inches Closer

Posted by BGH

~
If the United States carries out the building of planned anti-missile defense installations in Czech Republic and Poland, Russia may place a few conveniently close bombers on Cuban soil.

A cold war all over again? Possibly. More likely than not, this is a great deal of posturing from both sides, but we saw consequences of such chest puffing in the sixties with the Cuban missile crisis and the continued cold war with the soviets until the late eighties.

This type of tit-for-tat military build up and propaganda dispensing only fortified fear, ignorance and hatred between two nations that have shown since, that they can work very well together. Unfortunately we have a power hungry, cowboy-up, war-mongering president in the White House by the name of George W. Bush and Russia has had a very similar leader in Vladamir Putin.

The best interest of the nation never seems to be the concern in these exercises, those in power only seem to be led by stubbornness and arrogance. The escalation is relentless, and we all suffer....
----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

George W. Bush Leaves A Comment On My Article

Posted by BGH

~
It appears that the President Of The United States, as busy as he may be, still finds time to surf the web. I was very surprised to see he left a comment on something I had written about him.

On this post:
Bush White House, Corrupt Throughout

Granted, what I wrote about the 'Fearless Mis-Leader' was not very flattering, but I never expected he would stumble upon my words.

Here is what he said (it is presumed he is posting under the alias "Will", because there couldn't possibly be anyone else out there deluded enough to defend this presidency, unless maybe Dick Cheney, but I am sure he is sleeping during the day in his man-sized safe and only comes out at night to feast):

"Will said...

George Bush and friends are fighting evil; they are not the evil. Those who curse and slander and point at possible terrorists as innoccents; those who spit in your own faces, are insane. So, Fuck you too Author of this litany against true Freedom Supporters. I hope your sons and daughters get terrorized first when your people are let go due to your self righteous attacks. And when water boarding isn't used and cutting out their guts and eyes before slitting their throats prior to confessing they are whores and gays, then maybe then you'll remember the true meaning of this little blog here.

Fuck you too!
Will"

At first I was flabbergasted, unable to believe that the Executor In Chief really took the time to write to me. Then, I thought I would respond and let him know his ruse was figured out.

Here is what I said in response:

"BGH said...

Awwww George, how did you come up with the pseudonym 'Will'? Is it because you claim to be doing the 'will' of the people when in reality you have posted some of the lowest approval ratings of any president, ever???

Don't worry Will (George), I would rather have my freedoms in tact and take my risk of being a victim of terrorism, than to have you looking over my shoulder, entering my house without warrant and obliterating the economy, U.S. international opinion, and any of them 'darkies' you wanna steal oil from.

Thanks for the well wishes Will (Georgie), tell Laura and the twins I said "Hi"."

Needless to say, the comment yesterday was one of the most surprising and intellectual (y) (stupid) comments ever left here.

Thanks George W. Bush for the laughter!!
----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

'Glass Half Full' George W. Bush - Economic Wisdom

Posted by BGH

~
George W. Bush has once again shown himself to be a man of high *cough* intelligence and *cough* wisdom. This time he clearly illustrates he has a firm 'grasp' on the U.S. economy.

If by 'grasp' you mean 'total detachment from reality'... at least the "childrens are learnin", right?

Seriously, if this is a guy you want to "have a beer with", it's because you know he will say or do the stupidest things and then you can sit back and laugh.


----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

America Has Become A Disgrace, Thanks To You And Me

Posted by BGH

~
We have let stature and respect slip through our fingers. We have become guilty of the actions we condemn in others. We have squandered time and resources in petty endeavors, which more often than not, lead to dead-ends.

Yes, you and me. We are guilty. We have allowed this descent. You see, as a nation, we have been sleeping while we were supposed to be standing watch. We threw away, as you would a discarded gum wrapper, our voting rights and our vigilance. We have busied ourselves with insignificant trivia. We focus on what the candidate's wife wears, who we would rather 'have a beer with' or who looks better on TV, and then use this non-useful criteria to elect officials.

We vote into office characters of the shadiest sort. The most corrupt and vile persons take our votes, ones who we would not even trust with keys to the water closet, much less the oval office or congressional halls.

Our politicians are bought and sold on a daily basis because of love for the almighty dollar and a disdain for the people they were elected to represent. Lobbyists get legislation passed for the special interest groups who are willing to give the most money. The current presidential cabinet is drunk with power, flagrantly disregarding law, sending our sons and daughters to their death for what amounts to nothing more than lies, printing money hand over fist to fund a military quagmire and alienating nearly every previously allied nation. Congress continually capitulates to the administration. The justice department capitulates to the administration. The judiciary capitulates to the administration. “We The People” are left in the cold.

How did we get here? Because; American Idol has become more important in our daily lives than American elections. People are “too busy” to learn about the candidates and too shallow to care about real issues. Instead, the one with the best hairstyle is ‘electable’, the campaign that buys the most ads is ‘dedicated’ and the one who appears to be a partier is ‘our pal’. In the end we lose, we are the ones dragging ourselves down and ultimately passing on our apathetic product to our children.

WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!!
----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

Pot Accidentally Calls Kettle Black; Bush And Berlusconi

Posted by BGH

~
I found this headline and summary of the article to be amusingly ironic:

Bush sorry over Berlusconi insult
The White House has apologised to Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi for a briefing describing him as a political "amateur" who is "hated by many".

The mistake was not a purposeful slight, rather the information in the biography was not written by White House staff but pulled from a biography encyclopedia. Either way, it is funny as hell that one of the most corrupt and most hated presidencies in American history would mistakenly (or with intent), make such accusations of other world leaders.

This White House has alienated much of the world, seems amateur at best, is hated by many of it's own citizens and has shown massive evidence of corruption from top to bottom. Maybe white house staff actually printed Bush's biography and just changed the name at the top to "Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi", the description makes as much sense either way.
----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

Centrist Promises In A Polarized Nation

Posted by BGH

~
Unfortunately, in American politics, while campaigning in a primary race, a candidate will focus on bolstering their appeal to the party from which they are trying to win the nomination, once the primary is over the candidates then move toward the center of the political realm. This will hopefully then have the effect of pulling support from the popular majority, but it also has the drawback of alienating the far ends of the left or right.

This is where my alienation begins. I cannot support Senator McCain for numerous reasons, way too many to list here, but I will say I mainly do not agree with his war policy and his financial proposals. I have decided that, even though there are some issues I disagree with Senator Obama on, they are small enough that I can overlook them, and as such allow me to support him.

Until I read today's headlines:
Obama Would Expand Bush's Faith-Based Programs

Senator Obama previously taught constitutional law and has made some very strong statements regarding the establishment clause (separation of church and state). So, this declaration was a bit disheartening, I do not think churches deserve, nor warrant much of the special treatment they receive (tax breaks, donations), for the amount of benefit they provide society. Not to mention, these faith based initiatives are basically 'welfare for churches', and allows them an open door to proselytize while providing services. The faith based government funded programs are supposed to have a clause prohibiting proselytizing while performing work financed by the government, but this policy is poorly enforced, if at all.

So, this morning, after reading the proclamation by Presidential candidate Barack Obama, my support ebbed a bit, this is a polarizing issue for me and his move to the center for mass appeal, while not wholly unexpected, is a little saddening. Church/state seperation is blurred all too often and it was my 'hope' the next president would clarify the line and 'change' some of the crossover.
----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

A Fitting, Uh, "Honor"

Posted by Susan

It's all over the web. It's all over the news. It was reported in the New York Times and USA Today.

I just can't stop chuckling.


A grass-roots initiative in San Francisco, The Presidential Memorial Commission, has collected 8,500 signatures to get a plan on the November ballot to rename the "Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant" the "George W. Bush Sewage Plant".

That's more than enough signatures to get the question on the ballot (7,168 are necessary) and according to some of the polls, it's likely to pass. The renaming would take effect on January 20, 2009, when the new president is sworn in.

Of course the Republicans have their panties in a twist. The White House refuses to comment on the article in the New York Times.

Officials at the award-winning facility say they get the joke, but follow that by saying the plant keeps the city's streets and ocean water clean. "If you are looking for a place to make a negative statement about the Bush administration's impact on the environment, this would be the last place to do it," agency spokesman Tony Winnicker said.

Heck, they probably don't want to work at a place with Bush's name on it… and do you blame them?

There are also some great comments on the Interweb, most having to do with the insult to the sewage plant. One said, "Sewage treatment plants perform a valuable public service. As a result, it does not make sense to name one after George W. Bush."

If you are a registered voter in San Francisco, you can print and sign the petition for mailing HERE.

He Is A 'Uniter' Now

Posted by BGH

~
Over the two terms of the George W. Bush presidency many people have spoken out about the missteps and folly that have taken place, mostly political opponents. Lawmakers and pundits from the other end of the political spectrum speaking out have been labeled contrarians, i.e. persons speaking out against the administration for the sake of being 'contrary'.

Well, when it comes to civil rights, torture, interrogation and detention policies from the dishonest and misleading Bush Administration, there is growing BI-PARTISAN opposition.
Bipartisan Group to Speak Out on Detainees

The list of signatories includes:

Among the signers is George P. Shultz, secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan. “It’s a good time to step back, take a deep breath and set a standard,” Mr. Shultz said in an interview.

The statement to be issued Wednesday seeking a presidential order does not explicitly criticize recent practices but prescribes rules for the future. Its signatories, predominantly but not exclusively Democrats, include two other former secretaries of state, Madeleine K. Albright and Warren Christopher; three former defense secretaries, William S. Cohen, William J. Perry and Harold Brown; and three former national security advisers, Anthony Lake, Sandy Berger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. The list includes more than 30 retired generals and admirals; a handful of former C.I.A. officers; four former World War II interrogators; and more than 100 leaders of religious congregations, divinity professors and other religious figures.

Our nation should treat war criminals and detainees the same way we would want our own citizens treated if captured. Yes, there are atrocities committed by our enemies on Americans, but how can we hold them to a higher standard than what we use for for treatment of enemy combatants? Only if we use strict fair guidelines can we expect and demand the same for our captured citizens and soldiers abroad.

George W. Bush has managed to unite the parties on various levels throughout his administration, usually against his policies.
----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

Dobson Throws Brick At Obama, Ducks Into Glass House

Posted by BGH

~
James Dobson from the neo-conservative group, Focus On The Family, is throwing stones at Barack Obama's interpretation of scripture, while hiding in a glass house himself.

"... He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

And...

He says Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality," which is "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution," Dobson says.

Christianity is all about interpretation. Hell, for that matter EVERY religion is about interpretation. And every believer, every follower of scripture, claims to have a lock on the 'correct' understanding.

Dobson, in essence, is telling Obama that though 'we have read the same book, the same tome that has been edited, altered, rephrased and rehashed through centuries of Christianity, my understanding is correct and you have a bastardized distillation of the text'(paraphrased). You cannot gather two believers in the same room who completely agree on meaning and intent regarding a collection of passages and when the bible is read as a whole, the differences become even more broad.

These holy books were written, as many books of the time were, as mythology and allegory to explain a world which was not fully understood, and through fear a story was made-up instead of admitting a lack of knowledge. The tools to comprehend the world and the natural processes were not readily accessible to most men, so to calm their uneasiness, campfire stories were created that which explained the things that went 'bump' in the night (or day for that matter).

So, James Dobson is a fruitcake, because anyone who takes literally, words written in the first century and that were then manipulated and molested in every century since, by editors and interpretors, is surely more intellectually strained than someone who tries to extract a moral without taking the words to their extreme.

For what it's worth, Barack Obama also would do well to ditch the so called 'scripture' and focus on governing for the people, no matter the faith or creed.
----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

Suggested Texas GOP Platform: Remove D.C. Nudes

Posted by BGH

~
... and other craziness.
Work on Texas GOP's platform stirs passions

In a meeting discussing issue proposals for party platform to the state GOP committee, one delegate expressed disgust over some nude sculptures he saw on a recent trip to Washington D.C..

"You don't have nude art on your front porch," he explained. "You possibly don't have nude art in your living rooms. So why is it important to have that in the common places of Washington, D.C.?"

With his party having solved all of the more major issues facing America, Robert Hurt, a delegate from Kerrville, TX, thinks we should remove those offensive "sculpted" women from the National Gallery of Art and other various locations around Washington.

Mr Hurt's proposal didn't make it into the official platform, though after reviewing what is included, I think his idea would fit right in with some of the party's other non-sense. Here is the official platform.

In this, a presidential year, it advocates prayer in school, getting out of the United Nations, teaching intelligent design with evolution in science classes, repealing of the minimum wage, declaring illegal immigrants criminals and outlawing abortion with no exceptions.

"Hallelujah!" said a delegate who had urged strong anti-abortion language.

The platform calls homosexuality contrary to "the unchanging truths" ordained by God. It opposes gay marriage, civil unions and the custody of children by gays.

The party's own leaders aren't spared. There's a call to repeal the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, sponsored by the party's presidential nominee, and to oppose the Trans-Texas Corridor, the brainchild of Gov. Rick Perry.

Why does the official platform come across as a bigoted, backwards rant, instead of as a list of ideas to improve the state? Oh yeah... because that's what it is.
---
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

Presidental Blindness, Lack Of Seeing Responsibility

Posted by BGH

~
What has sullied U.S. reputation in Europe, misinformation and propaganda or imperialistic foreign policy, deceit and arrogance by the Bush Administration?

According to George W. Bush, it was not the administration’s cowboy-up, war-mongering attitude, rather it was “misinformation and propaganda”.

It is very difficult to see the forest through the trees, huh Mr. Bush? Just days after admitting regret (faux regret in my opinion) regarding a “man of war” legacy he will certainly be saddled with, he now can’t see how this imposing imperialistic attitude could be the cause of protests in every country he visits. Instead, he blames an unseen force spreading lies and anti-U.S. propaganda for the loss of international stature.

The foreign press doesn't need to use propaganda to damage U.S. reputation, they only need to report the facts as cited by source after source pertaining to the attitude and actions of the administration, the rest will take care of itself.

Oh George, you don't need any help ruining our reputation, you have handled the job very nicely.
----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

The Power Hungry White House: Illegal Intelligence Grab

Posted by BGH

~
Martial law and interment camps for suspected "trouble makers" isn't really that far fetched, if you believe this article from Radar Magazine:
The Last Roundup:
Is the government compiling a secret list of citizens to detain under martial law?

Now, I am not much of a conspiracy theorist or chicken little, but there are aspects of claims made in the article I have heard echoed elsewhere in very reputable news sources. I implore you to read the article, it is quite well written and, though a bit long, paints a mostly ominous picture given the right circumstances.

As our nation was misled and coerced by threat of terrorism into supporting a war in Iraq which, according to most experts on the subject, had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. In reality much of the intel provided to the United Nations as supporting evidence for use of force against Saddam Hussein, was falsified, outdated or erroneous. Our President and his cabinet appears to have sent American soldiers to die for his personal vendetta or their monetary profit. It is unclear what the true motive may have been and we might never know, but more and more the evidence points to something other than weapons of mass destruction.

In one sense I welcome a martial law declaration in the United States, it could prove to inspire more people to get involved and to care once again about the government's actions. There is considerable disapproval and dissent among the populace, yet many still are apathetic and complacent in their everyday lives. A true revolt against this corrupted political system and demand for a return of rights to the citizenry may need a trigger such as the threat of a police state, though I am afraid many would be unable or unwilling to see through the scare tactics and instead meekly comply with authority. Unfortunately, fear is a very powerful and coercive tool to control masses of people, something our government knows very well.

Whatever the case... whether the threat of future terrorist attacks coming from the Department Of Homeland Security are real or fabricated, I choose not to live in fear and would rather retain my rights and freedoms. We just need more people to wake up from the slumber of 'American Idle Culture' and start caring once again. Then and only then will real change ever occur.
----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

Jackass: U.S. Politics Version - Race For The Presidency

Posted by JCE

***

I've been watching this election closely, monitoring the debates, sifting through the rhetoric delivered by various talking heads and I am disappointed. There is overwhelming evidence that Barack Obama will win the election in November and there are many points on which I agree with him but there seems to be something lacking in his approach. What is it? Jackassishness.

This country needs a real leader and one who is not afraid to fly in the face of convention because he/she knows they are right and is able to support their position with facts and evidence. This is not the same as displaying the congnitive dissonance shown by our current Commander in Chief. I have discussed this many times with BGH (who often displays jackassishness) and as I have explained to him, a good leader knows they are right regardless of naysayers. They do not bow to public opinion and at the end of the day they gain respect because they were right. Naturally, a certain amount of arrogance (hence the term 'jackassishness') is usually found in the character make-up of these individuals, but it isn't false pride - it is earned through hard work and intellect.

There are times I have nearly beat my head against the wall during discussions with BGH - "But saying such and such is rude!" "You can't do/say that!" "Why do you have to be so contrary? Can't you just go with the flow?" "Why do you always have to have your own way?" Well, I will tell you why - because he is nearly always right and if he is wrong, he admits it and fixes the problem. There was a time in our history that such a person would be called a visionary.

Visionaries often possess deep wells of common sense and a clear sense of right and wrong. They are protective of their rights and do not allow themselves to get mired down in semantics or manners. They are practical and respectful without sacrificing their own self-worth. There are times when the opponent is just plain wrong and visionaries see that and can usually express that idea clearly and convincingly without demeaning the opponent. (Thomas Jefferson was one such visionary who was not gifted at verbally expressing himself or his ideals, but his writings more than made up for that deficiency.)

We are in desperate need of a visionary:

• Visionaries are not afraid to assess current crisises and formulate answers based on logic and critical thinking.
  
  
• Visionaries will listen to dissenting opinions if for no other reason than to test their own opinions and make them stronger.
  
  
• Visionaries will utilize the resources available - economists, scientists, sociologists - to assist them in determining a wise course of action. Our current president has a penchant for surrounding himself with yes-men and lackeys whose only key to success is telling the president what he wants to hear. All others have been shown the door.
  
  
• Visionaries inspire others - such a person could turn this country around and return it to the productive, well-respected country that it once was. They could force all of us take a good look at ourselves and strive for self-improvement – someone we all want to emulate. There are some who might even use the term ‘elitist' and that is fine; they ARE elitists, we should ALL want to be bit more elite too.
  
  
• Visionaries employ foreign diplomacy before resorting to playground bully tactics and they do so without diminishing the integrity of this country.
  

The media has led us to believe we should actually care about what kind of suit a candidate wears or how she gets her hair styled. In order to give the impression of intellect and importance, the media has given vast amounts of air-time and ink to issues they conjure up out of thin air. I do not care if Obama wears a flag lapel pin, I do not care if Clinton has tree-trunk legs and I surely do not care about McCain period.

I do care about integrity, honesty, common sense and knowledge of the constitution, but mostly I care about whether or not our next president is a visionary. Are they capable of simply standing up and saying "We are fucked. We are going to have to fix it together and it might sting a little, but we can do it." And they must possess the conviction to follow through.

As far as Barack Obama is concerned I have my doubts. Admittedly I have fewer doubts with him than the other candidates, but I would feel much more at ease if he would practice a little less appeasement and stand firm on jackassishness.

***

Five Names

Posted by BGH

~
Five names that should be stricken from current news media headlines and reports.

1. Amy Winehouse - I am sure there are many drug plagued, strung out addicts out there with some minuscule amount of talent, why must we hear about this one?


2. Pete Dougherty - Same description as above.


3. Britney Spears - I am sure there are many manic depressive, schizophrenic, strung out parents out there with nearly non-existent talent out there fighting custody battles, who fucking cares about hers?


4. Roger Clemens - I don't think throwing a baseball while 'roided out warrants extensive coverage of sexual liasons or a congressional investigation into 'performance enhancing drugs' while a seemingly endless war is wasting trillions of dollars and the U.S. economy is collapsing.


5. George W. Bush - Because nearly every mention of his name is tied to something failing, recession, war, death, ineptitude, deceit, corruption, illiteracy, ignorance, incompetence and all around failure.

Just a little rant after reading my news feeds for the day.
----
"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"

Consciousness and Politics

Posted by JCE

***

Yesterday I listened to a broadcast on NPR discussing the "new" proposed Windfall Profit Tax announced by Ms. Clinton as her way of addressing the skyrocketing costs of fuel. The broadcast interviewed Joseph Thorndike, director of the Tax History Project at TaxAnalysts.com and he explained that this is not a new tax at all and is in fact a very bad idea. The problem being that it is a windfall profit tax...not profits. There is another sort of tax that has been used in the past during war time to both cover the costs of the war and alleviate the strain on the economy and that is the Excess Profits Tax. The excess profits tax goes back approximately 5 years and calculates the tax on the profits of oil companies. The windfall profits tax is, for all intents an purposes, a one time tax based on the current price per barrel of oil.

Although I cannot follow all the intricacies of the tax jargon, it struck me that if there are people out there that already know all of this and have analyzed it, why isn't Congress and/or our presidential hopefuls asking them for advice? Actually, what I would really love to know is why someone like Hillary Clinton did not already know this? She has a law degree, she has spent time in the White House and has done time in Congress. Ummm...?

For the record, Congress did try to pass an excess profits tax in 1991 but were unsuccessful and our current Commander in Chief does not favor such taxes so he has not approved of any such tax nor has he initiated efforts to reinstate it during this war.

I realized that tax talk is boring to the point of sleep inducing, but this serves as one example of the willful deceit that has gone on for the last 7 years (and longer) and will most likely continue. Commercialized media does little to nothing to help the situation and the average John Q. Public is left paying the price for not paying attention and for not fully researching every damn thing spouted by politicians. The part I truly do not understand is the need to lie. BGH asked me once, is it unreasonable to expect capitalism to have a conscience? I ask the same question about politicians - are they incapable of doing their job with a conscience?

You can listen to the NPR broadcast here.

***

From Ridiculous to Flat Out Ludicrous

Posted by JCE

***
For the record, I am not a staunch Obama supporter.

Now that that is out of the way, the latest news stories regarding his former minister have left me wondering just how much the good reverend was paid to make his retarded comments. Support him or don't support him, Barack Obama has never, not one time ever, shown any hint that he shares the views espoused by the reverend.

Quite frankly, I am embarrassed on behalf of every reasonably intelligent American that Obama has been forced by the media to defend himself against the view expressed by Mr. Wright. No clear thinking individual could listen to those views and think Mr. Obama supports them. If Mr. Wright is not being paid in an attempt to sabotage Mr. Obama's candidacy, then he is simply trying to grasp a moment of limelight and in doing so presents himself as batshit crazy. Let's face it: Statements of reason do not sell papers or increase ratings and Mr. Wright realizes he has a captive congregation sitting on the other side of the television or newspaper.

What he may not realize is the damage he is doing to his reputation, to his religion and to all religion in this country. I, for one would be thrilled to see all religions forced to shut down, but that would be neither fair nor reasonable. As it is, I am content to envision millions of Americans make a noise of disgust every time Mr. Wright is shown on the news and point to him as yet another example of religious nutjobs. Although to many of us, every religion is full of nutjobs at least Mr. Wright's ability to make a spectacle of himself keeps the other moderates on their guard to watch their own religious leaders for signs of fundieism.

So, keep on talking Mr. Wright - most of us aren't listening. Mr. Obama - you are not personally responsible for this man's insanity and while I may not have decided whether or not to vote for you, if I don't it won't be because of anything Mr. Wright said.
***

A little political humor

Posted by JCE

***
We've all been feeling a bit blah over here at The Information Paradox so to lighten the mood (in addition to Susan's excellent post about the 95 year old hero) I thought I would post some political humor cartoons:

How Will The George W. Bush Legacy Be Taught In Thirty Years

Posted by BGH

~
How will President George W. Bush’s legacy be taught in social studies or history class thirty years from now?

I am old enough to remember much what happened during the time in office of the last four presidents, my memory gets a bit fuzzy around the Carter administration, but Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, William Jefferson Clinton and George Walker Bush are pretty clear. As each president leaves office they leave behind a legacy of things they will be remembered for, some scandal and some good things, but a legacy nonetheless.

With Ronald Reagan we remember:

• The Cold War
• The Berlin Wall
• The assassination attempt
• The Iran-Contra scandal
• Reaganomics
• Nancy’s “Just say ‘no’” policy
• Grenada
• Booming 80's economy resurgence
  

With George Herbert Walker Bush we remember:

• “Read my lips, no new taxes”
• Desert Storm
• Dan Quayle misspelling ‘potato’
• The fall of the Soviet Union
• Americans With Disabilities Act
• Panama / Noriega
• Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I)
  

With William Jefferson Clinton we remember:

• Monica Lewinsky
• A thriving economy
• Somalia
• NAFTA
• DMCA
• Serbia / Kosovo
• The Branch Davidians
  
• Elian Gonzalez
  
• Soaring public opinion
• Low unemployment
  

So what will we remember of George Walker Bush?

• September 11, 2001
• The Patriot Act
  
• The Afghan War
• The Iraqi Quagmire
• Torture
• Water Boarding
• Abu Ghraib
• Falsified intelligence
• Suppression of climate science
• Sinking economy
• Soaring gas prices
• Sinking public opinion
• The Katrina debacle
• Cheney shooting someone in the face
• Wire Tapping
• Loss of Habeas Corpus
• Veto of stem cell bill
• Inflation
• Rising unemployment
• Firing of U.S. Attorneys
• Alberto Gonzalez
• Scooter Libby
• Enron
• Tyco
• Blackwater
• Faith Based Initiatives

How will the history books salvage anything positive from the last eight years of the George W. Bush presidency? With other presidents, scandal and success seem to be mixed, and if not mixed, an administration is usually labeled ineffective at worst. With G.W.B there is little from his time in office that can held up as a success or accomplishment, and more than a fair share of items that can be viewed as complete and utter failures. George W. Bush and his administration seem to have caused nearly irreparable damage on the world stage and unfortunate regression in domestic policy.

While I may not be democrat or republican, I lean more towards libertarian, though I am not fully there either. I value civil liberties and am entirely ready to accept some risk in order to preserve freedom. This administration has done more than almost any other presidency to infringe on our rights in order to make us feel safe, though we are in reality no more safe than we were eight years ago but we are whole lot less free.

When my grandkids are in school what will they learn of the G.W.B. presidency? They say the victors write the history books, well we all have lost something during this presidency, what will be written by the historians?
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(Alert - This post has been buried by Digg. After 186 Diggs and 45 comments Digg decided this was 'Lame' and buried it. Thank you Digg for showing your true colors of censorship. 186 Diggs, 5 Buries and my post is gone from the community even though others may want to read it.)

What Obama Said Isn't Elitist, It's Honest

Posted by BGH

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The recent speech given by Barack Obama, referenced in JCE's post, Hillary, Say Something Original....PLEASE!, isn't elitist or uppity as Faux (Fox) News and Hillary are trying to tell you it is. What he said was an honest and clear reflection on the psychological propensity for humans in distressful, disenfranchised situations to seek an outlet such as Mr. Obama said, "guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment". These people also turn to drugs, drinking or a sort of cognitive dissonance wherein they end up defending, often times vehemently, the institution that has caused the cynicism and those who have most wronged them.

Our country is in the shitter right now, we are in an illegal, dead end war, begun under false pretenses and lies, a flailing economy that has utterly taken a nose dive and an ineffective elitist government. Mr. Obama is absolutely correct in his statement and though he has called it a poor choice of words, as of this m