BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 08 Feb 09 - 11:17 AM

Bush denied clemency for some high-profile figures
Cunningham, Milken, Lindh among those whose petitions were rejected

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush, on his last full day in office, formally struck down the petitions for clemency of some high-profile politicians and businessmen, including convicted lawmakers Randall "Duke" Cunningham, Edwin Edwards and Mario Biaggi, and "junk bond" financier Michael Milken, the Justice Department said today.The chief of the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, Ronald Rodgers confirmed the denials through a spokeswoman, in response to queries from the Tribune Washington Bureau.

The Justice Department said Bush also denied petitions for clemency for two men who became highly polarizing symbols of their eras. One of them was John Walker Lindh, the young American serving 20 years in prison for aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan at a time when it was fighting U.S. military forces just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.Bush also denied one of the longest-standing petitions for clemency, for Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the murder of two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. His application had been under consideration since 1993, current and former Justice Department officials said.

Such denials can be a serious setback for those intent on clemency. After a denial, a petitioner must wait two years to reapply for a pardon and one year for a commutation of a prison sentence, although they can also circumvent the Justice Department and appeal directly to the White House whenever they want. In some cases, a presidential denial can be a setback in other ways, as well, and make it harder politically for the next administration to approve it, according to several current and former administration officials involved in the pardon process.Bush, who has not spoken publicly about the denials, did not make formal rulings on some other well-known figures, leaving their petitions alive. That long list includes former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, then-Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, U.S. Navy spy for Israel Jonathan Pollard, media mogul Conrad Black and telecommunications executives Bernard Ebbers and John Rigas.

Bush also denied clemency last Dec. 23 for Justin Volpe, the New York City police officer convicted of sodomizing Haiti immigrant Abner Louima with a broomstick, Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said today. Many advocates for those denied clemency had forcefully lobbied the Justice Department and White House, arguing that their prison sentences -- and the underlying charges -- were unfair in comparison to others accused of similar wrongdoings, especially when various forms of good behavior were factored in. Some said those seeking clemency were victims of political scapegoating. Bush historically has been stingy in his issuing of pardons and prison commutations, issuing far fewer than many other presidents in recent history. During the Bush administration, 2,498 pardon and 8,573 commutation applications were submitted, Rodgers said today. Bush granted 189 pardons and 11 commutations, and denied 1,729 pardon applications and 7,498 commutation applications. Additionally, 464 pardon applications and 2,222 commutation applications were closed administratively without presidential action, Rodgers said.

For the most part, Bush granted pardons and commutations to obscure federal offenders and not high-profile, politically connected applicants, as was the case with President Bill Clinton and some other previous presidents. He did shorten the sentences of two former U.S. border patrol guards involved in a controversial shooting of a drug smuggler coming across the Mexican border. "He seems to go out of his way to deny the high rollers, the prominent people," one U.S. official familiar with the pardon denial list said of Bush. Clinton created a storm of controversy over some clemency grants that continues to this day, in part because Attorney General-nominee Eric H. Holder Jr. played a role in some as deputy attorney general. Bush's formal denial of clemency for the high-profile applicants raised questions about why he didn't simply pass them along to the Obama administration as he did with so many others, some current and former Justice Department officials said.

Many past presidents also have simply passed along such political hot potatoes on their way out of office, leaving the potentially controversial petitions for their successors to grapple with. The Justice Department declined to comment on any details of the cases. The White House had no comment, before the inauguration, on who might be granted clemency, or why. After Bush issued a pardon to Isaac R. Toussie, a 36-year-old New York developer who pleaded guilty in 2001 to making false statements in a Long Island mortgage fraud case, critics said he did so because Toussie was represented by former associate White House counsel Bradford Berenson. After information surfaced that Toussie's application bypassed the Justice Department and that his father was a major donor to Republican causes, Bush took the unprecedented step of trying to revoke the pardon.

But Bush said he was "very proud" of not issuing pardons to the politically well-connected, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview with CNN's Larry King. "He said people who have gotten pardons are usually people who have influence or know friends in high places," a route that is "not available to ordinary people," Pelosi said, recounting an Inauguration Day conversation with the president. "He thought that there was more access for some than others and he was not going to do any." The pardon power was created to allow the president to redress injustices that the judicial system is unable to remedy or for other reasons, such as Jimmy Carter's pardon of Vietnam-era draft resisters in an effort to restore domestic tranquility. Read More

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 03:13 PM

Amos:

Strangely, while looking through this list of the G.W. Bush Library Board of Directors, I don't see Jack's name.

Could this be more of the "truth" That you are bringing to us?

Brent Scowcroft II
James W. Cicconi
Terri Lacy
Thomas Ludlow Ashley
Jeb Bush
Andrew H. Card, Jr.
Lodwrick M. Cook
Robert B. Holt
John H. Lindsey
Frederick D. McClure

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 11:06 PM

The George W.  Bush Presidential Library is now in the
planning stages and accepting donations.
The Library will include:
 The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.
The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won't be able to remember anything.
The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don't even have to show up.
The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in.
The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out.
The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which has not yet been located.
The National Debt Room, which is the largest room and has no ceiling.
The Tax Cut Room, with entry only to the wealthy.
The Economy Room, which is in the toilet.
The Iraq War Room.  After you complete your  first visit, visitors are sent back for a second, third,
fourth, and sometimes fifth visits. 
The Dick Cheney Room, in an undisclosed location, complete with shotgun gallery.
The Environmental Conservation Room which is completely empty.
The Gift Shop, where you can buy an election.
The Men's Room, where you can meet some of your favorite Republican Senators.
The Decider Room, complete with the presidential dart board, magic 8-ball, Ouija board, dice, coins, and straws.
The library will feature a high powered electron microscope to help you locate and view the President's
accomplishments.
 
The library will also include many famous quotes by George W.  Bush including:
'The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.'
'If we don't succeed, we run the risk of  failure.'
'Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.'
'No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and medicine.'
' I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy but that could
change.'
'One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to
be prepared'.'
' Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.'
' I have made good judgments in the past.  I have made good judgments in the future.'
' The future will be better tomorrow.'
' We're have the best educated American people in the world.'
' One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.'
'  Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.'
'  We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.'
'  It isn't pollution that's harming the environment.  It's the impurities in our air and
water that are doing it.'
 '  I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.'
 
PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY!
 
Sincerely, Jack Abramoff,
 Co-Chair G.W. Bush Library Board of Directors

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 02:02 PM

Shame how the KoolAid market has fallen since the Inauguration, Sawz.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:56 PM

Thank You, President Bush

As the sun sets on the Bush presidency, it is important to honor the man who answered the call to public service, provided us leadership in a time of great consequence, and held his office with dignity and courage. The Heritage Foundation sometimes disagreed with President George W. Bush on policy, but never on our love for our nation. President Bush strove for innovative solutions to America's dilemmas, just as we do. He looked across this nation and saw the answers to most problems were in the hearts of great Americans, not the heart of the national government.
When President Bush spoke at Heritage on Nov. 1, 2007, he said: "The lessons of the past have taught us that liberty is transformative. And I believe 50 years from now an American President will be speaking to Heritage and say, `Thank God that generation that wrote the first chapter in the 21st century understood the power of freedom to bring the peace we want.' "
President Bush put a large stake in the freedom and liberty of others. He ultimately will be judged at the lofty level of how many people were granted these eternal rights, and how many seized the opportunities he afforded them.
Today, we simply ask that blessings abound for President and Mrs. Bush in the next chapter of their lives together. As he leaves office, our homeland is secure, Americans are inspired and the greatness of our country once again is on display to the world. Thank you.
   
January 16, 2009 Ron Lewis, Maj. USAF Ret., Manning, SC writes:
Thank you for staying the course and allowing us to fight the fight.

January 16, 2009 The Garvin Family, Ventura, CA writes:
We do thank you soooo much President Bush for all you've done for our great and GOD-given freedoms and country. You were way more moderate than we were hoping for and you didn't seem to get that even your best democrat "friends" would do all they could to destroy you as a Republican president; but we know you truly love America and did your best. Please learn from this experience and realize you don't have any democrat "friends" and your choice to try to set a "new tone" with them had no way of succeeding. We pray for GOD's blessings on you and yours.

January 16, 2009 martha siegfried, hudson, wi writes:
President Bush does indeed deserve our thanks! He has endured unprecedented media bias (this coming from a Communcation undergrad. and Communication Disorders M.A.)in doing what he knew to be right for this country. He went with the best information at the time and formulated an appropriate response to 9/11 and all other aggression from that region that previously had been left unanswered. His strong defense of America has been the greatest factor in us remaining safe since 9/11. His efforts to reform Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were thwarted by Democrats primarily but show that he knew of, and tried to avert the financial abyss we now find ourselves in. Thank you, President Bush!

January 16, 2009 MORRILL SWAN/SACO, MAINE writes:
THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH FOR PROTECTING OUR COUNTRY. THANK YOU FOR THE TAX CUTS. THANK YYOU FOR YOUR HONESTY AND INTEGRATY. WE WISH YOU THE BEST OF EVERYTHING.

January 16, 2009 Lucia B. Caetano, MA writes:
Thank you President Bush for keeping us safe. Thank you for being strong in face of so much negative press, here and abroad. I wish you and yours the best that life has to offer.
The same goes to the Vice President and his family.
Lucia Caetano

January 16, 2009 Terry R Beard Ft Myers Fla writes:
Thank You Mr President for all you have done for our Country. My family and I will miss you very much and as always you and your family will be in our prayers.
The only thing I can say now, I feel as I am in the battlefield without a Commander. I am sorry to say that I can not recognize this man as our Commander-in-Chief. As a patriot ,(which I consider myself to be) I recognize The Holy Bible, The Constitution, & the UCMJ. Best of luck to you and your family and stay safe.
Thanks again for the last eight years.
Sincerely,TR Beard..........Part of 668 thank yous

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 10:32 AM

Good Work, No Pay
By Kathleen Parker
Friday, February 6, 2009; 12:00 AM

So many MBAs, so few jobs.

Despite daily reports of laid-off executives, all is not dark -- if you're the patient sort of investor.

There is, in fact, a lot of work for MBAs. It just doesn't pay very well. Actually, it doesn't pay at all, but that's a minor detail in the grand scheme. Job requirements are as follows: professional business experience, valid passport, commitment to volunteerism, adventurous spirit, flexibility and ... a sense of humor.

If you're thinking you might find yourself in some remote hollow of, say, South Sudan or Kyrgyzstan, you might be right. But you'd be helping save the world, so hang tight.

At this moment, volunteer MBAs are deployed in 15 countries, putting their skills to work helping small and medium-sized businesses get up and running. They're all part of the MBA Enterprise Corps, a division of the Citizens Development Corps (CDC), a quietly efficient operation begun 19 years ago by the first President George Bush.

The Berlin Wall had come down, European communism was dead, and Americans wanted to help. So many were calling the White House offering their services that Bush 41 decided to create a mechanism for funneling all that helpful American energy. Voila: The CDC was born.


What began as a vehicle for volunteers aimed at economic development has evolved into a highly successful economic development entity that uses volunteers.

The CDC has had programs in 50 countries on four continents, from Angola to Ukraine. With an annual budget of $6 million and a database of 7,500 volunteers, the CDC trains local businessmen and women and then brokers employment and consulting contracts between locals and multinational corporations.

It's one of those rare win-win-win arrangements: Corporations get local contracts that are faster and less costly than outside services would be; locals get training and jobs; friendships and mutual respect build bridges across cultures and nations.

A round of applause would be appropriate here.

Or, how about a Nobel Peace Prize to the United States for helping achieve the success story that is Central Europe? That's the modest proposal of Michael Levett, president and CEO of the citizen corps and an unlikely champion of anyone with the surname Bush.

A self-described liberal Democrat, Levett came to the CDC in 1994, intending to stay for just one year. Sitting in his K Street office today, he is surrounded by movie posters -- "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Return of the Jedi" and "Dune" -- from an earlier incarnation as vice president of Lucasfilm and Dino DeLaurentiis Corp. He sports a beard he grew to help blend in while in Baghdad and doesn't mind that he can pass for a local when work takes him to some of the world's dicier neighborhoods.

Levett says his longevity on the job is owing to one thing: Gratifying work. The allure of helping build democracies and growing free markets during a time of historic transformation can't be overrated.

Most who enter the MBA Enterprise Corps don't just stumble upon it, but choose the volunteer path early in their studies as a way to gain experience and build a resume. Even so, getting selected isn't easy.

Vetting includes an assessment of motivation, commitment and the ability to adapt to challenging living and business environments. Previous volunteers have included Goldman Sachs analysts in South Sudan, Bank of America employees in Ghana, and McKinsey consultants in India.

A list of accomplishments would be too long for this space, but herewith a few highlights:

-- IBM, with 400,000 employees worldwide, recently selected the CDC to implement a volunteer program.

-- South Sudan tapped three MBAs deployed there to develop that area's first census.

-- MBAs from the CDC provided training to the Bank of China.

-- In Angola, a CDC-trained company captured a $35 million contract with a multinational oil company.

I hear ya. What about us? Indeed.

As our government bails out banks, insurance companies and car manufacturers -- while the proposed stimulus package promises a trillion-plus more debt -- it's hard to applaud outsourcing our talents to countries that in some cases have already consumed our jobs.

That is the short view.

The longer view suggests that our own economic recovery depends in part on the financial success of emerging nations. While we await our own bounce, it can't hurt to help others. It also might not hurt to send some of those MBAs to aid our own ailing towns and cities.

Detroit, anyone? Applicants must be flexible. Sense of humor absolutely necessary.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 11:16 PM

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 10:49 PM

Sigh.

Your insults are just as off the mark as your reports, Sawz.

Take up the study of logic.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 10:43 PM

Amos would prefer another statue of Saddam in front of another Saddam castle. The shoe is a symbol of the democracy that has taken hold.

Dear President Bush:   
    Thank you for all you have done to protect me from terrorism. It has been seven years since I was attacked and some of my friends were killed. I am truly grateful for the way you have handled one of the most profound crises my country has ever faced. As commander-in-chief, I could not have felt more secure with anyone other than you at the helm. Thank you for being a man of integrity and an inspirational leader. May God bless you.

Signed
1 Catherine Emanuele
2 Theresa A. DeChiaro
3 Enrico DeChiaro
4 Rich Mueller
5 Chrissy Leonard
6 Steven Tacopino
7 Peter Major
8 Jessica Iannotta
9 Barbara Major
10 M Serviss
11 Tom Z
12 Tom D
13 Dana Major
14 Kristin DeChiaro
15 alyssa
16 Chris Decker
17 Jessica Newman
18 Anne Arundel Community College
19 Anonymous
20 Taylor Eversole
21 Crystal Sutton
22 David Wadzinski .........

6088 Shirley Loose Thank You Mr. President for a job well done.         
6089 Jeannine & Vince Summers         We admire your courage to always stand strong no matter how you were ridiculed for the way you led our country. You made us proud to be american citizens. We wish we could have you for eight more years!         
6090 Felix M Chmiel         Thank you. You did what all great leaders would do in times like these.         
6091 LORRAINE PASSALACQUA         THANK YOU FOR YOUR EIGHT YEARS OF CONTINUED UNYIELDING SERVICE AND WONDERFUL LEADERSHIP.   GOD BLESS YOU AND MRS. BUSH         
6092 Connie Agree         THANK YOU for serving our nation and keeping us safe. I will always keep you in my prayers; you were a good man & president!         
6093 Desmond van Eyssen         Thank you for being a man of God. I thank the Lord for your integrity and leadership.         
6094 Tim         Mr. President         
6095 Ursulla Carter         God bless you!! Thank you for everything!

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: soulkat9
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 11:19 AM

Yeah I miss seeing that confused look on his face

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 10:10 PM

Via CNN:

"A huge sculpture of the footwear hurled at President Bush in December during a trip to Iraq has been unveiled in a ceremony at the Tikrit Orphanage complex.

Assisted by children at the home, sculptor Laith al-Amiri erected a brown replica of one of the shoes hurled at Bush and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by journalist Muntadhir al-Zaidi during a press conference in Baghdad.

Still awaiting his trial, Al-Zaidi's protest and the sculpture it inspired have marked what could be seen as the perfect symbolic closure to the United States' invasion of Iraq. What began with the toppling of an enormous likeness of Saddam Hussein--and its subsequent shoe drubbing--ended with a sculpture of the shoe aimed at the head of the man who largely responsible for leveling Hussein's bronze.

(Photo: A Journalist's Outburst

Evan Vucci, AP8 photos   
Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi hurls a shoe at President George W. Bush during a news conference Dec. 14 in Baghdad. He has been in custody since then, and a lawyer who claims to represent al-Zeidi said Monday the reporter will seek political asylum in Switzerland because "he is in danger" in Iraq.)

But why are these Iraqis so ungrateful to our former president given that the tyrant who led them, Saddam Hussein, has been deposed and executed? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that 5.1 million Iraqis were displaced by the war and the sectarian violence that ensued. According to the International Organization for Migration, that figure represents the largest human relocation in modern times.

Consider, too, the mind-boggling number of orphans caused by the war. The Iraqi Government estimates that the conflict has left 5 million children without parents.

Given these hard realities, perhaps a shoe-sculpture can be viewed as a civilized reaction to the legacy of Mr. Bush."

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 08:48 AM

The US is going to be crippled with his Supeme Court appointment for generations. We're expected to think that's a good thing?

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 11:43 AM

I doubt it. For one thing all these things thwe writer says he was "excellent" at are pure opinion, and I am pretty sure there is no standing to those opinions except witht hose already agreeing with them.

I don't think he was excellent on abortion, or any scientific issue, for example.

I think he was a disaster.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 10:41 AM

Now he's gone, let's admit Bush did some good

By David Quinn Friday January 23 2009 independent.ie
Poor old George W Bush. Yes, I mean that. We have castigated him as stupid, wicked and incompetent, but he was also unlucky. In fact, one might even be tempted to suggest that his presidency was cursed right from the outset.

Three events in particular blighted his presidency and were outside his control. The first was the circumstance of his election in 2000. It was so incredibly close that whether he or Al Gore finally won the Battle of Florida over those dimpled, pregnant and hanging chads, there was going to be a huge question mark over their legitimacy because both sides accused the other of foul play in the recount.

But Bush won it and, therefore, he began his presidency under a massive cloud which never left him. If Florida hadn't happened, Bush would have begun his term of office with the normal amount of goodwill a new president is accorded by non-partisans. He never received that. Instead, from day one, the left vented its hatred on him, including at his first inauguration. This was the start of Bush Derangement Syndrome.

The second event was September 11, which was gestated during the Clinton era. We can criticize Bush till the cows come home about water-boarding and Guantanamo Bay and the invasion of Iraq. Some of these criticisms are justified and the most justified is the criticism of how the occupation of Iraq was conducted. But 9/11 itself wasn't his fault. If it hadn't happened, would he be quite so reviled today?

The third event was Hurricane Katrina. Again, we can criticize him about his handling of the disaster, but the hurricane was an act of God. The chances that it would hit New Orleans and burst the levees were vanishingly remote, but it happened. It was to the start of his second term what Florida was to the start of his first term.

How many presidents can you think of who were hit first by a bitterly contested election result, then by the first attack on American soil since 1941, and, finally, by a natural disaster that wiped out half a city?

If these events hadn't happened, there is a fair chance Bush would have shuffled off the stage of history remembered as a mediocre president, mildly disparaged by many, hated only by the left, but with his own support base more or less intact. There is even a possibility, God forbid, that the stage would not have been set for the election of Barack Obama as the Anti-Bush.

Did Bush do any good at all? Well, yes, actually, he did.

The most uncontroversial action was the huge increase in aid to Africa that occurred under his watch. Even Bono and Bob Geldof acknowledged this. Billions have been poured into treatment programmes for HIV/Aids and millions of lives have been saved.

He was excellent on abortion, whereas Obama is a disaster. Obama is opposed to any restrictions on abortion, including the requirement to notify parents if their teenage daughter is considering an abortion.

He made two excellent appointments to the Supreme Court. He opposed federal funding of embryo stem-cell research, although he allowed research funding on existing embryo stem-cell lines and on adult stem cells. He was accused of being anti-science but the science has since moved his way. Adult stem-cell research has shown itself to be far more promising than embryo stem-cell research.

His war on terror did yield some dividends. First and foremost, there have been no further attacks on America. That is no mean feat. Libya gave up its nuclear programme. Pakistan gave up the scientist who was selling nuclear secrets to countries like North Korea. Afghanistan is no longer a safe haven for al-Qa'ida. Saddam Hussein is no more, although the debate continues as to whether the war in Iraq was worth this.

The surge worked, and he was one of the very few who supported it. Barack Obama opposed it. John McCain, to his credit, also supported it.

People who worked closely with Bush spoke of his essential decency. Some of his former colleagues questioned his competence and intellect, although often for self-serving reasons. But few questioned his decency. We all know the black marks against him. They have been repeated ad nauseam these eight long years. But he wasn't all bad. He did some good. And if you're not suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome yourself, you might even agree.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 12:39 AM

Looks like Pitt has been reading Faulkner!

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 01:19 AM

I see.

World leaders are not credible But the babbling you post here from Pinkola Estes and some old bastard that thinks America's oil supply has been cut off and some one horse town in Vermont decides is credible.

And you say I am in the dark. I think you must have been implanted with "various misleading data"

---

"the last administration abolished the uptick rule"

If the uptick rule is so essential, why hasn't the new administration restored it?

On September 18, 2008, Republican presidential candidate and Senator John McCain said that the SEC allowed short-selling to turn "our markets into a casino." Sen. McCain criticized the SEC and its Chairman for eliminating the uptick rule.

    September 19, 2008 CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Republican John McCain, buffeted by criticism about his response to Wall Street's financial problems, said yesterday he would fire the SEC chairman and create a special trust to help strengthen weak institutions.

In all but calling for the firing of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, McCain turned on a fellow Republican and former 17-year House member who served on committees overseeing investor protection and U.S. capital markets.

Speaking at a rally in an airplane hangar in Cedar Rapids, McCain said the SEC, the primary regulator of Wall Street, had let "speculators and hedge funds turn our markets into a casino."

"The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president and, in my view, has betrayed the public trust," McCain said. "If I were president today, I would fire him."

It's not the first time the head of the SEC has drawn McCain's fire. Six years ago McCain called for the firing of Harvey Pitt, Bush's first SEC chairman, after accounting scandals at Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. Pitt announced his resignation four months later. Yesterday, Pitt called McCain's remarks "a lot of sound and fury."


So where is the great fixer Obama on this?

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 08:47 PM

I have to say that all these warm and fuzzy "thanks so much, loved working with you" propositions from world leaders are, in my opinion, scarcely creditable as actual evidence. They would say the same thing as though they meant it if they were dancing with delight to see the backside for him. This are professional politicians, not known for evidentiary rectitude.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 07:52 PM

Sawz, please note that the last administration abolished the uptick rule which used to limit short selling by the equal amount of higher trades. Short seling is unbound. Short selling made many CDS and bond insurance bets come true for the investor by ruining a particular business via short sales and rumor.

Look for re establishing the uptick rule.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 07:41 PM

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has sent a congratulatory letter to outgoing United States President George W. Bush and thanked him for maintaining close ties with the Philippines, Malacañang said.

Bush will relinquish his post to president-elect Barrack Obama on January 20, after eight years in office over which he increasingly came under fire for the US-led invasion of Iraq and a recession that has spread globally.

"President Arroyo has sent a letter of congratulations to President Bush for the very good relationship we had. Among others, it was mentioned, the support of the US government is providing the Philippines, in the economy, as well as in security," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.

Ermita expressed hopes the ties between Manila and Wahsington would remain strong under Obama.

"It has been our experience that the US government is very supportive [of the Philippines] as allies," Ermita said.

Arroyo has supported the US-led war against terrorism, and US forces continue to undertake joint exercises with Filipino troops under her administration.

In a radio interview from Maguindanao province in the south, the President stressed the importance of the joint training and the assistance of US troops in community building projects.

"We've had a long partnership with the Americans, especially on counter-terrorism, especially on training, sharing of intelligence, military exchange, and most importantly, in civic works," she said.

"Together, we build schools, roads, and infrastructure needed to isolate the terrorists," she said.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 07:35 PM

During a short verbal exchange Wednesday at the Ben-Gurion Airport Terminal, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger thanked President George W. Bush for the US's military intervention in Iraq.
Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger.

"I want to thank you for your support of Israel and in particular for waging a war against Iraq," Metzger told Bush, according to the chief rabbi's spokesman.

Bush reportedly answered that the chief rabbi's words "warmed his heart."

Metzger's stand on the Iraqi war, while reflecting the Israeli majority and Orthodox Jewry, is not shared with most US Jews. The American Jewish Committee's annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, published last year, found that 70 percent of US Jews disapprove of the Iraq war, with 28% backing it.

In a related story, Metzger was chosen as one of the 12 most influential religious figures in the world for a CBS documentary called In God's Name that appeared at the end of December.

Newsweek also devoted a story to the documentary complete with pictures of Metzger and the other religious leaders.

Metzger was chosen along with figures such as the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams and heads of the Sikh and Muslim religions.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 07:02 PM

Stiglitz:

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which separated investment banking from commercial banking, recognized the conflicts of interest that can arise when the two are conflated. But concerns about keeping them separate were put aside after the arrival at the Treasury Department of Robert Rubin, in 1995. The big banks saw getting rid of Glass-Steagall as an opportunity to become even bigger. Treasury argued that scrapping the law was of no consequence, because banks had learned how to circumvent it anyway. (If this had been so, the appropriate response would, obviously, have been to try to limit the circumvention.) Treasury also argued that it could address the conflicts of interest (which it admitted) by constructing barriers between the banks' partsâ€""Chinese walls," they were called. Of course, if such measures had worked, that would have undermined the most cogent argument for eliminating the formal separation in the first place. One cannot simultaneously claim that it is important that banks be integrated, to take advantage of what economists call economies of scope (the benefits that businesses can reap by working in many different areas), and also that it is important for the parts of a bank to be compartmentalized, to avoid any conflicts of interest. In retrospect it is clear that Chinese walls did not workâ€"or did not work well enough to prevent serious problems from arising. For example, banks continued to lend to Enron even as its problems began to surface; the profits the banks made (they got fees for Enron's deals) more than compensated them for the risk in lending.

But Sawzaw, It was the Bush's administration that eased the regulations and caused all this trouble, not Bubba's, right?

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 06:51 PM

On the "Clinton budget surplus" that GWB reversed:

Clinton's Chairman Of Council Of Economic advisers, Joseph Stiglitz, Said Recession Started During Clinton's Tenure. "It would be nice for us veterans of the Clinton Administration if we could simply blame mismanagement by President George W. Bush's economic team for this seemingly sudden turnaround in the economy, which coincided so closely with its taking charge. But the economy was slipping into recession even before Bush took office, and the corporate scandals that rocked America began much earlier...
... during the Clinton Administration "the groundwork for some of the problems we are now experiencing was being laid. Accounting standards slipped; deregulation was taken further than it should have been; and corporate greed was pandered to..."

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 06:40 PM

It is so nice how those two boys get along.


The rest of the country, perhaps not so much. In any case, if we ever get the head of Al Qeda holed up at oa Bora again, you can bet we won't be so darned nice next time!!






A

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 05:52 PM

Thanks for putting up with the yelling, Karzai tells Bush

ABC News

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has thanked United States President George W Bush for freeing his country from the Taliban, improving the quality of life and for weathering bouts of yelling.

"I have yelled at times, I've been angry at times, but you've always been smiling and generous and that's so nice of you," Mr Karzai told his host at the White House, thanking him for "your patience with me and some of our habits."

Mr Bush, who laughed in response, said "no question it's difficult" to stabilize and rebuild Afghanistan, but emphasized that he saw much "progress and promise and hope" for the strife-torn country.

Mr Karzai noted that Mr Bush leaves office in January, and told him that Afghanistan is grateful for the 2001 US-led toppling of the Taliban Islamist regime.

Mr Karzai says he will be remembered fondly.

"My trip this time to Washington, as I insisted to be here with you, is for one reason alone, and that is to thank you - and through you the American people - for all that you have done for Afghanistan," he said.

"I would like you to remember, as you leave office, that Afghanistan will remember you tremendously nicely, with affection," he added.

"Come and visit us so we can show it to you in a manner that we do traditionally in Afghanistan."

The two leaders, surrounded by top military and diplomatic aides, spoke after a secure videoconference with US commanders, regional governors, and "provincial reconstruction teams" in Afghanistan.

"This is a central part of a counter-insurgency strategy which combines economic development, education, infrastructure, with security, all aimed to help this young democracy not only survive but to thrive, so it never becomes a safe haven for those who would do us harm again," Mr Bush said.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 10:38 AM

Early-onset Alzheimer's? I dunno.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 07:31 AM

Why did my knees start shaking when I discovered that the fate of my civil liberties were going to be place in the hands of Joe Lieberman?

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 09:42 PM

CIVIL LIBERTIES -- DEPARTMENTS STILL HAVE NOT INSTITUTED CIVIL LIBERTIES PROTECTIONS: According to federal reports, the "departments of Defense, State, and Health and Human Services have not met legal requirements meant to protect Americans' civil liberties, and a board that's supposed to enforce the mandates has been dormant since 2007," USA Today reports. All three departments failed to comply with a 2007 law requiring them to "appoint civil liberties protection officers and report regularly to Congress on the safeguards they use." The oversight board was originally set up by the Bush White House in 2004, but in 2007, Congress ordered that it be recreated as an independent agency by January 2008. The agency sat vacant. In fact, President Bush didn't nominate a single member until August, eight months after the agency was set up. None were confirmed before Bush's term ended. In the meantime, the Bush White House worked diligently to undermine the board. In May 2007, Lanny Davis, the sole Democrat on the board, resigned in protest after the administration "made more than 200 revisions" to the panel's first report to Congress. President Obama has vowed to give the agency subpoena power, and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said that departments not following the law will be held accountable.  ..."(The Progress Report)

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 08:31 PM

Conyers will do everything in his power to bring charges against Bush, Cheney, Rove and others. Conyers is one member of Congress who has earned the respect of the American people and I think he is right in trying. Still, I don't think it would be productive for the country to indict and prosecute these folks.
                On the other hand, I think Ford was right to pardon Nixon, so...

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 12:19 PM

ea of prosecuting some Bush administration officials, while letting others who are accused of misdeeds leave office without prosecution, she told Chris Wallace in an interview on "FOX News Sunday."

"I think you look at each item and see what is a violation of the law and do we even have a right to ignore it," the California Democrat said. "And other things that are maybe time that is spent better looking to the future rather than to the past."

Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced Friday he wants to set up a commission to look into whether the Bush administration broke the law by taking the nation to war against Iraq and instituting aggressive anti-terror initiatives. The Michigan Democrat called for an "independent criminal probe into whether any laws were broken in connection with these activities."

President-elect Barack Obama has not closed off the possibility of prosecutions, but hinted he does not favor them.

"I don't believe that anybody is above the law," he told ABC News a week ago. "On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards." ...(FOX)

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 12:06 PM

(01-15) 13:30 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

The direct income President George W. Bush receives from taxpayers will be cut in half when he leaves the White House next week. Still, he'll receive a pension of almost $200,000 to tide him over in his first year of retirement in his new home in Dallas.

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Vice President Dick Cheney also will be able to survive a prolonged recession with a pension starting at about $132,000, according to the National Taxpayers Union, a taxpayer advocacy group that follows pension issues.

The president's pension is set by the 1958 Former Presidents Act. Bush, who receives a $400,000 annual salary as president, will get an almost identical pension in 2009 — factoring in the 20 days in January he was still president — the same as Jimmy Carter, his father George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Their pension for the year is $196,700, a figure that will grow to $203,600 next year and $210,700 in 2011. The NTU estimates that if Bush, now 62, reaches his current life expectancy of 83.5 years, he will receive pension payments of $5,564,800, compared to the $3.2 million he earned serving in the White House.

The 1958 act also provides a former president with office space and office staff, a travel fund and mailing privileges. A presidential widow can get a lifetime annual stipend of $20,000. In fiscal year 2008, the General Services Administration provided total allowances of more than $1 million for Clinton, and almost $800,000 for George H.W. Bush, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Former presidents up through Clinton could, if they so chose, receive lifetime Secret Service protection. Congress changed that in 1997 with an act limiting protection for future ex-presidents and their families to 10 years, barring exceptions for specific threats.

The NTU's Pete Sepp said the "pension champion" was former President Gerald Ford, who served less than 2 1/2 years in the White House but also spent 24 years in the House. He was receiving more than $300,000 a year when he died in 2006 at age 93. Presidents receive the same pension regardless of how long they are in the White House.

Cheney, who also serves as president of the Senate, is on the same pension plan as members of Congress. The NTU estimated his initial benefit of $132,451 based on his more than 29 years of government service, including eight as vice president, 10 as a member of the House and more than 10 in executive positions such as White House chief of staff in the Ford administration and defense secretary in the first Bush administration.

Members of Congress, who can also contribute to 401(k) type programs, are eligible for a pension at age 62 if they have completed at least five years of service or at age 50 if they have completed 20 years of service.

The Congressional Research Service, in a report last year, said the average annual pension currently received by retired members was $36,732 in 2007. The NTU estimated that Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who was defeated for re-election last November after serving four decades in the Senate, is eligible for an annual pension of about $122,000.

Sepp said a married member of Congress retiring at age 62 after eight years in office would get an initial pension of a little more than $20,000. Rank-and-file lawmakers in 2009 will receive salaries of $169,300. (SF Chronicle)

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 17 Jan 09 - 10:54 AM

Yes, Bush did all of those things, but we have to play the hand we're dealt. We don't have time to go after Bush and Rove and the rest of those buffoons. We have serious problems to deal with.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 11:18 PM

"While campaigning for president, George W. Bush often repeated that he would seek to change the negative and partisan tone in Washington, D.C. "I'm a uniter, not a divider," Bush would say. "I refuse to play the politics of putting people into groups and pitting one group against another." Similarly, during his campaign for president, Barack Obama stated his desire to end the bitter partisanship of American politics, often saying he would be president, not of "blue" or "red" America, but the United States of America. Indeed, since Nov. 4, President-elect Obama appears to be living up to that promise by reaching out to conservatives and signaling that he is open to conservative ideas. "The monopoly on good ideas does not belong to a single party," Obama said recently. "If it's a good idea, we will consider it." But Obama will arguably have a tougher time uniting the country, toning down partisanship, and creating a more bipartisan atmosphere than Bush did in January 2001. A recent CNN poll found that a whopping 82 percent of Americans believe that Bush did not unite the country. In fact, Bush himself just recently admitted that he had not lived up to his "uniter, not a divider" rhetoric, saying last month that he "didn't do a very good job of it" (though he later blamed others for "needless name-calling"). But over the last eight years, "pitting one group against another" is exactly the kind of politics Bush played. He and his allies exploited national issues, ruthlessly attacked progressives for political gain, and politicized the federal government to serve the interests of the Republican party.

POLITICIZING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: Bush's former press secretary Scott McClellan recently admonished his former boss, saying that the White House took a "permanent campaign approach" to governing.  In 2003,  Bush's political guru Karl Rove or his top aide, Ken Mehlman, "visited nearly every agency to outline White House campaign priorities, review polling data and, on occasion, call attention to tight House, Senate and gubernatorial races that could be affected by regulatory action." Rove also led an unprecedented campaign to politicize the federal government to serve the interests of the Republican Party. Earlier this year, a Department of Justice report found that agency officials "violated both federal law and Department policy" by hiring, firing and promoting of some Department applicants and officials for political reasons. Another DOJ report released in September found that the firing process of nine U.S. attorneys was "fundamentally flawed" and in some cases governed by politics. For example, Bush appointee and former DOJ official Monica Goodling refused to hire an experienced counterterror official because his wife was a Democrat, and she rejected a DOJ attorney's promotion because of an "inappropriate" gay relationship. But Justice was not the only department tainted by politics under Bush. A DOJ inspector general released a report just this week finding that Bradley Schlozman, a former Justice official "entrusted with enforcing civil rights laws," had refused to hire lawyers whom he labeled as "commies" and transferred another attorney for allegedly writing in "ebonics" and benefiting from "an affirmative action thing." The White House also routinely favored politics over science regarding climate change by muzzling NASA's chief global warming scientist James Hansen's climate change findings, censoring scientific evidence on global warming in an EPA report, and editing all government scientists' testimony to fit its political aims. The Office of Faith Based Initiatives, the General Services Administration, the Interior Department, the Defense Department, Health and Human Services and the Office of National Drug Control Policy were also not spared of politics during the Bush years. 

DIVIDING ON SOCIAL ISSUES: Shortly after taking office, Rove convinced Bush to issue an executive order that effectively ended federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. Despite evidence showing the enormous scientific benefits to such research, Rove's move sought to appease the GOP base, rather than promote sound policy.  In the run-up to the 2004 election, Rove orchestrated a campaign to significantly boost turnout of the GOP base by placing measures to ban gay marriage on the ballot in numerous battleground states. Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans -- the GOP's largest gay group -- said at the time that Bush's call for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage was part of a calculation by Rove that "4 million evangelicals stayed home in 2000. As a result, the 2004 campaign has focused on energizing the far right while ignoring mainstream Republicans." 
"

(Excerpted from the Progreess Report

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 11:06 AM

The larger problem, the way I see it, is if you go after public officials for what they did in office, the folks who follow them will be reluctant to do anything, anywhere. That would seem to be worse--or could be.

                         I do agree with the guy who thinks they should pardon the enlisted people who were courtmartialed for torture. It should be pretty apparent by now that they were just following orders. What were they supposed to do about it, tell some Major to stick it up his ass?

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 10:31 AM

An interesting series of comments on prosecuting the Bush Administration, or not. NYT Letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 09:45 AM

"When I look at those double-page New York Times spreads of all the individual pictures of people who have been killed [in Iraq], I got to think, 'Maybe there wouldn't have been a war if I hadn't gone to Miami-Dade. Maybe there wouldn't have been, in my view, an unjustified war if Bush hadn't become president.' It's very disturbing to me."


-- Roger Stone, the GOP consultant who led the "Brooks Brothers Riot" against the Miami-Dade County election board during the 2000 Florida recount

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 08:26 AM

Whatever Bush did, Obama has many more important things to do than to try to go after Bush, Cheney, and others for what will probably never be proven. It would be the same kind of witch hunt we saw when Ken Starr went after Bill Clinton.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Arne
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 06:28 AM

Amos:

The most telling development recently is the government's admission that they have indeed committed war crimes, at the very least, torture. Notable here is that al-Qahtani was the alleged "20th hijacker" (or at least one of them; there have been several, just as there have been myriad "#2 in al Qaeda"s) ... and the torture has poisoned any possibility of a fair trial on this charge.

Cheers,

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 10:19 AM

In the litany of violations of public trust and accountability by the Bush administration, a last round of restrictions on access to information under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, hardly ranks with, say, warrantless wiretapping. But it is sadly characteristic of an administration that has insulated itself from scrutiny at every opportunity.

A recent report by ProPublica and the Columbia Journalism Review identified a host of ways in which the administration is making it harder for the public to access records heretofore more readily within reach. The Department of Energy wants to eliminate a rule that allowed it to release documents if it concluded that they would serve the public interest. The Department of Education has expanded its authority to refuse release of materials even after they are redacted to remove students' names and identifying information. Other agencies are raising fees for processing and copying. The Securities and Exchange Commission wants to charge $70 an hour for processing some requests -- not that anyone would want to study the efficacy of regulation and enforcement in the stock market.


From its first months, the Bush administration has encouraged bureaucrats to search for reasons to deny requests for information, directly reversing former Atty. Gen. Janet Reno's order to government workers during the Clinton years to opt for release whenever permitted by the FOIA. So the latest actions are best seen not as an epiphany by this administration but rather as mop-up after a long, determined effort to shut the public out of government....(LAT)

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 07:21 AM

ROURKE: 'BUSH WAS IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME'

Monday January 12,2009

Actor MICKEY ROURKE sympathises with U.S. President GEORGE W. BUSH - insisting he doesn't know how any politician could have successfully navigated America after the 9/11 attacks on New York.

The Hollywood tough-guy spoke out about his political views in a candid interview with Britain's GQ magazine, and admits he doesn't understand why so many people blame Bush for a string of world issues - including Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism in the West.

And the actor, who claims he didn't follow last year's (08) historic U.S. election battle between Barack Obama and John McCain, urges the public to consider the tremendous pressure the controversial president was under following the terror attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.

He tells the publication, "President Bush was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I don't know how anyone could have handled this situation.

"I don't give a f**k who's in office, Bush or whoever, there is no simple solution to this problem... I'm not one of those who blames Bush for everything. This s**t between Christians and Muslims goes back to the Crusades, doesn't it.

"It's too easy to blame everything on one guy. These are unpredictable, dangerous times, and I don't think that anyone really knows quite what to do."

Rourke also confesses he was so angry after 9/11, he wanted to fight the war on terror himself.

He adds, "I'm not politically educated. But I do know that after 9/11 I wanted to go over there, you know what I'm saying?"

And the star is baffled by the U.K.'s approach to fundamentalists - insisting he was taken aback by the freedom of speech allowed in the U.K.

He explains, "I was in London recently and I couldn't believe all these hate-talking fanatics you have over here who are allowed to carry on doing their thing even when a bus full of women and children gets blown to pieces.

"I know you've deported one or two of them, but it seems crazy. I think there is worse to come, something terrible will happen to either America or the U.K., or France even. I don't think these fundamentalists should be allowed to talk all this crap, and brainwashing these young kids."

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 13 Jan 09 - 06:47 PM

"Bush's 'Ultimate Exit Interview'

Yesterday, President Bush appeared before the White House press corps for his 47th -- and last -- full-scale press conference, taking questions in what he called "the ultimate exit interview." Though the White House had high expectations for Bush's farewell meeting with the media, telling reporters that it would be "standing room only," the last two rows in the seven-row briefing room were empty. Subsequently, a press aide had to tell White House interns to fill the seats. Despite job approval ratings around or below 30 percent since February 2007, Bush "seemed largely in good spirits" as he pontificated on his years in office. Bush "was by turns impassioned and defiant, reflective and light-hearted, even as he conceded that some things 'didn't go according to plan,'" notes the New York Times. "Clearly putting a 'Mission Accomplished' on an aircraft carrier was a mistake," said Bush. "Running the Social Security idea right after the '04 elections was a mistake." Bush continued his administration's efforts to paint his legacy in a positive light, declaring that he had "a good, strong record." Unfortunately for Bush, the American public believes his administration "will be remembered more for its failures than its accomplishments."

BUSH DEFENDS KATRINA RESPONSE: Asked if he "made any mistakes" while in office, Bush said he had "thought long and hard about Katrina" and admitted that "things [could] have been done better." However, he denied any problem with the federal response to the disaster, insisting, "Don't tell me the federal response was slow." The fact is that the federal response was disastrously slow. As the White House itself acknowledged in a February 2006 report, "the response to Hurricane Katrina revealed a lack of familiarity with incident management, planning discipline, and field-level crisis leadership." A 2006 report compiled by House Republicans slammed what it called "a failure of leadership," saying that the federal government's "blinding lack of situational awareness and disjointed decision making needlessly compounded and prolonged Katrina's horror." The report specifically blamed Bush, noting that "earlier presidential involvement could have speeded the response" because the President alone could have cut through bureaucratic resistance. In fact, despite a FEMA official's eyewitness accounts of New Orleans's levees being breached starting at 7 p.m. on Aug. 29, the Bush administration "did not consider them confirmed" until 11 hours later. FEMA did not order the evacuation of New Orleans until 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 31, two full days after Katrina made landfall. Bush even praised the rescue efforts as a "pretty good response."

BUSH DEFENDS U.S. STANDING IN THE WORLD: Asked about President-elect Obama's desire to restore "America's moral standing in the world," Bush bristled at the idea, saying, "I strongly disagree with the assessment that our moral standing has been damaged." "It may be damaged amongst some of the elite, but people still understand America stands for freedom, that America is a country that provides such great hope." But it isn't just "the elite" who question the negative effect that Bush's presidency has had on America's standing in the world. As a Gallup fact-check of Bush's comments points out, 69 percent of Americans believe that the "U.S. position in the world" lost ground under Bush. According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, "positive views of the United States declined in 26 of the 33 countries where the question was posed in both 2002 and 2007." "Mounting discontent with U.S. foreign policy over the last eight years has translated into a concern about American power. In the view of much of the world, the United States has played the role of bully in the school yard, throwing its weight around with little regard for others' interests," according to Pew.

BUSH DEFENDS HIS ECONOMIC RECORD: Asked to give his "closing message" to the American people about his economic policies, Bush acknowledged that "obviously these are very difficult economic times" while deflecting much responsibility for the economy's troubles. "This problem started before my presidency, it obviously took place during my presidency," said Bush. He also vigorously defended his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, adding that he "will defend them after my presidency as the right course of action." "There's a fundamental philosophical debate about tax cuts," said Bush. "Who best can spend your money, the government or you? I've always sided with the people on that issue." But as the Washington Post noted yesterday, Bush "has presided over the weakest eight-year span for the U.S. economy in decades." The federal government "had a modest budget surplus when Bush took office," but his administration ran up deficits "even as the economy was growing at a healthy pace." When Bush took office, it was projected that the federal government would run a $710 billion budget surplus in 2009. Now, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has calculated that Bush's tax cuts accounted for 42 percent of the fiscal deterioration between 2001 and 2008. Though Bush claims he "sided with the people" through his economic policies, he really just squandered their money.


...

ADMINISTRATION -- REPORT: BUSH'S EX-CABINET MEMBERS 'MADE A MINT ON THE BACKS OF AMERICAN TAXPAYERS': According to a new report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), 17 of 24 former Bush Cabinet members have taken positions with at least 119 companies, including 65 firms that lobby the government and 40 that lobby those officials' former agencies. These include former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge, who "accepted director's fees and consulting work from several firms seeking contracts with his old agency," and former energy secretary Spencer Abraham, who took a post as a director of Occidental Petroleum, "which soon became the first firm in 20 years to ship oil to the U.S. from Libya." Melanie Sloan, CREW's Executive Director, said the report "has shown that most of these former Bush administration officials have cannily leveraged their time spent in the public sector." "By using their government positions as springboards to new lucrative opportunities, [these officials] have successfully made a mint on the backs of American taxpayers," Sloan said. "It may be legal, but it is certainly not honorable."

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS -- AFTER RECEIVING PHONE CALL FROM OLMERT, BUSH ORDERED RICE TO ABSTAIN FROM GAZA CEASEFIRE VOTE: Last week, the United States notably abstained from a voting on a U.N. Gaza ceasefire resolution, "an apparent reversal of earlier promises to Arab states." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, despite voicing support for the resolution, raised concerns about "Egyptian mediation efforts" in explaining the abstention. But in reality, Rice was essentially ready to support the resolution -- until a last-minute intervention from President Bush on behalf of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "I said 'get me President Bush on the phone,'" Olmert recalled in a recent speech. "They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care. 'I need to talk to him now.' He got off the podium and spoke to me. I told him the United States could not vote in favour. It cannot vote in favour of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favour." Rice had worked extensively on the resolution with Arab, British, and French foreign ministers. "She was left shamed. A resolution that she prepared and arranged, and in the end she did not vote in favour," Olmert boasted. The State Department disputed Olmert's account today. "Her recommendation was to abstain; that was her recommendation all along," an aide said. ..."

The Progress Report

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 13 Jan 09 - 01:29 PM

"Ideological considerations permeated the hiring process at the Justice Department's civil rights division, where a politically appointed official sought to hire "real Americans" and Republicans for career posts and prominent case assignments, according to a long awaited report released this morning by the department's inspector general.

The extensive study of hiring practices between 2001 and 2007 concluded that a former department official improperly weeded out candidates based on their perceived ties to liberal organizations. Two other senior managers failed to oversee the process, authorities said.

The key official, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bradley Schlozman, favored employees who shared his political views and derided others as "libs" and "pinkos," the report said.

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine and Office of Professional Responsibility chief H. Marshall Jarrett said they would refer their findings to legal disciplinary authorities.
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"The Department must be vigilant to ensure that such egregious misconduct does not occur in the future," Fine said in a statement.

The report marks the last in a series of inquiries by internal watchdogs into hiring lapses at the Justice Department during the Bush administration, a scandal that prompted the resignations of more than a dozen senior officials.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said the findings "confirmed some of our worst fears about the Bush Administration's corruption of the Justice Department."

"Lying to Congress undermines the very core of our constitutional principles and blunts the American people's right to open and transparent government," Leahy added.

The report's release was delayed by more than six months after inspector general agents referred the case for possible prosecution by authorities in the District. But prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's office declined to pursue the matter last week, according to lawyers involved in the case. ..." (WAPo)

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 04:05 PM

Bush's Achievements
Ten things the president got right.
by Fred Barnes
01/19/2009, Volume 014, Issue 17


The postmortems on the presidency of George W. Bush are all wrong. The liberal line is that Bush dangerously weakened America's position in the world and rushed to the aid of the rich and powerful as income inequality worsened. That is twaddle. Conservatives--okay, not all of them--have only been a little bit kinder. They give Bush credit for the surge that saved Iraq, but not for much else.

He deserves better. His presidency was far more successful than not. And there's an aspect of his decision-making that merits special recognition: his courage. Time and time again, Bush did what other presidents, even Ronald Reagan, would not have done and for which he was vilified and abused. That--defiantly doing the right thing--is what distinguished his presidency.

Bush had ten great achievements (and maybe more) in his eight years in the White House, starting with his decision in 2001 to jettison the Kyoto global warming treaty so loved by Al Gore, the environmental lobby, elite opinion, and Europeans. The treaty was a disaster, with India and China exempted and economic decline the certain result. Everyone knew it. But only Bush said so and acted accordingly.

more

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 11:37 AM

the book 100 things you didn't know about GWB is released.
\This should establish a long lasting legacy with facts such as saving civilization and that George knows all the lyrics to American Pie.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 10:05 AM

In any event, he certainly has his work cut out for him!

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 12:09 AM

Wake up Sawz. You question was answered hours ago on the other thread in which you make these mindless sarcasms.

If you wish Barack Obama well, I'm sure he will reciprocate.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 11:40 PM

"Learn to make links" Show me yours Mr Wizard.

"Why are you asking me that question, anyway?" Why not? Why do you avoid answering it? Chicken? You are constantly berating people for doing the same things you do.

I can't figure out if Obama I will be Carter II or Clinton III or Bush III.

So far all I see is the same warmed over appointees. The continuation of the same policies. This is change?

I want the guy to do good. I am not hoping for him to fail but I am afraid that before the end of his term, people will be at his throat.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 11:03 PM

Acting in the best interest of the United States means different things to different people.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 07:32 AM

Obama- four more years of the Bush Administration- Just like I said before the election.


Obama is smart: He will act as he sees is in the best interest of the U.S.. So Obama will continue most if not all of the policies that Bush was promoting.


Sorry, Bobert and Amos. That is MY opinion, and so far is being borne out by what is happening.

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 07:24 AM

Everytime Obama opens his mouth, Bush looks better!

Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
From: Amos
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 11:58 PM

Oh, horse manure, Sawz. Learn to make links, why don't you? Why are you asking me that question, anyway? Ask Big Dick Cheney. He knows the oil business real well.

A