BS: What George might do...

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Riginslinger
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 05:23 PM

Yeah, I just noticed that was out there. Seems a little far-fetched at best.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 04:42 PM

"a compelling (but not convincing) argument"

I take it that's a way of saying it's interesting bollocks. Analogous in that way to the claim that the Earth is flat, or that there weren't any moon landings. Some people lap up that stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 11:29 AM

During the hand shaking ceremony opening the Econmomic Summit Conference...
Absolutely no one shook hands with George Bush and vice versa.
When it cam his turn to greet each head of State, each head of State looked away awkwardly.


To his credit at least he did not try to give anyone a back rub

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Riginslinger
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 11:23 PM

Bill Ayers: Ghost writer for Obama?
The Anchoress:

There is mounting evidence that Obama's two best-selling books, Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope were in fact ghost-written.

    "You may not like him, Rig, but I don't think there's any reason to doubt that Obama wrote his books."


                Well, there's this:


Dr. Jack Cashill first raised the question earlier in the month, and made a compelling (but not convincing) argument that the author of both books was not Barack Obama, but prolific author, upstanding Chicago citizen and unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.

Now, Cashill shores up his thesis with more detail.

Cashill is wrong when he says Obama contributed "not one word" to the Harvard Law Review - it has been determined that he contributed at least this piece, on abortion rights - while he was editor, there.

However, this is pretty interesting. Remember, the Obama books are lyrical, gorgeous bits of writing, well-crafted and moving, with an impressive seamlessness:

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Bobert
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 08:27 PM

Yep, seems that Gorge is buzy trying to mess up as much stuff for Obama as id humanlu possible... Problem is that he may have waited to late and that all the crap he is doing will easilly be undone by Obama after he is president...

I don't think that George could ven start another war right now... I think if he ordered an attack on Iran then the Joint Chiefs would have him arrested so...

...just sit back and knock down a few preztels, Georgie... It's all out of yer hands now so might as well just catch a good movie or football game on the tube...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 08:26 PM

You may not like him, Rig, but I don't think there's any reason to doubt that Obama wrote his books.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Riginslinger
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 08:23 PM

Actually, when you start to look into it, you will discover that there is a huge, well financed, right-wing press in America that will happily publish anything George W. Bush wants to commit to paper. They don't care if they make a profit or not, when it comes to these kinds of books, they are much more concerned with promoting their own political agenda.

            The other reality of books written by well-known figures in American society is, they never write their own books. When you drill down into the copywright pages, they almost always--if not always--say something to the effect: "written in conjunction with Albert P. Anthony," or someone nobody has every heard of. Further investigation with reveal that APA is well credentialed scholar with years and years of editing in-depth studies and papers, and is very competent to write almost anything about anyone.

          There are no Winston Churchills in American Politics, or American letters either, and there probably has not been since Abraham Lincoln.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 08:17 PM

But maybe that near miss with the pretzel will count.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 08:06 PM

Well, I wouldn't advocate it, Richard - but having been (sort of) elected in 2000, he is at risk according to The Curse of Tippecanoe.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 06:37 PM

""With regard to "He'll be busy writing memoirs," there was a report yesterday by MSNBC that no publisher was interested in providing a million dollar advance on such memoirs. Evidently violence is not enough without sex to interest a major publisher. Maybe Bush will try self-publishing.""

I think maybe he already did it, round about the mid seventies..............."Confessions of a Wanker" sort of rings a bell.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 06:14 PM

I was going to point that out when I got in from lecturing tonight Magrath. You are right as usual.

You were too polite to point out that in a nation full of owners of automatic weapons, it would be so nice if one could get this idiot and his puppetmaster before they do anymore damage to America and the world.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 02:06 PM

From today's Guardian. President for 60 more days, Bush tearing apart protection for America's wilderness":

George Bush is working at a breakneck pace to dismantle at least 10 major environmental safeguards protecting America's wildlife, national parks and rivers before he leaves office in January.

With barely 60 days to go until Bush hands over to Barack Obama, his White House is working methodically to weaken or reverse an array of regulations that protect America's wilderness from logging or mining operations, and compel factory farms to clean up dangerous waste.

In the latest such move this week, Bush opened up some 800,000 hectares (2m acres) of land in Rocky Mountain states for the development of oil shale, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet. The law goes into effect on January 17, three days before Obama takes office.

I assume he's due for some massive kickbacks from the people who stand to benefit from this.

Google "Parable of the Unjust Steward" for a biblical precedent...

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: john f weldon
Date: 20 Nov 08 - 09:00 AM

heh heh. Look at my opening post. Apparently Conrad Black has petitioned George for a pardon.   

Oh yeah, and George has been busily issuing hundreds of anti-environmental regulations. So he sure isn't laying low!

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Acorn4
Date: 09 Nov 08 - 07:51 PM

He'll no doubt be compiling:-

"Being President of the USA for Dummies"

Ghost written of course!

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Nov 08 - 07:48 PM

I'd agree with Becky from Tucson that the end game will be expensive for the environment, about the only thing GWB can still exploit for the benefit of his cronies in the next two months.

With regard to "He'll be busy writing memoirs," there was a report yesterday by MSNBC that no publisher was interested in providing a million dollar advance on such memoirs. Evidently violence is not enough without sex to interest a major publisher. Maybe Bush will try self-publishing.

Laura will probably be left to organize the packing. I would love to have a photo of the moving van backed up to the White House entrance. I do hope someone gets a good shot.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Naemanson
Date: 08 Nov 08 - 07:35 PM

George wrote: "He'll be busy writing memoirs, lining up lecture tours, angling for directorships..."

Didn't you mean "dictatorships"?

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Nov 08 - 07:26 PM

Better tell those oil companies to keep their receipts, they may need to get their money back in a couple of months.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: GUEST,Mad Jock
Date: 08 Nov 08 - 05:15 PM

How about speach writer for Biden!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 07 Nov 08 - 07:49 PM

Okay. Heres what I would do if I was George Bush, eh?

First off...if it was me...I would get drunk. And I mean SERiyously drunk! There has gotta be a lotta booze left in teh White House, right? I would try to drink as much of it as possable between, like, now and whenever he hasta leave. Januwary sometime? I would yell and scream and roll on the floor and beat my fists on the walls. I would bust things up bad. I would get on the flippin' TV and say "How can youse ungratefull people DO this to me? You flipheads! I worked 8 flippin' years for alla youse and THIS is the thanks I flippin' get? Well, FLIP YOU! Cos I ain't leavin'! And you can't make me!"

I would do and say whatever I flippin' wanted to from now on, becoz their ain't nothin' left to loose at this point, eh? If they didn't like it? Flip 'em!!! I would flippin' go fer broke and do all the stuff I wanted to whiles there is still time.

When they finally come with cops and stuff to drag me outta there in Januwary, I would not leave willingly. Hell, no! I would push all the flippin' furniture against the doors and windows and barrycade the Oral Office and plug all the locks with Krazy glue and fight like hell anyone who tried to get in there. They would hafta drag me out kickin' and screamin', and I would not go down easy.

I figger Bush ain't got my guts though....so I'm guessin' he will only do maybe a few of those things. We will see.

- Shane

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 07 Nov 08 - 07:25 PM

New York Times Editorial
Published: November 6, 2008

Another Parting Gift

Gale Norton has to be happy. In 2003, Ms. Norton, then President Bush's secretary of the interior (and now a senior oil executive at Royal Dutch Shell), struck a deal with the governor of Utah that would open about 3 million pristine acres of federal land to oil and gas drilling.

Environmental groups and the courts managed to keep the drillers at bay. No longer. In the last few days, the Bureau of Land Management has completed six long-range management plans for Utah that will expose these acres (and as many as 6 million more) to some form of commercial exploitation.

On Tuesday, the bureau announced that it would soon begin selling oil and gas leases — essentially the right to drill — in some of the most beautiful and fragile areas.

Conservationists are aghast, and rightly so. Apparently without consulting the National Parks Service, one of its sister agencies at the Interior Department, the bureau plans to auction more than two dozen leases adjacent to Arches National Park and very close to Canyonlands National Park, risking the parks' air and water.

Also on the auction block, among other rare and spectacular vistas, is Desolation Canyon, so named by the explorer John Wesley Powell in 1869 while he traveled down the Green River to the Grand Canyon.

This sort of pillage would be hard to justify even if Utah's reserves were large enough to make a difference, which they are not. The Energy Information Administration says that Utah has 2.5 percent of the country's known natural gas reserves and less than 1 percent of its known oil reserves. And even if those reserves were worth going after, it would still be essential to protect areas of special cultural, scenic and recreational value.

The Interior Department's writ is to manage the public lands for "multiple uses," a difficult and ambiguous task. The Clinton administration issued many leases but tried hard to balance the competing claims of commerce and nature; the Bush administration heard only the voice of Vice President Dick Cheney and his one-sided mantra of "drill now, drill everywhere."

This is but the latest of President Bush's last-minute assaults on the environment. The incoming Obama administration will have to quickly review and reverse these decisions or find ways to mitigate the damage.

---

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 05:57 PM

""If Cheney had been president, he would have invited Obama to go on a hunting trip!""

Don't think so. I reckon his ears are still ringing from when he went out with Dubya.

But if he did, Obama WOULD be bound to do a better job than the Shrub.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: PoppaGator
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 05:31 PM

I just observed that Amos has announced that he's quitting participation in the "Declaration of Impeachment" thread, feeling that it's a moot point now that Obama has been elected.

Maybe not. "W" can still do damage, and he is apparently dead set upon doing so (or, more likely, it's actually Cheney and the other puppetmasters who are really anxious to get in some last licks).

It's probably too late for impeachment procedures to be completed before the term runs out ~ but we all may be wishing we had gotten it done earlier!

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 05:04 PM

Rachael Maddow, on her MSNBC program, noted a few days ago some of those bits of 'busy work' the Desert Dancer quotes about what Bush & his cronies have been engaged in.

It is an indication of the wholesale disdain Bush and Co. show for anything except money, power and ensuring the freedom of commercial interests to pursue short term goals ahead of genuine environmental concerns and health issues.

In spite of wordy promises to cooperate with transition issues and briefings on international concerns, Bush is busy making as many narrow-minded Republican law & rule changes as he can crowd in, studiously inserted so as to make overturning them as difficult as possible.....and probably allowing irreparable damage to be done to various forests, parks, animals....and, in the case of abortions, of women.

He is showing he is, no matter his words, corrupt to the core. And I chose my words with care.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Pseudolus
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 04:36 PM

Hey Midchuck,

If Cheney had been president, he would have invited Obama to go on a hunting trip!

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 08:20 AM

2.5 month binge of "Call of Duty", World of Warcraft", and Hot Pockets.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 06 Nov 08 - 04:11 AM

It'll have to be.. from what I've seen of him in various publicity stills, he wouldn't know the pointy end of a crayon from the hole in his ass.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Bee
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 11:27 PM

Yikes, Desert Dancer. Seeing it listed like that... Obama's got a lot of changin' to work on.

Bush will be off to the ranch soon as he can, and likely do a little binge drinking as the relief of being well out of it takes over. As for writing his memoirs, that'll be ghost-written.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Beer
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 11:05 PM

Scary what he could do. This could be a very long 2.5 months. I think that as a peace offering to Iran, Obama should send him as a gift. One way ticket of course.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 10:33 PM

feresh

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 11:22 AM

Finding Bin Laden won't help him now, but he still might needle Pakistan enough for them to APPEAR to use a tactical nuke.


It would actually be ours.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 11:20 AM

New York Times Editorial Nov. 3 (excerpted)

CIVIL LIBERTIES We don't know all of the ways that the administration has violated Americans' rights in the name of fighting terrorism. Last month, Attorney General Michael Mukasey rushed out new guidelines for the F.B.I. that permit agents to use chillingly intrusive techniques to collect information on Americans even where there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

Agents will be allowed to use informants to infiltrate lawful groups, engage in prolonged physical surveillance and lie about their identity while questioning a subject's neighbors, relatives, co-workers and friends. The changes also give the F.B.I. — which has a long history of spying on civil rights groups and others — expanded latitude to use these techniques on people identified by racial, ethnic and religious background.

The administration showed further disdain for Americans' privacy rights and for Congress's power by making clear that it will ignore a provision in the legislation that established the Department of Homeland Security. The law requires the department's privacy officer to account annually for any activity that could affect Americans' privacy — and clearly stipulates that the report cannot be edited by any other officials at the department or the White House.

The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has now released a memo asserting that the law "does not prohibit" officials from homeland security or the White House from reviewing the report. The memo then argues that since the law allows the officials to review the report, it would be unconstitutional to stop them from changing it. George Orwell couldn't have done better.

THE ENVIRONMENT The administration has been especially busy weakening regulations that promote clean air and clean water and protect endangered species.

Mr. Bush, or more to the point, Vice President Dick Cheney, came to office determined to dismantle Bill Clinton's environmental legacy, undo decades of environmental law and keep their friends in industry happy. They have had less success than we feared, but only because of the determined opposition of environmental groups, courageous members of Congress and protests from citizens. But the White House keeps trying.

Mr. Bush's secretary of the interior, Dirk Kempthorne, has recently carved out significant exceptions to regulations requiring expert scientific review of any federal project that might harm endangered or threatened species (one consequence will be to relieve the agency of the need to assess the impact of global warming on at-risk species). The department also is rushing to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list — again. The wolves were re-listed after a federal judge ruled the government had not lived up to its own recovery plan.

In coming weeks, we expect the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a final rule that would weaken a program created by the Clean Air Act, which requires utilities to install modern pollution controls when they upgrade their plants to produce more power. The agency is also expected to issue a final rule that would make it easier for coal-fired power plants to locate near national parks in defiance of longstanding Congressional mandates to protect air quality in areas of special natural or recreational value.

Interior also is awaiting E.P.A.'s concurrence on a proposal that would make it easier for mining companies to dump toxic mine wastes in valleys and streams.

And while no rules changes are at issue, the interior department also has been rushing to open up millions of acres of pristine federal land to oil and gas exploration. We fear that, in coming weeks, Mr. Kempthorne will open up even more acreage to the commercial development of oil shale, a hugely expensive and environmentally risky process that even the oil companies seem in no hurry to begin. He should not.

ABORTION RIGHTS Soon after the election, Michael Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, is expected to issue new regulations aimed at further limiting women's access to abortion, contraceptives and information about their reproductive health care options.

Existing law allows doctors and nurses to refuse to participate in an abortion. These changes would extend the so-called right to refuse to a wide range of health care workers and activities including abortion referrals, unbiased counseling and provision of birth control pills or emergency contraception, even for rape victims.

The administration has taken other disturbing steps in recent weeks. In late September, the I.R.S. restored tax breaks for banks that take big losses on bad loans inherited through acquisitions. Now we learn that JPMorgan Chase and others are planning to use their bailout funds for mergers and acquisitions, transactions that will be greatly enhanced by the new tax subsidy.

One last-minute change Mr. Bush won't be making: He apparently has decided not to shut down the prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — the most shameful symbol of his administration's disdain for the rule of law.

Mr. Bush has said it should be closed, and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and his secretary of defense, Robert Gates, pushed for it. Proposals were prepared, including a plan for sending the real bad guys to other countries for trial. But Mr. Cheney objected, and the president has refused even to review the memos. He will hand this mess off to his successor.

We suppose there is some good news in all of this. While Mr. Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, 2009, he has only until Nov. 20 to issue "economically significant" rule changes and until Dec. 20 to issue other changes. Anything after that is merely a draft and can be easily withdrawn by the next president.

Unfortunately, the White House is well aware of those deadlines.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 10:54 AM

I honestly don't think he'll do anything rash. He will be as cooperative as possible during the transition period. He will do this because it's to his advantage. The more helpful he is, the less vigorously the Democrats are going to go about turning over all those rocks under which he's been hiding shit for the last eight years. If he stonewalls, the number of subpoenas that will be issued for his former underlings to testify before Congressional committees boggles the mind. The poor Fifth Amendment would get such a workout it might never recover.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Midchuck
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 10:39 AM

Declare a national emergency due to the election of an obvious Muslim terrorist, announce the suspension of the Constitution, the nullification of the election, and the imposition of martial law, and ship the President- and Vice President-elect, and all the Democratic members of Congress to Guantanamo for protective custody.

No. He wouldn't do it, really. Though he might brood about how he'd like to. Now if Cheney had been President...

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Alice
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 10:31 AM

"He'll be busy writing memoirs"

No, he'll go to the ranch in Crawford and 'clear brush' like he did every chance he could get while in office.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 10:28 AM

He'll be busy writing memoirs

I was going to make a snarky comment about the purchase of some crayons but decided against it.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 09:13 AM

He'll be busy writing memoirs, lining up lecture tours, angling for directorships...

Hunger is not an option.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: freda underhill
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 08:03 AM

he may be talking to his lawyer..

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: jacqui.c
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 07:52 AM

I think that George will be keeping a very low profile for the rest of his term. The electorate have made clear what they think of his party and of him in particular.

Subject: RE: BS: What George might do...
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 07:51 AM

Go down on his knees, and pray incessantly to his God, for forgiveness?

Subject: BS: What George might do...
From: john f weldon
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 07:45 AM

One curiosity of the American system is that it allows the outgoing President 2.5 months to stay in office. How might George spend this time? Nuking Iran? Letting Conrad Black out of jail? Oh, the dreadful possibilities.