Sunday, October 09, 2005
Crooks
Let's review the "compassionate conservative" movement over the past few weeks:
--The Republican leader in the House, Tom Delay, has been indicted for criminal conspiracy and money laundering.
--The White House procurement officer, David Safavian, faces five separate criminal indictments.
--The Republican Senate Majority leader, Bill Frist, is being investigated by the SEC for insider trading.
--Bush's closest political advisor, Karl Rove, is being brought before the Grand Jury for a fourth appearance as he faces possible charges of compromising national security for political purposes by outing a CIA operative.
--Bush's pick for Deputy Attorney General, Timothy Flanigan, had to withdraw his nomination due to his ties with indicted Republican lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, and his involvement in the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal.
--Conservative Bill Bennett, the voice of the so-called "Moral Majority," made the outrageous claim on public radio programming that if all black babies were aborted, there would be less crime.
----The Government Accountability Office released a report on Friday denouncing the "covert propaganda" the Bush administration used when they paid a commentator to promote its policies and broadcast "fake" news segments, purposefully misleading the public about things like Medicare legislation.
--Bush is currently promising to veto a piece of legistlation which has the bipartisan support of 90 senators (including 46 Republicans) that takes a stand against torture of prisoners in Iraq and Guantanomo.
--Like in Iraq, the Bush administration handed out contracts to all of their political and business cronies (including Cheney's Halliburton empire) for cleanup in the aftermath of Katrina, disadvantaging local businesses and economies.
--The Republican-led House forced through an energy bill on Friday that lines the pockets of their cronies in the oil business but does nothing to help the price-gouging of consumers at the pumps.
--Oh, and 20 more US soldiers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past week.
In the face of these events and others too numerous to list, I propose substituting a different name for "Compassionate Conservatives."
Here are some possibilities:
Crooked Conservatives
Cronyistic Conservatives
Covert Conservatives
Corrupt Conservatives
Criminal Conservatives
--The Republican leader in the House, Tom Delay, has been indicted for criminal conspiracy and money laundering.
--The White House procurement officer, David Safavian, faces five separate criminal indictments.
--The Republican Senate Majority leader, Bill Frist, is being investigated by the SEC for insider trading.
--Bush's closest political advisor, Karl Rove, is being brought before the Grand Jury for a fourth appearance as he faces possible charges of compromising national security for political purposes by outing a CIA operative.
--Bush's pick for Deputy Attorney General, Timothy Flanigan, had to withdraw his nomination due to his ties with indicted Republican lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, and his involvement in the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal.
--Conservative Bill Bennett, the voice of the so-called "Moral Majority," made the outrageous claim on public radio programming that if all black babies were aborted, there would be less crime.
----The Government Accountability Office released a report on Friday denouncing the "covert propaganda" the Bush administration used when they paid a commentator to promote its policies and broadcast "fake" news segments, purposefully misleading the public about things like Medicare legislation.
--Bush is currently promising to veto a piece of legistlation which has the bipartisan support of 90 senators (including 46 Republicans) that takes a stand against torture of prisoners in Iraq and Guantanomo.
--Like in Iraq, the Bush administration handed out contracts to all of their political and business cronies (including Cheney's Halliburton empire) for cleanup in the aftermath of Katrina, disadvantaging local businesses and economies.
--The Republican-led House forced through an energy bill on Friday that lines the pockets of their cronies in the oil business but does nothing to help the price-gouging of consumers at the pumps.
--Oh, and 20 more US soldiers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past week.
In the face of these events and others too numerous to list, I propose substituting a different name for "Compassionate Conservatives."
Here are some possibilities:
Crooked Conservatives
Cronyistic Conservatives
Covert Conservatives
Corrupt Conservatives
Criminal Conservatives
The Cost of Incompetence
The human toll of the Iraq War continues, with countless deaths, including 20 US soldiers in the past week.
The Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office have also calculated the costs in dollars and found that we are spending $6 billion a month in Iraq, with an estimated price tag of $570 billion by 2010.
"Those expenses are growing even as recovery costs from hurricanes Katrina and Rita and mammoth federal deficits are intensifying pressure on the Bush administration and Congress to find ways to save money.
A separate study by the Congressional Budget Office found it will be difficult for the Pentagon to sustain current troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan without rotating troops into the war zone more frequently and using more National Guard brigades. And even those steps will not be adequate long-term solutions."
It takes amazing incompetence to begin office with an unprecedented surplus and to end up, five years later, with mammoth federal deficits. The saddest part of all is that the war in Iraq (the "front" in Bush's so-called War on Terror) has actually increased rather than decreased terror attacks. If it were only money down the drain, it would be bad enough. But it's much, much worse.
The Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office have also calculated the costs in dollars and found that we are spending $6 billion a month in Iraq, with an estimated price tag of $570 billion by 2010.
"Those expenses are growing even as recovery costs from hurricanes Katrina and Rita and mammoth federal deficits are intensifying pressure on the Bush administration and Congress to find ways to save money.
A separate study by the Congressional Budget Office found it will be difficult for the Pentagon to sustain current troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan without rotating troops into the war zone more frequently and using more National Guard brigades. And even those steps will not be adequate long-term solutions."
It takes amazing incompetence to begin office with an unprecedented surplus and to end up, five years later, with mammoth federal deficits. The saddest part of all is that the war in Iraq (the "front" in Bush's so-called War on Terror) has actually increased rather than decreased terror attacks. If it were only money down the drain, it would be bad enough. But it's much, much worse.
Shame, Shame, Shame!
The Republican Culture of Corruption continues, this time with the "No oil-man left behind act" that narrowly passed last week thanks to Repugs subverting the political process and holding open the vote for 40 minutes while they extorted the votes necessary for passage.
"It took that long for the indicted leader of the House of Representatives to twist the arms necessary to get a vote against the American people, against the consumer, against the taxpayer and against the environment - in favor of the energy companies," said the minority leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi.
In response to Republicans forcing through a vote and failing to play by House rules, the Democrats chanted, "Shame! Shame! Shame!"
The Republicans should be ashamed of a bill that offers no help to consumers who are facing high gas prices but instead gives more corporate welfare to oil companies (Bush cronies and big campaign contributors).
In face of all the incompetence of the administration (from Iraq to Katrina), all of the criminal indictments and fraud charges leveled against Republican leaders, all of their anti-consumer and anti-environment policies, and the treasonous act of outing a CIA operative, too bad we can't line up all Republican voters and chant "Shame, Shame, Shame."
In Raucous House Vote, G.O.P. Oil Refinery Bill Squeaks By - New York Times
"It took that long for the indicted leader of the House of Representatives to twist the arms necessary to get a vote against the American people, against the consumer, against the taxpayer and against the environment - in favor of the energy companies," said the minority leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi.
In response to Republicans forcing through a vote and failing to play by House rules, the Democrats chanted, "Shame! Shame! Shame!"
The Republicans should be ashamed of a bill that offers no help to consumers who are facing high gas prices but instead gives more corporate welfare to oil companies (Bush cronies and big campaign contributors).
In face of all the incompetence of the administration (from Iraq to Katrina), all of the criminal indictments and fraud charges leveled against Republican leaders, all of their anti-consumer and anti-environment policies, and the treasonous act of outing a CIA operative, too bad we can't line up all Republican voters and chant "Shame, Shame, Shame."
In Raucous House Vote, G.O.P. Oil Refinery Bill Squeaks By - New York Times
