Nightmare On Pennsylvania Avenue

President Bush's administration has proved once again why Republicans should not be in charge of our nations safety or our economic/fiscal well being.  What has happened to our country and its people is a direct result of Republican ideology and arrogance.

 

After being sworn in as our 43rd President, Mr. Bush set a course to bring kingship to Washington where he would rule as such.  It started prior to taking the oath acting in tandem with the warped mind of Dick Cheney.  From that day forward, there would be no open government for the nation and its people.  Everything would be done in "hush-hush" and secret --- no checks and balances, no oversight, no regulation and above all, never answer to Congress or any other entity.  

 

They met secretly with representatives of the energy industry and made decisions that affect Americans and kept the details of those discussions and decisions secret.  The people would later find out the details in the form or $130/barrel oil and $4.00/gallon gasoline.

 

They started a war and occupation with Iraq over WMD that did not exist and payed only lip service to the people responsible for the tragic events of 9-11.  

They adopt Reagan's ideology of trickle down economics with tax cuts that benefit the wealthy instead of having a true economic and fiscal policy for a sustained economy, job creation, and balanced budgets.  They have since joined other Republican administrations in having one of the worst job creation records in the last 60 years and having ended their last year in office with job losses every month, stock market and financial market meltdowns, and a recession in many sectors of the economy.

 

They walked away from the balanced budgets and surpluses of the previous administration and committed the nation to record deficits and record debt.  With Bush having a 27% approval rating, we are a nation and a people without a true leader. 

Good news, however: The nightmare is almost over.

"He Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi"

Spread the word, this is a must watch for every American voter:

Energy Crisis: People Power For Change

The American people can not wait on elected officials or corporate America to bring about change in using fossil fuels.  The exorbitant increase in oil and gasoline has been going on too long while the President, government officials, and corporate America only give excuses.

 

We the people need to change and make the sacrifice ourselves in order to start the process of greening America by drastically reducing our dependence on oil and gasoline.  At the same time, we have to demand our government start to act now.

 

In a report out of the Times Picayune, the largest newspaper in Louisiana, dated July 29, 2008, an AAA survey of people in Louisiana show that 77% of drivers made significant changes in their driving habits.  Here is how they accomplished that:  (1)  Moved closer to work.  (2) Carpooling. (3)  Using Public Transportation.  (4) Biking or walking.  (5)  Buying a more fuel efficient vehicle.  (6) Taking fewer or shorter leisure trips.

 

Taking matters in our own hands will be a sacrifice worthwhile even though it will some times be hard and difficult.  The alternative is much worse, harder, more costly, and we should understand all that having lived with the problem.

 

Those who advocate more drilling are supporting the status quo and falsehoods.  The Big Oil companies have enough acreage in the U.S. that they have yet to drill on.  They are not working that acreage because there is really no shortage of oil or gasoline.  If there were, they would be drilling up a storm on this acreage at the record prices of the last 2 years.

 

We the people should impose on ourselves 60mph speed limit on the interstate system.  Let the saved gasoline sit in the refineries until the oil companies get the message.  The inconvenience of truth has already arrived.  Shame on us if we ourselves pass up the opportunity to do some thing about it and make a better world for our children and grandchildren. 

 

Remember when V.P. Dick Cheney met with representatives of the energy industry after Bush came into office?  The results of that meeting, what they discussed, and the decisions that were made are still secret today and the public is still in the dark.  If that is not enough to make the people face realty, what will?

 

President Carter took bold action and leadership during the Arab Oil Embargo that actually reduced consumption.  Reagan reversed all that after he took office.  Its time for the people to act on their own, because if one thing is for sure, we can no longer sit around and wait for the government to. 

A Common Sense Approach

I have written on several occasions that now is the time for the President and Congress to act and reduce the speed limit on the Interstate System in an effort to reduce the use and consumption of oil and gasoline.  Recently, according to the Associated Press, Senator John Warner suggested that Congress might want to reimpose a national speed limit to save gasoline.  Senator Warner asked Energy Secretary Samuel Bodmon to look into what speed limit would provide optimum gasoline efficiency given current technology.

 

The Arab Oil Embargo during the 1970s prompted Congress to lower the speed limit on the Interstate Highway System to 55 MPH.  Studies showed that action saved 167,000 barrels of oil a day and reduced deaths on the System by 4000 per year.  Today the number of auto's on the highway has probably doubled what it was during the 70s so just think how much oil and gas would be saved and how many more deaths would be averted from speeding accidents.

 

It is a fact that the action taken by Congress and other conservation measures taken by the federal government reduced our dependence on oil and gasoline and brought down the cost of both to acceptable levels.  But with oil and gasoline now at record levels, the President, Congress and the two Presidential candidates have offered nothing in the way of legislation to discourage consumption.  They are AWOL on the subject.

 

Senator Warner should be complemented on his actions but there is no need to restudy the matter.  We already know reducing the speed limit will work and what it will save.  Action is needed now.  Bush, McCain, and other neocons' answer is more drilling and production of oil.  In other words, keep our country addicted to oil and gasoline and its price surges and have the people and our economy dependent on the Oil and Gas Industry, the very people who are responsible for this problem do not want to see the problem solved.  Our direction should be at conservation and consuming less and less of oil and gasoline.

 

The problem is not a shortage of oil or gasoline as the country has been brainwashed to believe.  $140 barrel oil and $4.00 gallon gasoline is a result of Bush's approval of Cheney's secret meeting with the Energy Industry, the unnecessary war in Iraq, speculation by the Oil and Gas Industry, the massive debt created by Mr. Bush's policies and a weak dollar because this President has never had a true economic plan to deal with the economy.  No one should ever forget that T. Boone Pickens, an oil executive, publicly was quoted as saying gasoline should be about $4.00 per gallon.  Well, we have not only attained, but passed that price.

 

It is a known fact that the American Oil Companies are sitting on millions of acres of land they either own or lease for drilling and exploration but have yet to drill.  This land is in the United States.  Does any one think this land would be idle if there was a shortage?  But guess what?  They want the Congress to open up ANWAR and other areas to drill. They do not know how to tell the people the truth.

 

The time is past for Bush and Congress to act.  If the leadership of this country and the future President continue to ignore thenecessary  "Greening of America" and fail to start that program now, $200 barrel oil is just around the corner.  President Kennedy once said our problems are man made, and therefore they can be solved by man. Too bad we no longer have leaders like Kennedy.  

How Did We Come To $120/Barrel Oil and $3.50/Gallon Gasoline

Early in the Bush administration, V.P. Cheney met with the Energy Corporations Executives.  Their meeting, deliberations, and decisions were secret and private and until this very day the public has not been given any information about their clandestine agenda.  Since Bush and Cheney were both involved in the Oil and Gas Industry before taking office, it is safe to conclude the secret discussions were about the price of Oil and Gas.

 

Then you start a war with an Oil producing country over WMD that did not exist, feed speculation about Oil supplies being cut because of the war, let it spill over to the OPEC countries, and then have the domestic Oil companies openly talk about prices being too low and inventory shortages and the speculation runs like wild fire which artificially increase prices.

 

Then, don't stop there: start talking about a possible war with Iran and production cut backs and the speculation drives prices up even higher.  Then American Oil says the price of gas should be $4.00/gallon and pretty soon the price of Oil and Gas doubles and then triples.  The only ones who benefit by these high prices are the Oil Producers.  They love the speculation they themselves participate in.  They also love the Corporate Welfare they receive from the Bush administration.

 

The American people need to understand what is going on here and do those things they can do to reduce their dependence on Oil and Gas.  We need a President who will take the Oil and Gas industry to task and implement more conservation measures and reduce our reliance on Oil and Gas. It is time to go back to some of the measures taken by President Carter, especially reducing the speed limit on the Interstate system.

 

It is time for us to remember there is no shortage of Oil and Gas, only speculation fed by greed.  Most of all, it is time to remember the Oil and Gas industry is no friend of the American people.  If you listen to their leaders, they never make enough profit, even when at record levels.

The Rosetta Stone To War in Iraq (Part I)

The President of the United States, George W. Bush, knowingly misled the American people and ordered the invasion and occupation of Iraq.  That is an impeachable offense.  The President lied when he said:  (1) Iraq has stockpiles of WMD ready to use against America or transferred to terrorists.  (2) Iraq has reconstituted its nuclear weapons program.  (3) Iraq has mobile labs that manufacture chemical and biological WMD.  (4) Iraq is an eminent threat to the security of the U.S. (5) Saddam has a relationship with Al Qaeda and the 9-11 attack.

 

The Rosetta Stone to Mr. Bush's lies are found in the reports of David Kay and Charles Duelfer.  Both had CIA connections and ran the Iraqi study group in the hunt for WMD in Iraq after the invasion.  Both had weapons inspection experience.  After their exhausting inspections in Iraq they came back and said, "we were all wrong."  Iraq got rid of its WMD after the 1991 Gulf War, 12 years prior to our invasion.  Their findings were (1) Iraq had no stockpiles of WMD.  (2) Iraq had no mobile labs to manufacture WMD.  (3) Iraq did not reconstitute its nuclear weapons program.  (4) Iraq had no ready manufacturing facilities to resume such activity.  (5)  There was no evidence of a collaborative relationship with al Qaeda and the events of 9-11.

 

Since these weapons did not exist at any time during Bush's administration, the intelligence community could not have given Bush any proof or confirmation that they did exist.  That is why Bush nor the CIA showed the people any photographic evidence of these WMD.  President Kennedy, during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, showed the American people, and the world, photographic evidence of Russian missiles in Cuba on their launch pads.  There were no doubts.

 

The President, lacking proof and confirmation that Iraq possessed WMD, decided to plant the seed in the people's mind that Iraq was involved in the events of 9-11.  Because these weapons did not exist, the CIA could not pass on any information to the U.N. inspectors, who were on the ground in Iraq, that revealed WMD, even though Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said he knew where they were located.. 

 

David Kay reported that the CIA gave him over 500 suspected sites in Iraq to inspect.  When he went over the list and report he was astonished.  Nothing was new or updated, everything was all old information with no collaboration.  The report was useless.  The CIA was clueless.  Kay and Duelfel also reported that Saddam still had the intent after the U.N. sanctions were lifted, but they found no evidence of a plan, people in place, or any structure to restart any weapons program.

 

Because Bush could not back up his rhetoric about Iraq's WMD, V.P. Cheney kept going back to the intelligence community and putting pressure on them to come up with something.  Because of this pressure, the CIA became political on the issue.  When no WMD were found, the President started to give other reasons why it was necessary to go to war in Iraq.  The gig was up.

 

Part II, coming shortly, will focus on the other Rosetta Stone to the war in Iraq and why Bush knew Iraq was not a threat to the United States.

The President's Lack Of Reality And Truthfulness

Contrary to the fear and war rhetoric of President Bush that Iran is working on a nuclear program to produce nuclear weapons, American intelligence just completed and released their assessment.  It concluded Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen.

Like the President did concerning Iraq, he told the American people he knew for sure that Iran was developing the bomb.  He sent V.P. Cheney out, as usual, to tell America how Iran's nuclear weapons program was a threat to the world.  Mr. Bush continued to govern by fear.

 

At a news conference yesterday morning, the President reminded the reporters that intelligence gathering is not an exact science.  He said that as a self serving statement to justify his rhetoric.  The reporters should have asked the President why he said he knew for sure that Iraq and Iran were working to produce nuclear weapons if he knew intelligence is not an exact science.

 

The intelligence report also said the halt was imposed by Iran primarily in response to international pressure and scrutiny.  The available intelligence also suggested the Iranian leadership is guided "by a cost-benefit approach" and not a headlong rush to develop a bomb.  This is a startling statement.  In the past, countries who wanted to go to war were not motivated by cost.  All one has to do is look how Bush took our country to war and occupation in Iraq over WMD that did not exist.  The cost of the war is not in the Bush budget and America is paying for the war by his deficit spending.  The cost is already at $500 billion.

 

It should also be noted that France, the British, and Germany, who were the original negotiators with Iran concerning its nuclear facilities, never engaged in the type of rhetoric Bush does.  In fact, the U.S. did not join in their negotiations for a period of time.  It was only much later when the U.S. agreed to be a silent partner to the negotiation.

 

History has repeated itself in this report.  Mohamed ElBaradei, director General of the IAEA, the arm of the U.N. responsible for checking Iran's nuclear programs, said a few months ago, "there is no evidence Iran had a nuclear weapons program in operation".  And ironically, five years ago before the U.N. and before the Iraq war started, he reported, after his inspections in Iraq, that there was no evidence that Iraq or Saddam reconstituted its nuclear program.  A short time later Bush told the U.N. inspectors to leave and started the war.  Mr. ElBaradei was right in both instances; Mr. Bush was wrong.  Even our own inspectors who combed Iraq after the war started came to the same conclusion as Mr. ElBaradei.

 

Next month Mr. Bush will be in office seven years and will give his usual "State of the Union" address.  It is time he acknowledges the mistakes he has made that has cost America dearly.  For the time being this new intelligence report has derailed the President's rush to another war, this time Iran, the country he recently associated with WWIII.  Lets also see how this intelligence report will affect the oil market.  Will the speculators be curtailed?  Time will tell.  

It Seems O So Long Ago....

that America had a leader its people can trust; that America had a leader that its people can respect; that America had a leader who is for peace; that America had a leader who cares for the people; that America had a leader who could admit when he was wrong; that America had a leader who actually led.

But contrary to what it may seem, it wasn't that long ago. It was only 7 years ago that America had a President that stood for dignity and stood for what is right. But thats what 7 years of Bush/Cheney will do to a person.

American unity and bipartisanship was at its peak following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The country rallied behind its President. George Bush had all the support a President could ever want. He had all the trust a President could want. And he had all the respect a President could want. And what did he do with it? He took advantage of that support, that trust, and that respect and turned around and blatantly lied to the American people and to Congress to justify a war with Iraq. The President and highly respected members of his administration went out on a nation-wide tour rallying support for a war. The reason they gave: Iraq has WMDs and is a direct and immediate threat to the U.S.

The American people, at that time, had no reason not to trust in and believe their President. There was no precedent for a President misleading his people into war. Even the thought of that was unimaginable. But in just a few years, the truth came out. Not only did Bush and his administration mislead the American people and Congress, they did it purposely. There is now overwhelming evidence that Bush knew damn well that Iraq and Saddam did not have WMDs and were in no way a threat to the the U.S. Yet, even while knowing this, he told the American people the exact opposite.

Now, his credibility is shattered. I'll tell you what was the "final straw" for me. I remember watching the news in 2003, a few days before the war began, and I remember hearing Saddam Hussein say that he did not have nuclear weapons. I specifically remember what I said in response, "that lying bastard". Those were my exact words. I can't even begin to explain how it felt when the truth came out. In that instance, Saddam Hussein wasn't lying, our own President was. Never in my life time did I even dream that a country as great as America would have a liar as a President. But I then came to the sad realization that we do.

When I read the latest intelligence report, that old feeling was again conjured up . For the last year, President Bush and VP Cheney have been warning the American people and Congress of the threat of Iran. According to Bush and Cheney, Iran was on the brink of having nuclear weapons and posed an immediate and direct threat to the U.S. Ahmadinejad, the
President of Iran, has been for months saying that he is not developing or seeking nuclear weapons.

But, once again, the truth has come out. And the truth is that Iran has not been working on developing nuclear weapons since 2003. Thats almost 5 years ago. And once again, there is growing evidence that the Bush administration knew of this fact much earlier that did the public. So why then, just a few weeks ago, did President Bush come on national television and tell the country that Iran and its nuclear weapons were going to bring about World War III? The sad thing is, that if this information didn't come to light sooner, the President would had probably decided to attack Iran anyway, despite knowing the facts. Then it wouldn't be Iran's fault for starting WWIII, it would be America's.....and thats the saddest thought of all.

To think that a U.S. President would lie and manipulate the emotions of his people to start a war used to be an inconceivable notion. Sadly, it is no longer inconceivable; it happened. I'm just thankful it didn't happen yet again. So while it may seem o so long ago that America had a President who actually benefitted the country, I remind you with hope that there is only a year to go. I just hope and pray that America doesn't make the same mistake next November as it did in 2000 (or should I say the Supreme Court made in 2000)? It's time to elect a leader that America can trust; that America can respect, who is for peace; who puts the people first; who can admit when he/she is wrong. Its time for America to elect a leader who will actually lead.

Scott McClellan Speaks Out

Just when everybody thought the White House couldn't possibly come under any more scrutiny, it does. In a book to be released next April, former Press Secretary Scott McClellan is supposedly going to tell "what happened" concerning his and others' involvement in the Valerie Plame-CIA leak case. In an excerpt released yesterday, McClellan wrote,

"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. There was one problem. It was not true. I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the Vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself."

So there you have it. McClellan clearly states that indeed Cheney and Bush were involved. Today McClellan came out and said that he did not intend to imply that the President lied.....yet he DID imply that in the excerpt. In fact, not only did he imply it, he wrote it. You can go through and parse the excerpt however you like, but McClellan undoubtably did state that Bush and Cheney were involved in the cover-up.

My only question for McClellan is why did he not come out with this sooner? Why when the Libby trial was going on did he not come forth with this important piece of information? As far as I'm concerned, it was his duty as an American citizen to let the truth be known. If we have a criminal as a President, and I'm convinced we do, then the American people deserve to know. Justice deserves to be served.

One theory that many have come up with is that President Bush was lied to by Vice-President Cheney and hence that is why Bush "passed on misleading information" to McClellan. There is one flaw with that theory however. If Cheney did lie to the President, and its Cheney who is the criminal, not Bush, then when the truth came out, why didn't Bush get rid of Cheney. I know Bush is loyal, but I couldn't even imagine Bush keeping Cheney around if Cheney lied to him. That leads me to one conclusion: Cheney AND Bush were knowingly involved in the cover-up. Any sensible person can look at this situation and see that the pieces of this puzzle just don't match up unless Bush himself was knowingly and willingly involved.

So today when the editor of McClellan's book says that McClellan didn't "intend to suggest Bush lied to him," but also says that the reader can make up his or her own mind concerning Cheney's involvement, I would argue that there is no way one could be involved without the other. And by saying (to Chris Mathews) that the reader can make up his own mind concerning Cheney, the editor and McClellan are by default saying that Cheney was involved. And as I said earlier, if Cheney was involved, so was Bush. Its also interesting to note that although given the opportunity, McClellan did not come out and say that Bush wasn't involved, he just said that he didn't intend to suggest that he was involved.

I'll close by saying that I am very disappointed in the mainstream media for not covering this story the way it should be covered. Many are claiming that this is just "old news". Well I have news for them, this is not "old news". This is extremely important news that points toward our President, the leader of the free world, being a criminal. I urge the media to get this story out there to the American people. By standing by and decreeing this as "old news", the media is letting the Bush administration get away with a potential crime. I would, however, like to commend both Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman of MSNBC for giving this story proper coverage. I hope to see the rest of the media follow suit in the coming days.

Is It Impeachment Time?

Today, as many of you probably know, Rep. Dennis Kucinich sponsored a resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. In short, the measure failed.

But the question is: Is it impeachment time? In my opinion, no. Now I must be honest, when I first heard about this resolution, I had a big smile on my face. There is probably nothing I would love more than Bush and Cheney being removed from office. I have no doubt that the administration lied in the lead-up to war with Iraq and I also am convinced of criminality within this administration. But at the same time, I don't feel that impeachment is needed at this time.

The fact of the matter is that impeachment proceedings would probably last over a year. By that time, Cheney and Bush would already be out of office. Secondly, I think Congress needs to focus on important matters. I would have supported impeachment if we were having this debate a few years ago, but it's to close to the 2008 election. I don't want the American public to lose focus on the 2008 Election or the important issues that will be determined by it. But thanks for standing up anyway Dennis, and I say that sincerely.

1994: "Invading Baghdad would create Quagmire"

Wondering who made that seemingly psychic prediction? Well the answer may surprise you, it was one of the principle authors of the Iraq War: Vice President Dick Cheney! In an interview with the American Enterprise Institure in '94, Dick Cheney had this to say,

"If we go go Baghdad it would be us all alone, it would be a U.S. occupation of Iraq....When you take down Saddam's government, what are you going to put in its place? Thats a very volatile part of the world and if you take down the central government of Iraq, you can easily start seeing pieces fly off. Syria and Iran would want to claim parts of Iraq....Another thing is casualties....(in the Gulf War the deaths of soldiers was limited)..but for their families it was too much. The question is how many dead Americans is Saddam worth and the answer is not too many."

Wow, this interview actually shocked me. Dick Cheney actually knew what would happen if we invaded Iraq. So why did America do it? What a difference a decade makes. I agree with everything he said in this interview, so why did he and the President lie to the American people and Congress in order to get this war started? Why did they so strongly put forth the need for us to go into Iraq? They lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction, they lied about al-Qaeda in Iraq, and they lied about Saddam Hussein being involved in 9/11. Maybe if Dick Cheney told the truth to Congress, Congress wouldn't have authorized this War. Maybe if Cheney would have told the American people the truth there wouldn't have been wide-spread support for this war. But a maybe is just a maybe, and now we are in this war and neither Cheney nor Bush want to get us out. They continue to lie to us, with Bush recently saying, "the same people who attacked us on 9/11 are in Iraq." Another blatant lie. The 9/11 hijackers were Saudis. Al-qaeda is based in Afghanistan. If Bush and Cheney truly wanted to get who attacked us on 9/11, and I believe they should, why did we take our eye of Afghanistan where bin-Laden and al-Qaeda was and go into Iraq? We could have found bin-Laden and broken up al-Qaeda by now, but instead we are in the middle of an Iraqi civil war. And now we are at greater risk than ever before of another terrorist attack because bin-Laden and al-Qaeda have been able to reform in Pakistan. Bush and Cheney are right on one thing, Iraq does have something to do with national security, but not as they say. The longer we stay in Iraq, the less safe we are here in America, because the longer we're there, the less time we're spending fighting the islamic extremists who want us dead!