dubyaD40.com - Wally's Wild Life

Wally's Wild Life


All that good grey matter, going to waste posted by Wally 11:39 AM It's been apparent for some time - years really. But with every passing day it becomes harder to deny. George W. Bush is totally oblivious. The man is totally oblivious, unconcerned, incurious, just plain unaware of what's going on in the world around him. I've heard and read about bush spinning the truth, or hiding from reality, or being in denial. He is none of those things. He is just totally, utterly, absolutely oblivious to everything around him. He just flat out doesn't have the vaguest freaking clue what the hell is going on. Nor does he care. Juxtapose this article: Bush Shares His Optimism on Iraq with this one: Death squads on the prowl in a nation paralysed by fear and toss in this last one for good measure: Bush marks Iraq date, omits using 'war' word - as if not saying the word "war" will make the war go away. As if the words he uses, or doesn't use, will change what is actually happening in the world. Of course, he doesn't even pay attention to the words he uses. He just reads what they put in front of him. If you don't believe this, watch him give a prepared speech, reading off the teleprompter, and then watch him in an unscripted press conference. Even among pre-screened, friendly, loyalty-oath-signing crowds of adoring ditto-heads, he STILL can't answer even a simple, scripted question without stumbling over his own words and (ahem) thoughts. If that's not enough, consider that after proudly declaring himself a "wartime president" for the past 4 years, he now no longer calls what's happening in Iraq a war. WTF? Some other examples: After sitting through at least one meeting warning in no uncertain terms about the impending destruction of a major U.S. city, he blissfully continued his month-long vacation, eating John McCain's birthday cake and pretending to play guitar at fundraisers for his millionaire buddies, while the poor people in New Orleans sat on their rooftops waiting for rescue. After hearing that our nation was under attack, he blissfully sashayed into a classroom full of children, apparently hoping to show off his reading skills to a bunch of third graders - and even there, was probably the person least well-read, least knowledgable, least competent, and least capable of running this country in the entire building. After spending 4 years telling us in great detail how evil the Arabs and Muslims are - scaring the crap out us with stories of how Osama, al-Zarqawi, Saddam, the entire Arab world, and anyone else with brown skin "hate our freedoms" and want to rain down death and destruction on our whole way of life, he tells us how secure our ports will be with the United Arab Emirates running them. Then he wonders why we're confused about that. And then we find out that he didn't even know about that deal until he saw people complaining about it on the news. WE knew about it before HE did. Don't even get me started on the economy, the deficit, the environment (can you say "clear skies", "healthy forests" - sure, the forests can't be sick if you cut them all down, ANWR, etc etc), Medicare, Medicaid, student loans, after school programs, No Child Left Behind... and all of his other great "success" stories too numerous to mention. But in his world, everything is just freaking fabulous. Because in his world, the rest of the world doesn't exist. This is the man in charge. This is the great republican "leader." This is the man who, according to the right wing, takes his orders directly from god, and therefore can do no wrong (then again, they get their news and opinions from a junkie, a pervert, a transgender who advocates murdering Supreme Court Justices, and a handful of whores)1. This is the most powerful man on the planet - the Commander in Chief of the world's most powerful military in history - the man with his twitchy finger on "the button". And he is completely unaware of the world around him. Painfully unaware. Frighteningly unaware. Blissfully unaware. Perhaps that explains the smirk, and the nervous laugh. About the only person I can think of that was less in touch with the world might have been Terri Schiavo. I'd put him about even with Helen Keller, because she used what senses she had to at least try to pay attention. He has all his senses, but doesn't even try. My dog has more going on between his floppy ears that george w bush does between his. The fleas on my dog could give him a run for his money. The president is about as cognizant of the world around him - that there even is a world around him - as a rock, or a tree. No, not even as cognizant as a tree. Make that a bush. 1(rush "the junkie pigboy" limbaugh, "falafel bill" o'reilly, ann-thrax coulter, sean hannity, foxnews in general, the likes of armstrong "I'll say what you want if you pay me enough" williams, etc) Permalink :: 0 comments :: Post a Comment

Republicans Kill Request for Spy Program Inquiry posted by Wally 11:38 AM Proving once again that they have no use for the Constitution, the rule of law, or the separation of powers, Senate republicans have once again decided that the law doesn't apply to the Bush administration. Rather than investigate and punish Bush for flagrantly breaking the law and then bragging about it, they've decided to simply change the law to make it legal for him to continue to do what he's been doing. WASHINGTON - Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday defeated a Democratic push to investigate a domestic espionage operation authorized by President Bush, but pledged to increase scrutiny of the controversial program through a newly created subcommittee. (snip) Emerging from a closed-door session in which Democrats lost two party-line votes, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), the vice chairman of the committee, said the outcome pushed the panel "further into irrelevancy" and reflected the influence of the Bush administration. (snip) Nevertheless, Republicans said they would move forward with crafting legislation explicitly authorizing the spying program. The GOP approach centers on a proposal from Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) that would allow the government to place a suspect under surveillance for as many as 45 days without a warrant. (snip) "My feeling was that an investigation was not what was needed," DeWine said. "What was needed was oversight." (complete article) "Oversight?" Oversight?! Then what the hell is the FISA court for? The FISA court was created specifically and explicitly to provide oversight in exactly this situation. Over the years, it has become a rubber stamp warrant machine for the president, but even that isn't enough. This administration is too lazy (or corrupt, or sneaky, or criminally arrogant) to even wander down to the FISA court with a stack of requests to be stamped. And the republicans in Congress, rather than say "follow the law" are going to rewrite the law so that it the illegal activity being conducted by the NSA is now legal. How nice must it be to have the police change the speed limit whenever they catch you speeding. What does this administration have to do before the republican leadership, or the democratic leadership for that matter, decides enough is enough? We know that breaking the law is no problem. We know that shooting a man is no big deal. Do they have to eat live babies in the Rose Garden before the republicans will finally stand up to them and tell them to stop? Or will the republicans simply comment on their nice table manners? Permalink :: 0 comments :: Post a Comment

Billionaires? They're great, if you prepare them properly. posted by Wally 11:38 AM Wow, 102 new billionaires. Pretty impressive. I wish I was one of them. That almost balances out the million more Americans that dropped below the poverty line last year. In fact, 102 billionaires comes to about $100,000 for every one of those people who fell into poverty in the United States last year. That's $200k for a couple. A family of 4... well, you can do the math. A guy could live pretty handsomely on that kind of salary. Hell, I'd be drinking "good" beer. (okay, before Clyde and Dookie call me on it, I admit that I usually do, but I'd be drinking even more of it). 102 brand new billionaires. All of them (at least the American ones) enjoying gee-dubya's generous tax cuts while the rest of us make up the difference. I'm sure every one of the over 37 Million Americans living below the poverty line are likewise impressed and overjoyed at the great fortune bestowed upon these 102 people. At least the ones who can find the time and energy in their "uniquely American" lives of working 2 or 3 jobs to read the paper or watch the news. For reference, to help understand "poverty": The Office of Management and Budget at the Census Bureau defined the poverty threshold in 2003 as $18,810 for a family of four; $14,680 for a family of three; $12,015 for a family of two; and $9,393 for an individual. Imagine trying to feed and raise a family of 4 on $19k/year. 102 billionaires make the news, but what about the 37 million poor. Think about that. Ponder it. Roll it around in your head. Thirty Seven Million people living in poverty in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. How does that make you feel? And a million new ones just last year (in contrast, during the Clinton administration, 4.1 million were lifted out of poverty). "The poverty rate, 12.7 percent... the highest in the developed world and more than twice as high as in most other industrialized countries, which all strike a more generous social contract with their weakest citizens.... that's a nation of poor people the size of Canada or Morocco living inside the United States" The freaking population of CANADA. Let's put it another way. Imagine everyone living in the states of Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Idaho, Nebraseka, West Virginia, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Iowa, Connecticut, and Oregon combined, all living in poverty, all struggling just to put food on their families. That is how many 37 million is. Take out a map and color in those states, and realize that this is the country we live in. These are the people left behind by bush's tax cuts, medicare and medicaid cuts, school lunch, head start, and after school program cuts, pell grant and student loan cuts, etc, etc, etc. Think about that next time you're sitting down to a nice steak dinner, or drinking a "good" beer. I always do. But lest I be misunderstood, I don't hold anything against the billionaires. They could do it, more power to them. I don't begrudge them their wealth, or blame them for becoming rich. I'd do it if I could, and if I was a ruthless sonofabitch. Hell, I'm even happy for them. Of course, I wish they'd share the wealth a bit more and donate shitpiles of money to worthy causes. Come on, there is no way to realistically spend a billion dollars without just blowing 90% of it on shit you don't need, just to show off to the world how insanely rich you are. That's called "vanity" and if I still followed my catholic upbringing (sorry mom) I'd pronounce that that's one of the seven deadly ones and they were all going to hell. But I don't hold their wealth against them No, I'm not upset about the billionaires. What I am upset about is the vast numner of poor. But even that is not the point of this rant. What really pisses me off is the coverage in the media. It is disgusting, appalling, and reprehensible that there are 37 million people living on mac-and-cheese and dogfood, and what makes the news? 102 more fucking billionaires. That's just sick. You know what I say? Eat the rich. Permalink :: 0 comments :: Post a Comment