Proud Bush Mishandles What Could Have Been an OpportunityThis story about President Bush spotlighting the mom of four live active-duty troops who backs the Iraq war has me picturing Bush putting his thumb to his nose and waving his four fingers at Cindy Sheehan and her dead son. Everyone I have spoken to thinks it looks very small of him.
In a disturbing piece at Capitol Hill Blue, Doug Thompson reveals something I find to be hard to believe, and if it's true, then God help America:While President George W. Bush travels around the country in a last-ditch effort to sell his Iraq war, White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him. “I’m not meeting again with that g**damned b*tch,” [edited by Iddybud] Bush screamed at aides who suggested he meet again with Cindy Sheehan, the war-protesting mother whose son died in Iraq. “She can go to hell as far as I’m concerned!”
.....Bush, administration aides confide, frequently explodes into tirades over those who protest the war, calling them “motherf**king traitors.” [edited by Iddybud] He reportedly was so upset over Veterans of Foreign Wars members who wore “bullsh*t protectors” [edited by Iddybud] over their ears during his speech to their annual convention that he told aides to “tell those VFW as*h*les [edited by Iddybud] that I’ll never speak to them again is they can’t keep their members under control.”
Yesterday's NY Times' stinging editorial reveals that the Emperor is wearing nothing but a deceitful and faithless smokescreen.
Take a look at this challenge from the Steering Group of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity:"..we believe a quiet, respectful session with the wise women and perhaps others at your doorstep would give you valuable new insights into the ironic conundrums and human dimensions of the war in Iraq.
A member of our Steering Committee, Ann Wright, has been on site at Camp Casey from the outset and would be happy to facilitate such a session. A veteran Army colonel (and also a senior Foreign Service officer until she resigned in protest over the attack on Iraq), Ann has been keeping Camps Casey I and II running in a good-neighborly, orderly way. She is well known to your Secret Service agents, who can lead you to her. We strongly urge you not to miss this opportunity."
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/s/
Gene Betit, Arlington, Virginia
Sibel Edmonds, Alexandria, Virginia
Larry Johnson, Bethesda, Maryland
David MacMichael, Linden, Virginia
Ray McGovern, Arlington, Virginia
Coleen Rowley, Apple Valley, Minnesota
Ann Wright, Honolulu, Hawaii
[source: Common Dreams]
Digby has a comment about Bush's "animated" speech:And to think they gave Howard Dean days of shit for his scream. This guy is doing a bad imitation of a certain gentleman who also used to work himself into a frenzy before his adoring crowds. Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer!
Chavez Taunts Bush in Retaliation for Mullah Pat's IdiocyIn a typically robust response to remarks by the US televangelist Pat Robertson, Mr Chávez compared his detractors to the "rather mad dogs with rabies" from Cervantes' Don Quixote, and unveiled his plans to use Venezuela's energy reserves as a political tool. "We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States," he said. Mr Robertson's remarks have threatened to inflame tension between the US and one of its main oil suppliers. [Guardian]
There is more Guardian coverage on Chavez here.The fingers of mad preachers are usually far from the button, but the untimely words of Pat Robertson, easily discounted in Washington and airily dismissed by the state department as "inappropriate", might yet wake an echo among zealots in Venezuela.
- Richard Gott who is the author of Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution
Chavez is using Venezuela's windfall not to fatten his own country's oligarchy but to benefit the Venezuelan poor and help neighboring countries:Pat Robertson looks at Chavez and sees a devilish danger. He wants our government to "take him out." Over at the White House, Bush and his aides may use more restrained language, but their goals are not much different. But there's a whole different view down in Latin America, where a half-dozen nations have seen liberal and populist governments swept into office in recent years. Down there, Chavez has become the new miracle man of oil. Unlike Exxon/Mobil and the Big Oil fat cats, who wallow in their record profits while the rest of us pay, Chavez is spreading the wealth around.A dangerous man, indeed. [Juan Gonzales/NY Daily News/Common Dreams]
The South American view of Chavez is much kinder than the United States' view of him: He's highly popular with the country's poor but resented by many in the upper classes. Recent polls show him receiving about 70 percent support from Venezuelans. To U.S. observers, his warm relations with Castro and his regular criticism of U.S. actions and policies such as the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan have been worrisome. He regularly warns against what he calls the United States' imperialist policy and threatens to use Venezuela's oil money to counter northern influence.For many South Americans, however, Chavez is little more than a colorful president who's feuding with the world's superpower. [Contra Costa Times/Knight Ridder]
Pat Robertson showed that, as a so-called Christian leader, he is a hypocrite, and his apology comes too late to see him as anything other than a hypocrite. UK writer Ron Ferguson spots off a beauty from the Gospel according to Mullah Pat:And Jesus goeth up to a high mountain with his disciples and saith unto them: "See that King Herod? I want him taken out. He hath it coming; not only that, it will be cheaper than waging war on the Romans." And Peter, also known as Scarface, saith unto Jesus: "Right, boss. Your wish is our command. It shall be done." And so it came to pass. [Herald]
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Related:
Land for People not for Profit in Venezuela
The New Republic:"..the U.S. struggle against violent religious extremists abroad is damaged significantly when our own religious extremists all too casually resort to violent exhortations. Nor does it help that Robertson's invocation of American covert assassins only feeds Chavez's paranoia of, well, American covert assassins, which he then uses to justify taking his country further down the road toward authoritarianism."
A Bush Blair Love BalladMust-See
I picked up this romantic gem from Mark Oliver at the Guardian newsblog. Thanks, Mark. I've gotten all squishy about the eyeballs after viewing it. Mwwwaaah!
Cindy Sheehan Speaks to Parents of Fallen Soldiers Excerpt from today's statement from Mrs. Sheehan, directed toward the parents of fallen soldiers who still support the Bush narrative of the Iraq war's cause and course [source: Crooks and Liars]:
"If there is any family who says that they believe their child died for a noble cause, I say that is your right; if that helps you get through the day..if that helps you in your pain. We might not have the same politics, but trust me, we have the same pain. We do what we have to do to get through our pain and we hope they respect us for that, and we respect them in anything they have to do to get through their pain."
Friday Blog Showcase: Random FateAt Random Fate, Jack Grant has a quote for all of us to think about.
Jack also has some interesting thoughts about the Iraq war controversy. Many people on the Right are becoming conscious of (and concerned about) certain points about which those on the left have been screaming, at the top of their lungs, for a long time. When the Left does it they are called "shrill". When the Right does it, the Left feels vindicated for the sore throats they got while having had to scream.
