Down in the bowels of Fox News lurks Ambush Central, the sacred room where the real decisions are made. Here the Fox News brain-trusts gather for their regular 5:30 am meeting. Seated at a large oval table are Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, Brian Kilmeade, Fred Barnes, Brit Hume, Mort Kondracke, Mara Liasson, Bill O’Reilly, Alisyn Camerota, Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes, Juan Williams, James P. Pinkerton, Neil Cavuto, Liz Trotta. Hovering over the table are the Ghosts of Joseph McCarthy, Ronald Reagan, George W Bush (brainless), Karl Rove (heartless), Dick Cheney (soulless), Donald Rumsfeld (gutless), and Christmas Past (joyless). At the head of the table sits Roger Ailes.
In a disturbing report on Wednesday, CBS News offered Americans a glimpse of their health care future under President Bush, John McCain and their Republican allies. Detailing two cases of patients dying untreated and unnoticed in New York and Los Angeles emergency rooms, the story shows the exceptions that may increasingly become the rule. Call it the Republicans' "Emergency Room" health care plan.
I've been thinking about this topic for several days now, and it seems a perfect essay for Independence Day week, the day we published our declaration of what democracy means:
Goverments ... deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, [and] whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it....
Rather than require a revolution to effect a change of government (though Jefferson thought it might be a good idea every 20 years or so), We the People crafted a Constitution which provided a mechanism for the peaceful determination of who shall hold power in our name. And the "consent of the governed" ensures that all power is temporary and held on good behavior, for the people will, at some point, give that power to someone else. Power passes.
Obama's recent call to expand and renew George W. Bush's government outreach to faith-based charities has been widely denounced as one of several expedient quick-steps to the center.
In fact this initiative is consistent with longstanding tenets of Obama's thinking -- or, if you want to be cynical about it, of his positioning. His July 1 speech in Zanesville Ohio introducing this plan touched several interlocking core Obama themes.
Patriotism over these past 8 years seemed so inappropriate. Well, first there was the loss of a balanced budget - I mean like that! He no sooner had picked up the hammer and the little glass piggy was in shards all over the place.
I was headed home tonight and spied a car weaving in and out of lanes. Normal bad driving for the Poconos, where speeding and tail-gating seem the norm. But it wasn't the usual potential for a fender bender that caught my attention, it was the Bush-Cheney '04 bumper sticker on the trunk that got me "fired up and ready to go."
I pulled in front of the car as we came through the tolls, and as the driver must have noticed my "Obama '08" bumper sticker on my car, saluted the misguided driver with a "V" peace sign held high and waving as I drove in front of him.
I had second thoughts about my actions when I got home.
Both Think Progress and Pam's House Blend are reporting that Bush's economic stimulus package may be doing its bit to stimulate a lot of, um, packages (if you get my drift). According to an independent market-research firm, AIMRCo (Adult Internet Market Research Company), many websites dealing in pornography have seen their members growing and their profits getting fatter in the weeks since the economic stimulus checks were mailed out.
The only reasonable inference that can be drawn from all of this:
People are spending the money, but not on the things that the government expected them to (unless Bush has secret investments in the porn industry that no one is aware of).
In her freshly posted entry, Arianna Huffington breezily mentions that everyone's favorte Irrelevant Pundit with a Pink Tie had a little convo with the Prez.
If Congress will not take impeachment action against President Bush, then everyday citizens bear the responsibility of supporting legal action against him. At the time of this writing at least three different legal actions against the Commander in Chief have been initiated or outlined, though there may be more buried amid the mountains of calls for impeachment. Of the three, Vincent Bugliosi drew the most attention when he described an ironclad case against Bush for first degree murder. Two other courageous men have also gotten the ball rolling with different takes on the case, one the dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover and the other the owner of a weekly newspaper in Minneapolis. Few people here would expect the national media to help further such a cause, but somebody needs to spread awareness of the legitimacy of such cases. Concerned citizens should take it upon themselves to learn about the thinking behind criminal proceedings against George Bush, and other members of the administration, and use the knowledge to spread awareness of and support for such actions.
It had been about a month since I'd checked out Free Republic, and was pleased to see that the unity and morale of the freepus Erectus continues its death spiral unabated.
Today's gnashing of teeth was in response to the latest brass-balls, Bizarro-Bush statement on the economy:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated on Wednesday that his administration believed in a strong dollar, and said the currency would reflect the relative strength of the economy.
"We're strong dollar people in this administration, and have always been for a strong dollar, and believe that the relative strengths of our economy will reflect that," Bush told reporters at a news conference ahead of his trip to Japan for a meeting of the Group of Eight rich nations.
Inflation is expected to be high on the G8 agenda next week. Some countries have blamed the weak dollar in part for pushing up prices for oil and other commodities.
Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have repeatedly expressed their belief in a strong dollar, only to see the currency fade. The euro hit a two-month high against the dollar on Wednesday.
I just happened to be perusing electoral-vote.com and noticed that among the Red states (or those mostly Red), John McCain’s margin over Barack Obama is modest compared to that achieved by George W. Bush in his November, 2004 contest against John Kerry. This web site compiles polling data from a number of sources and presents it in map format. In some of the states where he presently leads, McCain barely breaks 50%, and in others, he wallows in the mid-to-high 40s. Take Kansas for example; McCain is at 47% as compared to Bush’s 62% in 2004. In Utah, McCain presently polls at 55%, whereas, in 2004, Bush got a whopping 71% in the general election. In South Dakota, where Bush grabbed 60% of the vote in 2004 by trumpeting his pro-life stance, McCain is hovering around 51% as of April, 2008. In Montana and North Dakota, both solidly red in 2000 and 2004, McCain is being held under 50%. Throughout America’s western heartland, where Black voters and Democrats in general, are not found in appreciable abundance, McCain should be kicking butt. But he isn’t.
You know, it's really easy to play cowboy from the safety of a Secret Service protective ring in the United States.
Our soldiers in Iraq don't have that luxury.
"There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there," Bush told reporters at the White House. "My answer is bring them on."
Our Cowboy in Chief is now daring Iraqi irregulars to attack our men and women on the ground?
An Iranian American academic writes that an Iranian news site is reporting that Iran has decided to suspend uranium enrichment, "as a goodwill gesture," for a period of six weeks. "This action will be taken in return for no further sanctions, and resumption of negotiations with the 5+1 group during this period based on the latest proposed package."
Just how much ass-kissing does John McCain think he is owed?
Barack Obama has constantly, consistently and repeatedly said he honors John McCain military service, and what he endured as a prisoner of war.
A quick Google search confirms that Obama has stated just that on numerous occasions. Very unequivocally.
And now that the Republicans are in their phoney pearl-clutching gear again, lying about what General Wesley Clark said and Obama's part it in (none), we once again see John McCain and his surrogates whining about how John McCain has been disrespected.
God in heaven, is there any man in America who has been given MORE respect and deference for his military service than John McCain?
