I agree with FRTothus’ remarks about our government. I was 22 when JFK said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Don’t forget that what defines a country is its government.

Twenty years later Reagan set us against ourselves by telling us that “government is the problem.” He turned the page on Kennedy’s love of country and led us into to our current every-man-for-himself attitude.

Money-making business is now the holy grail. Even many individuals who are tromped down by business worship it. I’m not sure that Bush was completely clueless; he knew how to talk to these people.

I miss Molly Ivins.  She used to nail W the racist. 
She knew he was much less than that, though. 

She knew him since his days at Philips Academy.

All I could muster as a description of W is that there’s something wrong with that guy.

PhreedomPhan, November 11 at 9:03 pm
Completely agree.

S. Barksdale, November 10 at 6:07 pm
ditto.

Aside: I can never wear my Washington Senators ball
cap again.

I agree with so many here who see the greater damage
that has been done.  Given the fact that primarily
wealth and secondarily business savvy decides power
arrangements, how do we govern ourselves without
being compromised by that power?  How do we keep
business away from government, for they are two quite
opposite pursuits.  Eastern Europe tried to keep the
capitalists (us) out with a wall, but we made them
tear it down (and then put up another in our colony
Israel).  I would maintain that those who are wealthy
or good in business are the LAST people we should
have in government, and though it would seem a
natural progression, lawyers, too, should be
withdrawn from consideration to office.  These
professions have their uses, but only in an advisory
capacity regarding methods of management and bill
writing, but the guiding light of government is not
to make money, not to win… it is not that kind of
expertise; Government exists but for one purpose, and
that is to make things better (and absolutely do no
harm) for all people.  Sad that Civic Duty and
Obligation to obey the Rule of Law is no longer even
part of our pundits’ political dictionary. Wouldn’t
be “objective” Madison Avenue’s schools of journalism
would say.  Honor?  Ha!  It’s been decades since I’ve
seen that word properly applied to a US official.

Bush should be in jail.

Stark evidence (as if we needed any more) of how far
away from a merit-based reward system we have.

One word - Stupidity

“George Bush was born on third base and thought he had hit a triple!”—Molly Ivins

It starts out, “It takes a Harvard MBA….”

I used to be a believer.  I used to think that they, the Ivy league graduates were the best and the brightest.  After all, they were the ones who could solve quadratic equations in the 7th grade.  They came to school in clean pressed shirts and pants and they were usually the ones who were asked to give the ceremonial speeches. 

We were lucky to be in their presence—“Someday, I’ll be able to say in the coffee room, I knew him when.”

Is it too late?  Are we too atomized, too scared and too tired to mount one last fight against this group of clowns who now, to me anyway, seem to have been educated beyond their intelligence.

Did the School of Hard Knocks teach us nothing, too?

Can you remember the poverty of the post war 40s and Republican dominated 50s.  Cold water, no central heating.  (For a bath, once a week, you’d boil the tea kettle full of water and mix it with the cold tap water.) Who loed the chopping wood before school to get the fire going in the furnace?

Remember the hope and the upward mobility that went into full swing in the 60s.

I went to a State University in the 60s for about $1000 dollars a year.  I was awarded matching grants because my grades were above 3.00 out of 4.00.  In all I owed about 5 grand when I graduated, and half of that could’ve been wiped out if I taught in a poublic school.  LBJ and the Democratic Congress where are you now?

The National Defense and Bank loans were at 3%.  The Mass Higher Education Act.  I could work at the GE in West Lynn and save my money ($2.65 an hour for working second shift) to live on.

Try that nowadays.  You’ll be looking at years of insurmountable debt. 

And when you get out, the jobs ain’t there no more.  Look as much as you want.  Shine your shoes, brush up your resume, put a smile on your face and take heed of all the tips on MSN to handle the tough interview questions.  When they ain’t no jobs, there’s no hiring.

Of course one can put that 2nd or 3rd tier education to good use by selling your excess stuff on eBay.  Dick Cheney recommended it. The bozafina who ran for Gov of California against Jerry Brown made a billion dollars running tha comapny.

Listen to your evangelists.  They seem to preach, “There’s always a bigger fool doctrine.”  Sell ‘em insurance, start pyramid plans.”  You’ll know God luvs you if you are successful.

Edumacation now is for the dilletantes.  “Don’t you just love this cheese?  And how about the Maseratis? We are different!?

This is all very sickening, deep down in the pit of my stomache.

At least he’s consistent.  His continued behavior out
of office continues to be his dedication to making a
virtue out of stupidity.

Hey!  You guys write like it’s going to make a difference if you have your say.  It doesn’t matter who is in office.  They are all controlled by the Ruling Class and there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it.  You can vote if you wish but, it still won’t matter.  The rich will stay rich and the poor will…well, you know, there is no hope for them either.  Now, the middle class think that they have a chance.  Wrong!  Your fate has already been decided.  And, guess what?  You lose too.

For entertainment you could watch your favorite news program to get your daily fix.  It all depends on what type of drug you like. 

Try Fox News if you are so up tight that when you fart only dogs can hear you.

If you are into comedy try MSNBC.  They will make you feel that your vote will make a difference.  But, remember vote!!  If you don’t, the terrorists will win.  Or maybe that’s Fox News’ motto. 

For alternative news, well, take your pick.  Hell, there are enough of them out there to satisfy anyone who likes to think.  But, again, it really doesn’t matter because in the end the rulers will…you know, rule!!!

Gee, Marshall. Didn’t you notice that the critics of Obama here at TD say he is functioning TOO MUCH like George W. Bush?

IOW, that he’s nearly as deserving of criticism because he’s to close to Bush in his policies?  The other critics are that rare creature at TD—the right-winger.

Wow - this is one vitriolic choir that’s preaching to itself on this board.  Go Right is
indeed right; this is like a nostalgia convention for all the haters that went on to
cry foul about anyone who even raised an eyebrow over Obama during his
campaign (we were racists, stupid, cool-aid drinking fascists, etc…), .  Of course
now most of them have turned on Obama themselves, presumably vindicating
those of us who questioned his experience and policy directions… okay, forget the
vindication - that would be too magnanimous.  Well at least we’re all sortof on the
same side of that fence, however we got here.  I just wish the choir keep it down a
bit.

Bush is not actually stupid. Clueless, yes, but not stupid.
He is, rather, intellectually lazy, and an intellectual coward, unwilling to confront or cope with views that differ from his own.  Therefore, when he gets an idea in his head, he is unable to let go of it. He can’t reconsider it. He can’t handle criticism of it.  And when you are the President, those actions are VERY dangerous.

Still, if, as Forest Gump says “Stupid is as stupid does” then GWB doesn’t even have that excuse.

Blame whoever you want for the mess we’re in, but unless you go much further back than Bush, even further than FDR or Wilson, you probably aren’t even close.  The cancer that was to eat the substance of this country was implanted at the beginning when economic royalist Hamilton persuaded Washington to set up the first national bank against Jefferson’s warnings:

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered .” 

Does anyone here deny that is exactly what has happened?  For over a century the battle over the bank raged, with the bank charter being up for review and renewal that kept it before Congress and the public.  In 1913, “liberal”/”socialist” Woodrow Wilson surrendered our monetary system to the bankers in virtual perpetuity through creation of the Federal Reserve.  Since then, the malignant growth of the “corporate state” has been unchecked. 

Stupidity? my foot!  They’re all smart enough to do as they are told.  Besides, elected officials have little to do with the running of the country.  That’s done by the armies of unelected bureaucrats, judges, etc.

PhreedomPhan, November 11 at 9:03 pm

Stupid is as stupid does. Bush rode through life on the coattails of a rather powerful Daddy and Daddy’s friends. His stupidity was actually an asset to them because he wasn’t bright enough to question what they wanted done.

Now folks dabya is not my real name ,its actually W :you know with a capital w;and I know a lot of things about the world and things about good .I talk about this at the supper table regularly with my dad ;and he
knows a lot about alot of things and taught me alot ;but I know quite a bit myself .Now I wrote this book because I’m smart ,you know Harvard and everything and all those people that know the difference between
the right and the left and I might add that I have trouble with that distinction at times ,but you guys know ‘fool me once ’ well you know the rest .Now a lot of people are asking me about Florida ;especially Al Gore
people ; but I’m gonna tell ya :I like Florida ,hell my brother lives there ! and I think he still does .Lately life is quiet on the ranch but I still gotto walk the dog and you know I pick up the stuff ,so I think about things :like the environment and Haiti because I could have used a pair there instead of Bills jacket ;but what are friends for .Now Tony Blair is smart :really now ,he went from Weapons of Mass Destruction all the way to road map of peace guy -pretty good don’t you think-and he wrote a book ,before I even did ! and one more thing he got a medal from Bill :Bill never gave me a medal and I invaded Iraq mind you to save the
world and everybody’s safer now .Good examples of this are simple ,Atta was water boarded a couple of times and America is safer today ,Dick told me that Gitmo is a good way of promoting progress -progress is a good thing that only the evildoers hate.The banking trouble caught me by surprise ,because I went to Harvard and met a lot of smart people there while I was a student learning about business and other things like
geography ;which was kinda strange at the time .But the banks are important because that’s what they taught me at school and money is more important than anything else according to the jews and thats why we have Aipac to guide us through the troubled times ,so folks buy my book and become smart ;like me .

History is written by the winners and this looks like a classic case.

George Bush is nobody’s fool and he is still making dough.  Sure, the system is rigged and it is going to keep on being rigged. The winners know what they are doing and they prove it time and time again. So, instead of criticizing Bush and others like him I think we should take our off hats to them - and not our shoes.

Remember, we would all like to make a million bucks and buy whatever we want. That is what the American Dream is all about. Well, for most us that dream has now been revealed as nothing less than a nightmare. The American Dream was not meant for everyone and that is what George Bush represents.

If America wants to remain a Christian nation and believing in a God, the go for it. But, just remember that believing in God and the American Dream has consequences. Lottery tickets are for winners and that is the closest that most of us will get to live the American Dream - or even meet the Big Guy himself. These kinds of things are reserved for special people and George Bush is one of those special kind of people. His believing God paid off and he won the big won. So, hang in there because you could be next.

You can go on defending derivatives until the cows come home, Fat Freddy, but it’s like the movie ‘The Cars that ate Paris’: these are the ‘Financial Instruments that ate Wall Street’ (and Iceland and Britain and Europe)and if the banks aren’t re-regulated they’ll do it again. Letting the banks regulate themselves is like letting a blind man direct traffic.

The shoe photo is one of my favorites too.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CbKBQZh3QxM/SUhPEmcrttI/AAAAAAAACTQ/X-itmYSpjjE/s400/George_W_Bush_Shoe_Duck.jpg

I don’t get it.  It’s not a full moon.

Bob, it is foolish of you to believe that Paulson did not know that mortgage backed derivatives were at the core of the economic meltdown.  From the repeal of Glass-Stegall onward, the Harvard MBAs (Paulson) and Darmouth MBAs (Geithner) have reorganized the regulatory system so that they could make enormous profits.  They have changed the tax structure so they could keep almost all the money. They and the plutocrats have single-mindedly pursued a restructuring of American society in which they have seized the wealth of the nation.  None of these players were unwitting.  Bush may or may not have understood the intricacies, but he certainly knew what his part in the scheme was.  His father told him!  Please do not make a mockery of Truthdig by accepting that these people were ignorant of their purposes and the consequences of their actions.

When I first discovered Truthdig I thought I’d found a site dedicated to unearthing the Truth wherever and whatever it may be.  I’ve since come to believe “Truthdig” is more interested in digging a hole to bury the truth.  Either that or some or many of its authors are incredibly and inexcusably naïve.

To suggest that Bush, Obama, or any of the others that rise to be the supreme administrator of the American Province of the International Finance Empire is stupid is, quite frankly, stupid.  If those people are stupid, how come they’re getting richer and more powerful from their “mistakes” and we’re getting poorer while being reduced to serfdom?  They, Bush included, know exactly what they’re doing.

Garet Garrett answered those who criticized the New Deal for its mistakes by clearly showing how all of those “errors” led to the concentration of power in the Administrative Branch.  If you’re interested in digging for the essential truth, you’ll find it at the url below:

http://phreedomphan-lostliberty.blogspot.com/2009/05/revolution-was.html

If you want the whole truth, you can download the entire booklet at:

http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?page=usercat&catid=8&count=2

Scroll down the page to “The_Revolution_Was…”  Click to download the PDF file.  For still more, scroll up the page to “The_Peoples Pottage…”  Click to download that book with the above essay and “Ex America” and “Rise of Empire.”

I’m sorry Mr. Scheer, but if you truly think Bush, or for that matter, Obama, Clinton, Bush Daddy, or the many Senators and Congressmen who have supported measures that have destroyed our economy, our Constitution, and are working toward destroying our national sovereignty are stupid, then you are living in a dream world where all is the result of stupidity, accident, or some form of Darwinian Natural Evolution of Government.  In that happy little world, nobody ever plans anything.  The hordes of bureaucrats in the planning agencies running all the way down from global to the local municipalities spend the day at the office drinking coffee and eating donuts.

In the real world, those at the top hide their intentions in a veil of “stupidity.”  A carefully manufactured facade of “incompetence” is the excuse by which they seek to escape just punishment for their crimes. 

No, it’s not the people at the top who keep accidentally stepping on our faces with their spiked-heel boots that are stupid.  We are the ones who are stupid.

Irony of the week:  There are thousands of new books out for the Christmas trade, any number of which would have been worth reviewing and discussing here.

Go Right Young Man, November 11 at 2:16 pm

Of course the very worst President in American history might foster a bit of rancor, hyperbole even, deserved and more!

Perhaps you might mount a defense of the man’s terms of office? I await such fiction with bated breath and pounding pulse…..

Leefeller:

My favorite pic was of him dodging a shoe.

Now I don’t advocate assaulting ANY President, even with something as innocuous as a shoe, but it still was pretty damn funny, and the motivation well understood.

It would have been far less effective and resonated far less if he had actually hit Bush.

I looked up “hypocrisy” in the Oggsferd Unglesh Leefeller dictionary. 
It said “See all posts by GRYM.”

From my archives.

http://www.tribalmessenger.org/humor/bushisms.htm

The concept that George H.W.Bush Jr. is clueless, is
just a bit naive. 

Bush continued to carry out the NAZI plan in his own
personal fashion, yet in accordance with the NAZI
plan. His NAZI appointees provided support.  Take a
look at the NAZI background of Carl Rove.  In spite
of congressional subpoena, and other legal subpoenae
subsequently, how many times has comrade Rove
testified ?  Protected by judges who do not seem to
realize that their intelligence and professional
training is being laughed at by the NAZI–types, they
continue to permit their expertise to be treated like
feces, and their personages worse than prostitutes. 
At least prostitutes perform a social service.

The mumbling, fumbling, distortive excuses of Junior
Bush are devised to demonstrate to the world that he
can do as he pleases and make excuses as he pleases,
without being held accountable for his redundant
treason-in-office as the U.S. President.  This, while
he sells millions of copies of his excuses.  This is
the hallmark of the CIA, not a fumbling person who
scarcely knows when to come in out of the rain.

None of his decisions and “executive decrees” were
executed accidentally or spontaneously.  All were a
continuation of the plan to punish the USA for having
led in the defeat of the NAZI machine in WWII. 
Retribution, plain and simple.  And, which plan is
increasingly reflected in the behavior of the “union-
manipulated,” Merkel regime.  An excellent, perhaps
worst-case example is the “Stuttgart 21” initiative. 
How many millions are planned for the coffers of
Union Leadership plus the Union re-election campaign,
is a valid question.  How long will Mrs. Dr. Merkel
permit herself to be used as a dirty mop ?  Or, is
she simply a dirty mop in disguise as a
Bundeskanzlerin ?

ROFLM-ASS-OFF….LOL

I’ll refer back to this thread every time each of you whines about how really really mean those darn moderates, conservatives, independents and more than a handful of liberals are toward President Obama.

LOL….LOL….LOL.  Who are the haterz?  LOL….clearly most here “Hate White People”....LOL….

-

Look up the word “hypocrisy”, ITW.

For some reason, a most fond memory of Bush is my vision of him choking on a pretzel, like he was chocking up a hair ball!

My favorite thing about Bush is his blatant lack of integrity, since he somehow evaded going to Vietnam by joining the National Guard back then.  But Bush decided to make it right as president, so he sent the National Guard to to Iraq in search of those pesky weapons of mass deception.

Now it seems Bush has written a book? Inspired by his fond memories of reading one other book….. “My Pet Goat”!

I may have just written Bush’s biography in three little paragraphs,.... how does this become a book?

It is important to recall historical fact.
In 1999, the last bodyguard of Adolf Hitler died,
after living in the US for about fifty years. LTC
Skorzeny did not die in MADRID, 1975, as advetised by
the NAZI CIA. Lieutenant Colonel Otto Skorzeny
deposited a box of WWII NAZI letters and pictures
with a trusted friend, before crossing over. Skorzeny
stated that GHWBushSr. was Georg Scherff Jr. of
Doerlitzsch, 55 KM southeast of Leipzig. Operation
“Paper Clip” secreted 200 NAZI, German scientists
into the USA, 1945, among whom was Werner von Braum. 
Operation Paper Clip was essentially repeated several
times, until 2,000 Germans were secreted into the
U.S.  NAZI SS General Gehlin transformed the OSS into
the CIA.  Is it any wonder that the CIA is
responsible for 90% of the turmoil in the world,
since 1948?  Is it any wonder that US political
structure follows the pattern established by the NAZI
regime in Germany, 1935-1945?  Is it any wonder that
the U.S. administration is suppressing and labeling
all who adhere to the US Constitution as “Homeland
Terrorists” ? 

“Our government will protect us” said naive
Americans, as NAZI leadership was taking over the  
U.S. of A.  And as the israeli Zionist machine took
over western world banking.

It is time to stop behaving like zombies, and re-take
America from the NAZI-types.

patriot10101, November 11 at 6:37 am

The rturn of christian...a stinkweed by any other name….

Brain-fever?

There is an old Scottish joke about how each village took their idiot and set them to driving all the small stones out of the village with a stick. Scots being the proud people they are boasted about how their village idiot was better at clearing stones than any of the others. So they got them all together and had a contest and that is how golf was invented. Shortly thereafter they invented Scotch to help cope with playing of Golf.

We have reached a state whereby we send out village idiots into the running of governments at all levels. Last year our city council decised to charge us to haul stuff to our landfill because they wanted to encourage us to recycle. This year they decided to charge us to recycle. So now people dump stuff alongside the roads at night. And the council is hiring a consulting firm to figure out why there is an increase in the amount of dumping taking place. However stupid we may think that legislators are, the people who elect them are equally stupid if not more so. Bush will be the epitome of a country that allowed the rich to suck all the money out of education so that the People would be too stupid to figure out what was going on.After 50 years of blaming teachers, unions, everybody but themselves, the right has managed to shrink the number of well-informed and educated people down to where they could drown us in our own bathtubs with the help of all our neighbors!

Mr. Scheer does know where the Bush “stumble/falls” are. But Bush, Boehner, all of it, is distraction. I was watching CNN at the gym this afternoon and you could cut the propaganda with a knife. Sometimes I wish I could just go back to sleep. It is horror on the hoof.

  What Mr. Scheer did do was touch on some back ground cause and effect. That’s the reporting we need. Never mind the D.C. Circus and the Clowns. Give us the P.T. Barnum hucksters taking “We the people——” for marks and rubes.

    It’s obvious (my opinion) that a merger of the M.I.C. shadowland, International Financial Black Market Criminals and American Corporate crime has taken place. That’s the so called “elite”.

    Every thread here has a poster saying Bush and Obama are fronts and puppets.

    That’s the reporting Journalist should focus on. Who is this 1% looting and destroying America. Who’s invested, and in what? What’s the connection between the drug cartels and the American banks that launder their money without prosecution. Why are our High Schools and streets being flooded with Heroin? Why are the Bush tax cuts off the table and Americans being asked to give up Social Security while right wing political thugs can drop hundreds of millions on a political campaign without blinking an eye? Who are the people special hit squads are killing in Iraq and Afghanistan? Terrorists, or just people Karzai and his Heroin dealing brother want out of the way? Who are the Corporatists reverse outsourcing American jobs with the use of illegal labor? Why no prosecutions? How about an audit of the Federal Reserve?

    I appreciate you guys. I do!! But, we need a different way of looking at this mess. A new dialogue. Maybe even a different vocabulary. But sideshows like Bush (poor man)should not be our focus. And, take action or perish.

Does anybody here actually think that Cheney allowed Bush to make any decisions, other than whether or not to pardon Scooter Libbey?

Under pressure from the Ruthless ,the Spineless combined with the Clueless ,to achieve the Worthless

Norman Davies

Lafayette, November 10 at 7:48 pm Link to this comment

But Bush the Son never forgot the incident and since revenge is a powerful force ...
****************

So is stupidity, and Dubya has plenty of both, and they feed on each other.

More seriously: I think a President creating a risk to our national security out of a sense of revenge should be impeached and ousted. I don’t care WHAT the reason is, revenge is totally an inappropriate motivation in international politics.

If any individual epitomizes what America has come to represent that individual
sad to state is GWB.

The comment attributed to him that “I okayed waterboarding because one attorney
told me its ok”, sadly reflects a pathetic figure.

Will someone write a book that goes into detail about Junior´s initiation into the “inner sanctum” of the Bush family, satanistic covey of Skull and Bones? 

Of course, it is not related, but be sure to include the murder-skinning of the alleged “hippie family” in Brownsville, 1985, during the three days he disappeared, and later could not remember the three days.

samosamo, November 10 at 9:28 pm
****************

Little w is just acting the part that any member of
the bush crime family would do, ‘I don’t know
nutin from nutin’ rigamarole bull shit. Everyone of
the members has done or been part of something
where they should all be serving hard time or
been executed for treason to this country.

****************************************

I used to watch W in his speeches, hoping that he’d explode or implode.  I felt it was near, especially, when he took the mike at the 2004 debate in Ohio.  I sat on the edge of my seat and thought to myself, here he goes.  He’s going to flip out and blow it all.  The dummies in Ohio, though, sought his autograph.  58 elctoral votes decided by maroons

But the blame is not with W.  The blame of this example of Darwnian survival lies squarely on the shoulders of George H.W. and his wife, Barbara Pierce distant relative of Franklin Pierce, 15th President of the United States.  Abe Lincoln was 16th.  The nation had enough of their bullshit.

Get a load of Geore H.W. and Barbara in whatever you can find that has been written about them.  They are quite a pair.

The outcome of George W, to put it in psychobabble lengua, was overly determined.  He’s just a wart who has to go on living his viral existence, thanks to George and Barbara.

But then in comparison, even Ted Kennedy after years of alcohol abuse could pull it together and demolish Little Mitt Romney in their debate for the MA Senate seat.

****************

Little w is just acting the part that any member of
the bush crime family would do, ‘I don’t know
nutin from nutin’ rigamarole bull shit. Everyone of
the members has done or been part of something
where they should all be serving hard time or
been executed for treason to this country.

Another attribute of w and his partner in crime,
paulson, is the useless ivy league colleges and
the crap they turn out; either with paid for
diplomas or intentional criminal intent to make
those institutions of ‘higher’ learning proud.
Though I really don’t like to think that ‘higher’
learning is an indicator of smarter people, but it
does take a bit of intelligence to head fake the
people to carry out devious agendas and the bush
crime family is just such a poster child of that. As
is w and paulson poster children of what the ivy
leagues churn out for the supposed ‘good’ of the
country which is double speak or euphemistic
language for the good of the ostensible ‘elite’.

Obviously the captains of industry had exactly the person they wanted in the White House, a vacuous, entitled rich boy without empathy, without curiosity, and without much thought to steer rational decision-making.

Sarah Palin is waiting in the wings to be Bush’s female equivalent and don’t think that the Koch brother and their ilk won’t support her.

Fascism:  Here’s the way it’s going to happen

It will be a dark an stormy night and all the people will be huddled around their camp fires when in will walk a short, gray-haired Billionaire from NYC, named Googlepex.

Googleplex, tell us a funny story the crowd will shout out.

And Googleplex will begin;

It was a dark and stormy night and all the Americans were seated around their Google-receivers when in walked a a short gray-haired Billionaire from NYC….

Get the picture.  As to paraphrase John Updike, you’ll never now what hit you.

God bless, and take care of your own, at least.

BUSH SEEMS TO BE PLEADING RATHER THAN TALKING…HE MUST HAVE AN
INKLING THAT JUDGEMENT TIME IS NEAR…AND HE BETTER START HIS
DEFENSE….BUT ITS TOO LATE FOR HE IS HAS DOOMED HIMSELF….

Our government began moving toward a financial oligarchy with J. C. Bancroft Davis’ misstatement in the headnotes of the 1886 U.S. Supreme Court case, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, which conferred the status of personhood on corporations. Until we, through OUR government, remove this absurd status, the corporate powers will continue to control us. There is considerable evidence that our founding fathers intended for government to have control of corporations, not vice versa, as is the current situation.

ITW: (Poppy was smart enough not to topple Saddam Hussein and get us involved in Iraqi internal politics).

Perhaps, but there is also the fact that the Saudis emphatically insisted that troops not go on to Baghdad and topple Hussein.

So, Bush the Father decided to bring everyone home.

Later, in a victory tour of Kuwait, Hussein sent a hit-squad to assassinate him. The assassins were captured long before Bush arrived.

But Bush the Son never forgot the incident and since revenge is a powerful force ...

Truthdig Pun of the Year Prize should go to farnertex for Bush’s “lie-bury”.

“Somebody’s out there beating on a dead horse.”—-Bob Dylan.

Sure is a lot of that going around these days.  Sometimes it seems like there’s nothing else happening here at all.

Want a viable alternative, tame Sisters and Brothers?  Come together, right where you’re living and breathing right now, in aid of our Mother Earth.  Help each other.  Clean-up your own part (the part right in-front of you) of this fucking gone-“global” mess you’ve so half-witlessly been so instrumental in making.  Get well together doing it.

Those CONgenital idiots you love to hate are all prisoners of their own device, too.  They’re not your “problem,” either.  You are.

HokaHey!

Just wondering. If that whacko, bible-thumping nit-wit from Fla. who was so hot to torch a hate filled book of lies is still around may I suggest a marvelous, recently released piece of fictional trash that might just suit his pyrotechnic obsession?

RS: the main thing Bush learned in the Harvard MBA program: “The well-being of Main Street was directly linked to the fate of Wall Street.” Not exactly. They are linked—but inversely.

Kudos for a well-written review of Leadhead’s memoirs—a book that will make damn fine toilet-paper in some homes.

But this last pot-shot captioned above is cheap hyperbole.

They are linked directly, which is why Wall Street needed absolutely to be saved, bailed out, re-capitalized—take your pick.

That fact is unavoidable because it is the way America has treated its markets rather generally and the Finance Market in particular. We have thought blindly that Bigger Is Better and, in our capitalist system, the rewards of corporate growth can be shared.

So, we, the people and stockholders, have watched blithely as Market Aggregation (consolidation of markets by means of corporate buy-outs) was allowed with out much Federal intervention (meaning the competition watchdogs were neutered). After all, we were only concerned with our portfolio values.

The purpose of Market Aggregation was to reduce market competition and thus enhance corporate profitability. And we all played that game to our own benefit, both as corporate stakeholder and stockholders.

This is the way capitalism works and it should work. No argument, there. Except that markets are not games that can be manipulated by the players. The Fed has the right and duty to assure that:
* Markets are open to all comers,
* Market rules/factors are honest and evident to all simultaneously (no insider trading), and
* Market suppliers are sufficiently numerous to promote price competition that institutes a “fair price” (i.e., no price fixing).

As stockholders, we benefited from the enhancement of equity values that market aggregation effected. Even as, in terms of Financial Engineering, those responsible did not understand the first rule of the engineering profession.

Which is this: In the design of any key mechanism, it must be shown to “fail safe”, meaning that in case of mechanical failure it does no harm. Our Golden Boy Finance Engineers ignored the rule with wanton abandon—their eyes glued on the profitability and thus bonuses/stock options that would ensue.

To my mind, their negligence is tantamount to criminal. If Boeing had engineered an airplane with such negligent disregard to fail-safe practices, they would be liable for damages should an accident occur.

The sad fact is that, for reasons that remain unclear, there is to date only one indictment in the matter and that court case was lost by the Justice Department. Supposedly “proof-positive” of negligence is difficult to determine. Besides, many of the companies involved have paid the necessary fines.

But that does not correct that basic lack of “fail-safe finance engineering”. The agreements of Basle_III (developed by , an international accord at the Bank of International Settlements in Basel (Switzerland), will be necessary to assure an implementation of rules and principles across the board—due to the fact that today’s financial markets are global. Meaning the rules must be the same for all.

The adherence to Basle_III is not yet assured.

FarmerTX:
Ann Richards was talking about George H.W. Bush, not George W. Bush.

It was from her speech at the 1988 Democratic Convention (that gave us Michael Dukakis—most famous NOW as a Trivial Pursuit answer to who was Olympia Dukakis related to in politics.  People remember “Willie Horton” more than Michael Dukakis!)

I think was the nomination speech for Lloyd Bentson as VP candidate.

Even Poppy Bush knew Dubya was incompetent, but somehow kept his mouth shut while Sonny stupidly undid the best of Daddy’s work (Poppy was smart enough not to topple Saddam Hussein and get us involved in Iraqi internal politics).

re: jimch

‘the rise of the 4th reich’ jim marrs, harper collins pub

might help answer your question

The US in not punishing the criminal behavior of its leaders and in fact they now have the gall to write books admitting their criminal behavior. Obama is now basically an accomplice after the fact because of his misguided policy of looking forward ( I am not naive, I know both Obama and Bush answer to the same master). His presidency is basically over because he has been proven to be as much of a liar as Bush, in some senses he may even be worse as he has pulled the wool over the eyes of the most down trodden of Americans, the African Americans. He is such a despicable craven character who the whole world is seeing for what he is. I don’t believe America is finished but I think its heading straight for a revolution which will right the ship. Obama has and will continue to be just a distraction.

I agree with mrfreeze, big time! I always saw Bush as a symptom of the disconnected, self-centered people who inhabit our nation. I don’t blame Bush. I blame the people who voted for him. (Yes, his daddy’s Supreme Court gave the first election to him, but enough people had to vote for him to make that doable.)

These people are opposed to having “elites” running things. One definition of elite: “The best or most skilled members of a group.” Aren’t these the people we want to have working for us in our government? Unfortunately, too many Americans want a person they can identify with—an average person—to be running the free world.

“economic crisis” cld not have happened in isolation from lawlessness that
exists also in all societies with chasmic differences in earnings and, thus, in
powers on econo-military-governmental level.

And it cld have not happened unless a lawless society such as d.n. [disunited
nations-cults; aka, u.s.] first wages and obtains much poverty, ignorance, fear,
obedience, etc.

for how else is d.n.‘s constitution [ a set of interpretative diktats ] obtain meat
for its ‘missions’ all over the globe and in view of the fact that the only military
threat it faces is that of a few rowboats invading u.s shores.

The blame for all of Bush’s mischief and uber-tragic ruining of a perfectly OK nation goes to:

a) Everyone who voted for him (twice)
b) Everyone who supported his fabricated wars
c) Everyone who supported his tax cuts
d) Everyone who let this village idiot remain in office

Answer: All of the above and more.

I’m afraid, my dear friends, that this is most Americans. For those of you criticizing the current Administration as being too friendly with the “elites,” what the f**k do you think Bush was doing? Now that GWB gets to air out his stinking, rotten laundry in public we should all be ashamed to know that we let someone of such an a-moral, narcissistic character lead our country.Shame on us.

To: farmertx,  I agree with most of your comment
except that maybe some of the folks in a part of
Texas will buy this Fairy Tale by the Shrub.

I live in a retirement village in Florida, and, what
made the front page in this community of some 70
thousand souls, was a line stretching for blocks just
to get a armband to purchase a signed copy from him
at Barnes and Noble at a later date.

Bush and Ronnie must have been hatched in the same
nest. Both had to be told what to do and say for the
entire eight years that they reined supreme over the
hapless middle class and workers of these United
States.  There was a program on T.V. some years ago
that had a former member of the Secret Service on,
that stated that the reason Ronnie wore two hearing
aids was, one so he could hear, and one so his
handlers could tell him what to do and say. When he
was in office ( those days the Media sometimes
reported what was really going on ) the media caught
not only his handlers telling him what to do and say,
but also his wife whom happened to be walking beside
him. After that very few people were allowed to get
close enough to ask him a question without prior
screening.

Nothing much has changed in the past 30 years since Ronnie the Ray-gun was first elected, except that the rich have a whole lot more riches, and the poor and working class a whole lot more misery .  I think Jesus Christ got it wrong, the Rich have already inherited the Whole Planet.

Dumb and Dumber: Congress and Senate.

The idea that the Shrub actually wrote this book is ludicrous. He might have added a word or three, but that’s it.

There are many here in E TX that still think Shrub saved America and no doubt some of them will buy the book.  Doubt many of them will read it, because reading takes time.  So much easier to tune into faux’s talking heads to see what they need to believe.

I am most interested in what unbiased historian’s have to say about his lie-bury that is being dedicated this month in Dallas.

Shrub has the natural ability of a cheerful, clueless idiot in blaming others for his shortfalls.  He insists “intelligence” be found to support his theory ... and then blames that same “intelligence” for misleading him.

Gov. Ann Richards (Lord, but TX needs her and Molly Ivins back) said it best “Poor George, bless his heart, he can’t help that he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.”

(Down South, you add “bless their heart” and you can talk all the trash you want and it still comes out polite.)

I think Bush should be very cautious at his book gatherings. People still remember the shoe throwing incident don’t they?

Another associated story of course is that related to Tony Blair. Somebody had the great idea of going to book stores and placing his book in the crime section. Not a bad idea here either.

Please, the average grade in those schools is an A. They are places the rich and social
climbers send their children to confirm their pedigree. I’ve known Harvard Graduate
students who spent long years in special Ed as children and yet Graduated with 4.0
grade averages, who still cannot read a word after graduation.

Bush, was nothing more than a deluded and likable Dupe. Whose earnest idiocy made
him all the more believable as a tool. He was able to use conservative ideology,
against conservatives for the plutocracy. That was job number one.

Just as Obama now uses progressive ideology against progressives.

Both are comic book like characters, one dimensional beings whose gift is being, flat
landers, unable to see in the third dimension, and yet denying it’s existence.

George Bush reminds me of an old man with Alzheimer’s, who when he doesn’t understand something, gets angry and aggressive.

His worst moment was when Kanye West said he doesn’t care about Black people, and therefore KW was calling GWB a Racist?

Well, to defend GWB, the one charge I would NEVER level at him is one of being a racist.  Besides, who gives a rat’s ass what Kanye West thinks about ANYTHING???  The guy is a loose cannon’s loose cannon. Only Lindsay Lohan can match him for dumb public craziness.

OTOH, to defend KW, he’s right: George W. Bush didn’t care about Black people.  But that doesn’t go far enough, nor does it make GWB a racist.  He also didn’t care about Yellow people. And he didn’t care about White people, either.  All he cared about was RICH people, regardless of their color.

And I must disagree with RD yet again, but this time mildly:  I don’t believe George W. Bush is the worst President in modern history.  I can make a rather convincing case that he’s the worst President the United States has ever had, undercutting such 19th century losers as: Andrew Johnson, John Tyler, James Buchanan, and Ulysses S. Grant.  And, of course, the 20th century turkeys of Harding, Nixon, Reagan, and his daddy, GHW Bush. (Actually, of the group I’ve named, I’d rank Poppy Bush as easily the best of them, and better than a few other un-notables such as Chester Arthur, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and, dare I say it: Herbert Hoover.

Being born with a silver spoon up ones ass, opens doors even for the stupid.  The fact that people voted for Bush and still believe he did no wrong shows their is something missing from many people in this nation, something called common sense!  Many of those same Bush die hard people are leading the charge against Obama and with lefty support, how amusing!

As long as accountability, and integrity are absent from Washington and the lobbyists run the halls like bigots at a Palin convention, one needs to be aware but not fret,...... for fretting is like worrying about demising,...demising is something which fortunately happens to the stupid too!

“They do what they want anyway”! George Carlin

Mr Scheer described Maiden Lane without actually mentioning “them”. Here it is:

http://www.ny.frb.org/markets/maidenlane.html

I do not agree that it was derivative trading that killed Enron, it was government approved deferment in mark-to-market accounting (FASB 157), or what some call “mark-to-myth”, mark-to-fantasy”, and “mark-to-imagination”, that started it all. Derivatives trading didn’t help. In other words, all of those futures could be marked on the balance sheet to what they believed their future value to be. In other words, they simply lied.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/35836210

In fact, “assets” in the Maiden Lane portfolio are all “marked-to-myth”. JP Morgan (and AIG) are not responsible for any losses until the assets are actually sold. So, that $30 billion in assets is really only worth about $6 billion. Who is going to eat those losses, and when????

And to make things worse, all of the major banks have been granted reversal on mark-to-market, and deferments on FASB 166 and 167 (off-balance-sheet transactions).

Repeat after me:

The banks are insolvent
The banks are insolvent
The banks are insolvent

Who ya gonna call, Mr Banker?
Why, Gentle Ben, and Timmaaaaaaaaay, of course.

Doesn’t is make the skin crawl to see how wealthy these two have become when knowing full well how inept they seemed to be? Just what are their secrets?

Doesn’t it make the skin crawl to see those two become so utterly wealthy with so little common sense? What the hell are their secrets?

Yes, agree with earlier poster(s).  If we are not going to arrest him, et al, what is the point of giving this dipsh-t thumb-puppet any further consideration or attention?  Let the main and right media blow its load, get it over with.

Truly, a waste of time to summarily evaluate, much less *dissect,* the writings of a rightwing whore of a *co-writer,* as augmented by all the other A-holes who contrived this “historic” piece of printed garbage.

GW Bush actually forming and expressing a tangible and considered thought worth putting down in words?  Get serious.

The stooge has been mentally out of the game for years.  Not a clue as to what is happening in his own country.  The global geopolitical catastrophe created by his then and now again resurgent allies?

This F-king clown still believes his own press – like he *stood tall* in the dusty street, faced ‘em down… *WANTED: Dead or Alive.*

Like Regan, only dumber.

I thought you’d be writing about Obama’s NAFTA deals in Asia. I’m disappointed you chose to waste your time with Bush. Ignore him and he’ll be diminished. If he’s diminished, maybe no one will protest when a real leader emerges to prosecute him.

Perhaps the worst President in modern American history. Certainly the most dishonest, perhaps even the dumbest. His Vice President should be ending his days in a Federal Penitentiary, but, in yet another in a series of miscarriages of justice, he wont.

I wont be reading that book, wont contribute a nickle to the bastard.

bush was the perfect ‘puppet’ president. he wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last.

...painted red or painted blue it’s all the same hue.