Who's Gonna Buy You That Library Now, George?

Nice one, George. You've pissed off your so-called "evangelical base" by saying the Bible isn't meant to be taken literally and that evolution is just alright by You. The Jesus Freaks feel used and betrayed.

"It was all a lie!" they wail. "We were used!"

Big deal. Let them bawl. You're no longer any use to them. And with one foot out the door, it's not like You need them anymore either, right?

Wrong.

The jewel of Your historical fiction "legacy" project is the George W. Bush Presidential Library. Selection of wifey Laura's alma mater SMU as the site was done all cloak and dagger-like and shit; chock full of drama and controversy from the word go. Over objections from the "Faculty, Administrators, & Staff" of SMU's Theology School(!), You & Your backers (Karl Rove leading the charge) rammed that sucker through faster than You can say Bail-Out or FISA or The Patriot Act or Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.

Good times.

Your everlasting monument to self-delusion is scheduled to break ground next year. Jamming Your -- OK, Dick's -- twisted agenda down Americans' throats as President proved remarkably easy. Standing on the verge of becoming the most unpopular ex-Presidents ever, you'll find raising the scratch for a temple to Yourself far harder. Should've thought of that before You put the tagger at a half-a-billion buckaroos.

$500,000,000. Maybe Poppy does have diamonds stashed in a Basel safety deposit box (it's possible -- he's an ex-CIA Director, ex-Carlyle Group "advisor" & Prescott Bush's son). This is one present Pop ain't gonna buy, Junior. Say for the moment we ignore the absolute fucking insult inherent in the construction of an ridiculously expensive edifice to Your egotism in the midst of a worldwide economic disaster that occurred on Your watch because of Your watch. Where are You going to come up with the K.A.S.H.?

Pop's out. Ordinary Americans? That's chump change, George. You're wicked unpopular and, not that You've noticed, times are hard. You're not gonna get dick from the Captains of Industry or Wall Street either. AIPAC and the like are far too mercenary. Plus they've already moved on. Hell, when even Adelson's strapped, You know You're screwed.

Jimmy Swaggart, newly minted Presidential Medal of Freedom owner Chuck Colson, James Dobson, Tony Perkins -- I confess to have a hard time remembering the ones who still haven't "gone gay" -- these people were the few left standing from which You could squeeze filthy legacy library lucre. Tit for tat turnabout what with all that faith-based initiatives tax-payer cash You spiffed them. You made the Jesus Freaks feel special. It's not like You gave that money to Jews or Muslims or liberal Christians.

You had to blow it. You always blow it. Speaking dismissively of The Bible, You've gone and pissed off the Evangelicals but good. Probably Karl's Mormons too. And "mainstream" Christians. Jesus Christ, George, how long's it gonna take You to get it through your thick skull that the "M" in "SMU" stands for Methodist?!?!

Look, churches depend on gifts too. People who have ever less to give don't take kindly to having their churches' donation plates dumped into a rich man's hole in the ground. The Jesus Freaks, Mormons and Methodists will not risk offending the faithful. They will not give you one red cent.

So, who's gonna buy you that library now, George?

-AF
Cross-posted at TPM Cafe.

Musings On Bush's Economic Folly, Pt. 1

Yesterday a "smart" money fella claimed the total Wall Street-bailout cost to the American taxpayer would max out at $2,000,000,000,000. (In a perverse show of brainiac couching, he scribed this number as $2,000 billion – as if that would cushion the blow!) This absurdly large number wasn't what threatened to expel liquid out my nose at supersonic speed. My autonomic response was triggered by the sheer fucking audacity of anyone to be so quick to put an ultimate price tag on this unmitigated disaster.

It’s early days yet, folks. We’ve just stepped onto Mr. Bush’s Wild Ride through our shambolic economy. Mark my words: Wall Street’s tagger will easily top $5 trillion. I’m nuts, you say? True. But what do you think would have happened yesterday if we were told anything near the real final cost? Exactly. Presto! Changeo! Out trots a Harvard economist to low-ball the final freight and jumpstart the market. It worked spectacularly. The stock market gained 780 points in 48 hours closing the week right back where it began.

Reactions run the gamut. I'm particularly fascinated that people have found comfort in the knowledge that George Bush was foiled in his quest to allow Wall Street’s GOP pals to plunge their grubby sausage-like fingers into that sweet Social Security pie. Social Security is safe from harm! Can I get a huzzah? Huzzah!

Let’s get real. Regardless of whether or not our Social Security fund is currently intact or not is immaterial. Either way it’s as good as gone.

Inna Wall Street stylee, the Bush administration mortgaged our future – the future we citizens are entitled to and have paid for up front no less – many times over. The Georgie and Dick Show has spent a preposterous pile of cash fast on their Greater War For Oil, endless campaign contributor spiffs and the exorbitant expense of the Republican-led “privatization will save Americans money” scam. Hell, we won’t begin to know the score until these crooks are out the door.

No surprise that. Cleaning out the cupboards is what Republicans do best. However, this smash-and-grab was decidedly different. Skillfully wielding twin bludgeons of “patriotism” and fear, George & Dick looted our treasury on an epic scale. Failing that they did what any average American would do -- they charged it.

Color me oddly impressed with the mad skilz of Bush and his henchmen. They not only managed to prop up their financially bankrupt regime long enough get reelected, but they also almost gave themselves time to scoot out the door unscathed. Ironically, it’s through the Bush administration's financial fairy tales that George finally lived up to his advance billing as “ the CEO President.” His dazzling display of bullshit business acumen was a treat to watch. Seriously. Because if there was even the tiniest hint we could default, Japan, China, the UK and the “oil exporters” will quit snapping up our debt tout de suite.

That would have left us profoundly fucked.

-AF

Tomorrow: My Fantastically Dire Vision Of Future America

These People Have An Unlimited Capacity To Make Me Sick

There's no shortage of current and upcoming exposés of President George W. Bush and his accomplices. I don't have the stomach to read them all. However, it looks like political writer & former talk show host Paul Alexander's new book is required reading. It's called Machiavelli's Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove.

Salon has this excerpt: "How Karl Rove Played Politics While People Drowned."

Shorter version at First Draft.

-AF

(HT: Crooks and Liars)

Open Letter To A Warlord...

...or how I got in touch with my inner Olbermann.*






To quote a former co-worker "This really burns my goat..."

President Bush comments on the renewed violence in Iraq:

“This is going to take a while, but it is a necessary part in the development of a free society.”
(emphasis added)

WTF? Necessary, Mr. Bush? How is this necessary? Please explain to the hundred thousand+ dead Iraqis and what's left of their families exactly how this war was necessary. Please explain the necessity of this ongoing bloodshed to the many more Iraqis wounded and maimed. Please explain to the thousands upon thousands who have forever lost their homes and livelihoods how their country's destruction has spurred "the development of a free society."

You can't. You can't not only because you lack the mental capacity to do so but also because it is not true. Optional wars prosecuted on pretense solely for personal gain and glory are never "necessary."

No matter how hard you wish it to be, Mr. Bush, unlike WWII your Iraq War is not a righteous conflict to save the world from vicious empire-building fascists. Except for in your clearly addled mind, there is nothing about this war that is "romantic." Instead, whatever "islamofascists" -- a piece of shit neocon word if there ever was one-- we currently fight, are almost to a man "fascists" created in the wake of and by our Iraq invasion. After five fucking years and with no end in sight, this war has outlasted WWII. But unlike WWII, we have precious little to show for our nation's many sacrifices to this conflict.

Mr. Bush, what we do have to show for your "Iraq Adventure" is all negative. Ours is a country that is much less not much more safe. We have 4000+ KIA citizens and tens of thousands more horribly wounded too. Our economy reels on the verge of collapse. Our treasury is likely bankrupt. Our international reputation is tarnished jet black. Our Armed Services are strained to almost breaking. Our Constitution lies in tatters.

Was this conflict necessary for "the further development of our free society" too, Mr. Bush? Because at no time in our nation's history has our society been less free. In the course of your utterly disgraceful Presidency, you have dialed back our many rights to the time of our last king: King George III. Never before has the distance between our poor and the rich been so great. Not in my lifetime has corporate greed so triumphed over citizens' rights. Nor did I ever thought I'd live to see the day when The Supreme Court sided with a commercial developer's use of eminent domain to force people from their homes. At no other time in our history has our government of our democratic "free society" been so secretive or so actively engaged in subverting the will of its people.

Your Iraq War is not about the "development of free societies," Mr. Bush. Rather it's a pathetic attempt by a small man (i.e. YOU) to make yourself feel like big man. Ironically, your total manipulation at the hands of Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the neocon cabal served only to shrink your stature. Your Iraq War is about big oil (not that you've got your hands on any yet), big corporations, huge spiffs to campaign contributors et al. Your US War on your countrymen's rights continues to be waged to cover up your administration's many crimes, to steal elections, to quash dissent, to spiff campaign contributors and/or big corporations.

Sometime after the end of your disgraceful Presidency, we will begin to learn the true extent of the damage you have caused this country. You will soon rise from the ranks of our most disgraceful Presidents to claim the title of our most disgraced President. In the meantime, Mr. Bush, is it too much to ask that you at least try to maintain the status quo? You know, not fuck up anything else too badly?

I thought not. Well, you can't blame this citizen for asking.

-AF

*Thanks for indulging me -- I'm not saying anything new.
Bush's blithe this "is a necessary part..." comment necessitated some blowing off of steam.
I'm not nearly as smart or as eloquent as KO.
Whatever delusions I may have are not of grandeur.

Mess o'potamia*

The Mahdi Army cease-fire is history. Iraq's titular head al Maliki has extended his 72-hour militia surrender offer another 288 hours and kicked in a gun buy-back plan (like that'll work -- not in a culture that so highly values guns when there isn't a war going on). Iraqi police are deserting in droves leaving the Iraqi Army (until they start deserting in droves) to man Baghdad check points.

Now comes the word Coalition Forces Drawn Into Basra Fighting. Yes, as the Iraqi Army stands up, we mount our warplanes and start a shellin'. NY Times:

BAGHDAD — American warplanes shelled targets in the southern port city of Basra late Thursday, joining for the first time an onslaught by Iraqi security forces intended to oust Shiite militias there, according to British and American military officials.

In Baghdad, the capital, American aircraft and Mahdi Army fighters exchanged fire in the Sadr City neighborhood, the capital’s largest Shiite militia stronghold. The Iraqi police said an American helicopter opened fire early Friday in Sadr City, killing five people.

The American military confirmed the strike, saying the helicopter was called in after troops on the ground were shot at and requested air support. The Iraqi police also reported a second, later strike by a fixed-wing American aircraft that they said killed four people.

Amid the violence in Baghdad, rocket or mortar fire struck the office of one of Iraq’s two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashimi, in the Green Zone, killing a security guard. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Hashimi was in his office at the time, or whether he was hurt in the attack.

As the situation in Baghdad deteriorates, a bad scene in Basra just gets worse. Again The Times:

The strikes by American warplanes in Basra, one on a militia stronghold and a second on a mortar team that was attacking Iraqi forces, were made at the request of the Iraqi Army, said Maj. Tom Holloway, a spokesman for the British Army in Basra.

Major Holloway said that the Americans conducted the air attack because the Iraqi security forces did not have aircraft capable of making such strikes. American and British forces have been flying surveillance runs over Basra since the latest fighting in the city began this week.

“I think the point here is actually that the Iraqis are capable, they are strong and they have been engaging successfully,” Major Holloway said.

But the airstrikes by coalition forces after a four-day stalemate in Basra suggested that the Iraqi military has not, on its own, been able to rout the militias, despite repeated statements by American and Iraqi officials that its fighting capabilities have vastly improved.

The Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who on Wednesday set a 72-hour deadline for the militias in Basra to lay down their arms or face harsh consequences, said Friday that cash rewards would be offered to anyone in Basra who turned in heavy weapons or artillery. Mr. Maliki, who has staked his political credibility on the Basra campaign, said the cash offer would last until April 8.

How is Mr. Sunshine, err, I mean Preznit Bush taking these new developments? Everything is going according to plan. Natch. The NYT has the kicker:

In Washington, President Bush reiterated his support for Mr. Maliki, describing the offensive as “a defining moment” in the history of a free Iraq and a test for its government — a test that Mr. Bush said it would pass successfully.

The United States will continue to help the Iraqi forces if asked, the president said, but the Iraqis “are in the lead.”

“This is going to take a while,” the president said at a White House appearance with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia, “but it is a necessary part in the development of a free society.”

I am so filled with bile and vitriol that I'll have to wait a few minutes to respond to Bush's "necessity of this war in the development of a free society."

*Apologies to Jon Stewart & co. for such a blatant rip-off. I couldn't come up with a snappier title and Iraq seems to be getting messier every minute.