An Infamous Anniversary

As Think Progress notes, it was seven years ago today that Preznit Dumbya received the "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." briefing memorandum while on vacation at his fake Crawford, TX ranch. A little more than a month later, al Qaeda struck the U.S.

Since then, it's been revealed (Richard Clarke, Scot McClellan, Bob Woodward, etc.) that Dumbya and Dead Eye Dick had Iraq on their minds - - and in their sights - - since shortly after Dumbya's inauguration in January 2001. Little wonder that this threat was ignored, when they were so busy focusing on bringing down Saddam Hussein, the guy that "tried to kill my dad" as Dumbya put it in 2002.

(photo: Dumbya showing his respect for the flag and 9-11 victims)

"The Legacy of George W. Bush"

Hackwhackers Tokyo Bureau Chief Brian brings this photo collection to our attention, documenting the preznitcy of our codpieced Commando-in-Chief. How are we coming along on that George W. Bush Sewage Treatment Plant and memorial flush?

Time We Didn't Have To Waste

The WaPo has an article, "Warming Is Major Threat To Humans, EPA Warns," that is simply one more confirmation of the Bush Assministration's criminal negligence when it comes to acting on global warming. Just days after EPA (under pressure from the White House) decided it would not issue regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, the EPA reported "it is very likely" that more will die from heat waves, hurricanes and pathogens resulting from warming. Every section of the country would be affected. Meanwhile every day that is lost means more greenhouse gas emissions as we get closer to the tipping point (if it hasn't already been reached). Another "legacy" for Chimpy.

"Appeasing" Iran

You may recall back in May, when Preznit Dumbya, speaking to the Israeli Knesset, tried to link Sen. Obama to the appeasers of Hitler because Obama had said that he would use diplomacy to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat? Can someone find that tape and please erase it so Dumbya and St. John McBush of Barbecue won't be embarrassed? Oh, right, nothing embarrasses them!

It seems the Assiministration is reversing its own bonehead no-talk policy and is sending Undersecretary of State William Burns to meet with Iranian officials in Geneva -- without preconditions. This leaves the Rethugs flapping and floundering for some other epithet to tar Sen. Obama with. We're sure they'll come up with some nonsense; they always do.

(Photo: Henny Dumbya speaking to the Knesset: "Take my policy on Iran... please!")

Dumbya Lifts Offshore Drilling Ban

In a transparent political stunt, Dumbya announced today that he's lifting the executive order banning offshore oil drilling, a ban in effect since the days of former president George H.W. "Poppy" Bush. Of course, this does nothing to relieve gas prices (it would take 7 years or more for any oil found today to reach consumers). It would do nothing but add to the already huge, un-drilled undersea plots (68 million acres) already leased by Big Oil. It obviously does nothing to decrease our dependence on oil. It's only a partisan gimmick intended to "pressure" Congress to enact legislation to allow offshore drilling, put some money in Big Oil's pockets, and hopefully score some points for St. John McBush and beleaguered Rethugs in Congress who are trying to find anything that will distract voters from connecting the dots with the failed Rethug policies of the last 7 years.

In other words, it's the domestic policy equivalent of invading Iraq to fight al-Qaeda. Let's sit back now and watch the main stream media pronounce this a bold, decisive move.

Mr. Responsibility

It comes as no surprise that Preznit Chimpy won't be issuing any regulations to control greenhouse gas emissions before his term of office mercifully ends in January 2009.

Despite a ruling from the Supreme Court last year that ordered the EPA to determine whether greenhouse gas emissions were harming human health and welfare, the Bushies are delaying any action on greenhouse gas control regulations until Chimpy exits the Oval Office. Along with the Dickster's editing of Congressional testimony to downplay the impacts of global warming, this ranks up there in the annals of this Assministration's malignant attitude toward the environment, and its own citizens' health.

A Dumbya Abroad

Just a day or so after Dumbya hailed Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper by calling out, "Yo, Harper!", the White House press kit distributed to reporters covering the G8 Summit in Japan was found to contain some embarrassing words about Italy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The Berlusconi bio, for example, called him one of the "most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for government corruption and vice." I guess you'd have to give them some credit for not adding, "... and exporting the Mafia to America."

An apology was issued forthwith by the White House -- for the botched press information, not for the incompetence of Dumbya and his Bushies.

(Image: Apologies to Alfred E. Neuman)

Bush Surveys Damage Wrought By His Presiduncy

Brian, our Tokyo Bureau Chief, is earning his salary this week! Here's the Onion's take on a Bush "farewell tour" to survey the damage done to America by...er...Bush.

Shocking!

What?! You mean Dumbya misled us about Saddam Hussein and the then-Rethug Congress helped him cover it up, and some Rethug Senators are still trying to cover up!? Why this comes as a complete surprise!! Lead me to the fainting couch, please!!

A Bushie Tell-All Too Late

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has come out with a book that details the deceptions and incompetence of the Bushit Assministration over the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, and other events. In "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," McClellan says that Preznit Chimpy's Assministration made "a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed." The former press secretary (2003-2006) says that Chimpy "convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment," and was not "inquisitive" enough. He goes on to write that the White House press corps were "complicit enablers" in the "carefully orchestrated campaign to shape and manipulate sources of public approval" in the run up to the war. It was a propaganda operation, when what was called for was transparency and honesty.

Should be good reading, but there's always the frustration: these tools should have spoken up when it counted.

UPDATE: As might be expected, there's a full-on damage control effort on the airwaves today, with Bushies saying "Gosh, what happened (pun intended) to Scottie?" and "That's not the way I remember things!" Shocking! McClellan is scheduled to be on the Countdown with Keith Olbermann show Thursday, and will also appear on other venues if only to stand up for himself against the revisionist onslaught underway.

Hmmmm

The actions of New York Governor Spitzer were inexcusable, and the horrible damage to his wife and three teenage daughters is by far the saddest part of this scandal. He's a bum. Period.

One wonders, and it's being raised, how this relatively mundane prostitution business occupied the attention and resources of the FBI. With the Bushit Assministration's politicization of the U.S. Justice Department (Gonzales' U.S. Attorneys scandal, Dem. Gov. Siegelman phony prosecution, etc.), it's not hard to imagine the Bushies targeting Spitzer for political reasons, is it?

Dumbya: Still in the Land of Oz

Demonstrating that he still thinks he's the great and munificent Oz, Dumbya wants us to believe we're not heading into a recession. We're guessing a man with 19% approval rating (14% for his handling of the economy) has nothing to lose (certainly not credibility) by clanking his brass ones in front of the world. He's trying to get away with it on the FISA bill extension, of course, putting the safety and profits of the telecom giants above the American people. Will January 2009 never arrive?

My Pet Bull

Well, it seems Wall Street hasn't reacted with confidence to Dumbya's floated stimulus package, even after the Fed dropped the prime rate by 3/4 percent this morning. The Fed was hoping to stave off a precipitous NYSE market drop today, following 5 to 7 1/2 percent drops in Asian and European markets on Monday. Apparently, early indications are the boys on Wall Street aren't so sure about Dumbya's months- late- billions- short "flexible" (read: "desperate") $150 billion proposal. Even now, Dumbya's press suckertary, Dana Perino, is denying that we're headed into a recession, saying it's more of a "slowdown." In other words, Dumbya's over in the corner reading "My Pet Bull" to anyone who's still listening.

Photo: Dumbya's 9/11 "My Pet Goat" moment.

Recommended Reading

Two op/ed articles in today's WaPo deserve to be read, one by Andrew Bacevich ("Surge to Nowhere") the other by Paul Starr ("Watch it, Democrats. You Could Still Slip Up"). The Bacevich article is a healthy antidote to op/ed vomit from Fred "Surge" Kagan and Michael O'Hanlon also in today's WaPo, counseling "patience" in Iraq. Bacevich's essential point is that, "surge or no surge, the Iraq war remains an egregious strategic blunder that persistence will only compound."

Starr's piece cautions Democrats to back off the racial/ gender politics which will only divide the party and give the Rethugs wedges to use in November, and rather focus on the deteriorating economy and "the manifest failures of conservative Republican leadership."

Dumbya to MoDo's Rescue

It's nice to know that the Bush Assministration has no ulterior motive in making sure that New York Times columnist Maureen "MoDo" Dowd gets over the tummy turmoil that she suffered during Dumbya's tour of palaces in the Middle East. Her ride on Air Force One is really neat! MoDo has been snarkily dismissive of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards in her columns over the past year. If she gives the Preznit some slack in the coming months, we'll know that the ol' Dumbya charm worked. Or maybe it was the tainted falafel the Bushies fed her.

The War On Christmas: Observations From The Front

It's been noted that the White House message to the troops contains no mention of Christmas. What's with the Presidunce? Will this cause the wingnut blogosphere to spontaneously combust? One can only hope.

Christmas Commander Bill O'Liely should be mounting a counterattack on Fux News soon. Stay tuned.

The Rules Can Be Changed

In the waning months of the Bushit Assministration, the Bushies will be trying to put Federal rules into place that favor their corporate contributors and supporters, or eliminate ones that they oppose. Washington Monthly reports that the National Association of Manufacturers is working with the Bushies to get their least favorite regulations abolished before Chimpy exits in January 2009. The Bushies, of course, will be doing everything they can to make the road easier for their corporate benefactors before the clock runs out on them, as they are assuming a Democratic President and Congress in 2009.

Court to Bushies: Save E-Mails

A U.S. District Court judge has ordered the White House to preserve its e-mails, a position that the Bushies had strenuously argued against. An estimated 5 million e-mails are missing from the White House, but back up tapes exist that would preserve a record. The Bushies, of course, want to destroy evidence of their criminality during the Valerie Plame leak, the U.S. attorney subversion scandal, the Abramoff corruption case, and other activities. Starting to smell like Watergate?

(image: ABC News)

Bush Assministration Leak Undermines Intelligence Source

Well, the Bushitters have loaded up and shot themselves in the feet with both barrels. The Washington Post reports that a recent Bin Laden tape was provided to the White House by a private intelligence company in advance of its release by al Qaeda. The private company told the Assministration not to divulge the tape before al Qaeda released it, so as not to compromise their source. Of course, within hours Assministration officials had disseminated the tape to its favorite outlets, prominently Fux News. In doing so, they compromised an intelligence source, and allowed al Qaeda to tighten its security (and probably execute someone).

Heckuva job, Bushitters!

Quote of the Day

"This Administration doesn't make decisions based on facts, it makes facts based on decisions." Hillary Clinton, speaking in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

(h/t Time's Swampland)