American Politics during the Bush Presidency

One night, George W Bush is tossing restlessly in his bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Bush asks, "George, what's the best thing I can do to help the country?"

"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.

The next night, Bush is astir again and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through the darkened bedroom. Bush calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I can do to help the country?"

"Respect the Constitution, as I did," Jefferson advises and dims from sight.

The third night sleep is still not in the cards for Bush. He awakens to see the ghost of FDR hovering over his bed. Bush whispers, "Franklin, what is the best thing I can do for the country?"

"Help the less fortunate, just as I did, FDR replies, then fades into the mist.

Bush isn't sleeping well on the fourth night when he sees another figure moving in the shadows. It is the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. Bush pleads, " Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now to help the country?"

Lincoln replies, "Go see a play."

Suerte,

Stowe

With apologies to Charles Dickens


And for those who may over react, this is a joke printed in my local paper this week. It's just a joke!

[QUOTE=Dickhead]There is now a lifetime max of 5 years of drawing welfare (subject to some few exceptions)

I personally know many people who have been on welfare for years. The family across the street from me has four generations on welfare. Perhaps you meant a five generation limit?

Dave

That was a very cruel remark and Unamerican.

Sconjo usa

You are no patriot, you are hoping for the presidents plane to crash. I can't use the words I would like to use because I was told I would be thowrn off the forum. But I am not part of the gang. You can say whatever because you are in with jackson. So goodbye and have a pleasant evening.

Bush is a disaster. If something were to happen to him tomorrow, I would not shed a tear. He is a liar, in bed with the oil companies, and a religious nut. And, above all, he is utterly INCOMPETENT.

Bush is not so much a disaster because he fells obligated to put down Iran (Nucs) and put some assemblence of control - Law and Order - in that region. While at the same time appeaseing the f - in S Audi's. The SAudi;'s need to be dealt with!

Bush had the balls to go to Iraq and take that maniac out of power. And knock off hi 2 sons. And the world will be safer. He was responsible for killing as much as a million people. His ambition was to rule the arab world. The people that should be bashed arethe ones that got us into the Vietnam conflict. It cos the about 60,000 men. And no one knew what the hell we were there for. I wake up every morn. With a plate in my head and a scar from my hip to my knee to remind me of vietnam. Sconjo usa

So, why is it our job / prerogative to go into every country ruled by an asshole and change the regime there? Who gave us that right? No one. L'il Crazy Kim in North Korea is much worse than Saddam, yet nothing is done. Hmm. No oil, perhaps? No no-bid contracts for their numerous cronies?

So what if he wanted to rule the Arab world? Big deal. When he was fighting Iran he was such a good friend of ours. Then all of a sudden not so much.

How is the world safer without him? Turns out he did not have any WMDs. The whole pretext for going to war was a blatant lie. Like pretty much everything this administration says. Perhaps you could try getting your info not only from Fox News and other Bush-approved sources.

This Gov't of the corporations for the corporations that we have should really try to fix the numerous problems in America before meddling in other people's affairs before opening its mouth and lecturing others. Not one president has done so much so fast to hurt and destroy this country as GWB. I absolutely despise him and his bible-thumping hypocritical lies, his stupid smirk, his utter incompetence. Such a pity I do not have the means to move out, and stop supporting these idiots with my taxes.

I say regime change begins at home.

For those of us who friends and even family members stuck in Iraq we appreciate your comments on the failure of the Bush administration. I 'm getting tired of hearing that Bush had "guts"to send someone else off to war.

When George Bush had the chance to fight in war (Vietnam) he got someone to enroll him in pilot school (which he was unqualified for) and never completed it. And, Mr. Cheney got deferments based on his medical condition (anal splint) or ingrown butt hair! I'm not lying either.

When we see (Fox News) or hear (Crackhead Limbaugh or Heil Hannity) all contributors to the right wing echo machine we know it's just self serving talk from chicken hawks.

There was an article today in the NY Post (reprinted in a Bay Area paper) discussing the new vaccine that prevents women from getting the human papillomavirus (HPV) virus (a sexually transmitted disease). HPV in women is extremely dangerous with a high percentage of the women getting cervical cancer from HPV. Cervical cancer is the most dangerous and fast attacking form of cancer for women.

The vaccine is "virtually 100% effective for the 2 most common cancer-causing HPV strains".

The article went on to explain that many Republicans are against making the vaccine mandatory and giving it to all girls as during their High School years (from pressure from the religious right) because to do so would be giving tacit approval for premarital sex or adultry.

So let me understand this logic from Republicans and Christians, these are people who, if they actually followed their religious teachings would embrace the poor, the downtrodden, to forgive those hurt others, and want to help all people.

Do not give the vaccine to women because it promotes premarital sex and adultry. Rather, do not give them the protection they need, instead, let them get cancer and die.

Instead, they want to continue to preach what they have so far, with resounding success: follow the fantasy belief that humans will abstain from sexual activity except in a marriage situation.

What a loving, Christian position to hold!

I guess if there were an actual cancer that only inflicted corporations, THEN the Republicans would embrace their religious teachings and literally sacrifice themselves and die in their attempts to save the corporations from that cancer.

Suerte,

Stowe

You can have them burned off assuming you can see them and know they are there. Many women get them on their cervix and thus can not see them. If they do not go for their annual PAP test then there doctor will not know they are there either. There are several strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer, some more agressive than others.

Hopefully this kind of crap will wake up the American people to what assholes the Christian right are. How could someone deny [u]anyone[/u] a vaccine that will prevent [b][i]cancer[/b][/i]? Especially a group that is "god loving". I hope they all get cancer or better yet, I hope their daughter's, who practice thier rightous crap get the cancer so that they can experience the terrible price of their beliefs. (Actually I wouldn't wish cancer on anyone - but this comes close)

To all you people that are "shoulda done this and that", and all the Bush bashers: I'll bet none of you all have ever been in the service during a war, but you have all the answers to everything. I say you are all full of crap.

Sconjo usa.

[QUOTE=Sconjo Usa]To all you people that are "shoulda done this and that", and all the Bush bashers: I'll bet none of you all have ever been in the service during a war, but you have all the answers to everything. I say you are all full of crap.

Sconjo usa.[/QUOTE]What does being in the service during a war have to do with this? Just because you fought in a war and got injured, automatically means you are right and know what you are talking about? Does it mean that an American president is right 100% of the time and can not make bad or wrong decisions?

Every president from Bush on back has made bad decisons. Who could have made any worse than Kennedy and Johnson for entraping the us in the Vietnam war? That cost abiut 60, 000 lives. What I mean is this, we don't quit and run. We see it thru and better times will come.

Sconjo USA.

You can put all of vietnam under water, thats the only way I will ever forget it.

I know you are ahighly intelegent guy. And I can tell by some of the things you write. But Vietnam conflict and New Orleans are different issues. At the time of the Vietnam war a lot of fathers were sending there sons away to Canada and other places. I thought that it was a terrible thing to do at that time. But the fathers were older and wiser and could see it was a senseless war and they were not going to send there kids to the slaughter house. I look back at those days, and they did the right thing. They were good fathers.

Interesting how you talk about being in a war makes you more legitimate about discussing political issues but no mention about how your boy, Mr. Prez Bush, was a coward and hid from the war flying airplanes around Texas and Florida.

Actually, he went AWOL from that for about 8 months.

Stowe

PS and now, after implying in your posts how only those who fought in wars are worthy of speaking out, in your latest post you say it was a great thing for guys to run off to Canada because Vietnam was a bad war. SO IT IRAQ. Boy, are you inconsistent.

I don't think the comparisons are the same. Your one coment about being worthy amounts to a insult to me. So that is the end of the political conents from me. I mcame on this forum for the chicas and thats what I am going to stick to. Have a pleasant day and a good evening. Sconjo usa

That's great news!

At the expense of getting blistered by many mongers (and maybe rightfully so) I am posting below a review of Kevin Phillips' new book. Phillips is a long time republican strategist and commentator. For my money he hits the proverbial nail on the head. This is a lengthy post for this board. Jackson, if this is overly lengthy, my feelings won't be hurt if you deep six it.

Featured Author: Kevin Phillips.

Reviews of Phillips' books, including "The Emerging Republican Majority" (1969) "Wealth and Democracy" (2002) and others.

AMERICAN THEOCRACY The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century.

By Kevin Phillips.

462 pp. Viking. $26.95.

Four decades ago, Kevin Phillips, a young political strategist for the Republican Party, began work on what became a remarkable book. In writing "The Emerging Republican Majority" (published in 1969) he asked a very big question about American politics: How would the demographic and economic changes of postwar America shape the long-term future of the two major parties? His answer, startling at the time but now largely unquestioned, is that the movement of people and resources from the old Northern industrial states into the South and the West (an area he enduringly labeled the "Sun Belt") would produce a new and more conservative Republican majority that would dominate American politics for decades. Phillips viewed the changes he predicted with optimism. A stronger Republican Party, he believed, would restore stability and order to a society experiencing disorienting and at times violent change. Shortly before publishing his book, he joined the Nixon administration to help advance the changes he had foreseen.

Phillips has remained a prolific and important political commentator in the decades since, but he long ago abandoned his enthusiasm for the Republican coalition he helped to build. His latest book (his 13th) looks broadly and historically at the political world the conservative coalition has painstakingly constructed over the last several decades. No longer does he see Republican government as a source of stability and order. Instead, he presents a nightmarish vision of ideological extremism, catastrophic fiscal irresponsibility, rampant greed and dangerous shortsightedness. (His final chapter is entitled "The Erring Republican Majority.") In an era of best-selling jeremiads on both sides of the political divide, "American Theocracy" may be the most alarming analysis of where we are and where we may be going to have appeared in many years. It is not without polemic, but unlike many of the more glib and strident political commentaries of recent years, it is extensively researched and for the most part frighteningly.

Persuasive.

Although Phillips is scathingly critical of what he considers the dangerous policies of the Bush administration, he does not spend much time examining the ideas and behavior of the president and his advisers. Instead, he identifies three broad and related trends — none of them new to the Bush years but all of them, he believes, exacerbated by this administration's policies — that together threaten the future of the United States and the world. One is the role of oil in defining and, as Phillips sees it, distorting American foreign and domestic policy. The second is the ominous intrusion of radical Christianity into politics and government. And the third is the astonishing levels of debt — current and prospective — that both the government and the American people have been heedlessly accumulating. If there is a single, if implicit, theme running through the three linked essays that form this book, it is the failure of leaders to look beyond their own and the country's immediate ambitions and desires so as.

To plan prudently for a darkening future.

The American press in the first days of the Iraq war reported extensively on the Pentagon's failure to post American troops in front of the National Museum in Baghdad, which, as a result, was looted of many of its great archaeological treasures. Less widely reported, but to Phillips far more meaningful, was the immediate posting of troops around the Iraqi Oil Ministry, which held the maps and charts that were the key to effective oil production. Phillips fully supports an explanation of the Iraq war that the Bush administration dismisses as conspiracy theory — that its principal purpose was to secure vast oil reserves that would enable the United States to control production and to lower prices. ("Think of Iraq as a military base with a very large oil reserve underneath," an oil analyst said a couple of years ago. "You can't ask for better than that.") Terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, tyranny, democracy and other public rationales were, Phillips says, simply ruses to disguise the real motivation for the.

Invasion.

And while this argument may be somewhat too simplistic to explain the complicated mix of motives behind the war, it is hard to dismiss Phillips's larger argument: that the pursuit of oil has for at least 30 years been one of the defining elements of American policy in the world; and that the Bush administration — unusually dominated by oilmen — has taken what the president deplored recently as the nation's addiction to oil to new and terrifying levels. The United States has embraced a kind of "petro-imperialism," Phillips writes, "the key aspect of which is the you. S. Military's transformation into a global oil-protection force," and which "puts up a democratic facade, emphasizes freedom of the seas (or pipeline routes) and seeks to secure, protect, drill and ship oil, not administer everyday affairs."

Phillips is especially passionate in his discussion of the second great force that he sees shaping contemporary American life — radical Christianity and its growing intrusion into government and politics. The political rise of evangelical Christian groups is hardly a secret to most Americans after the 2004 election, but Phillips brings together an enormous range of information from scholars and journalists and presents a remarkably comprehensive and chilling picture of the goals and achievements of the religious right.

He points in particular to the Southern Baptist Convention, once a scorned seceding minority of the American Baptist Church but now so large that it dominates not just Baptism itself but American Protestantism generally. The Southern Baptist Convention does not speak with one voice, but almost all of its voices, Phillips argues, are to one degree or another highly conservative. On the far right is a still obscure but, Phillips says, rapidly growing group of "Christian Reconstructionists" who believe in a "Taliban-like" reversal of women's rights, who describe the separation of church and state as a "myth" and who call openly for a theocratic government shaped by Christian doctrine. A much larger group of Protestants, perhaps as many as a third of the population, claims to believe in the supposed biblical prophecies of an imminent "rapture" — the return of Jesus to the world and the elevation of believers to heaven.

Prophetic Christians, Phillips writes, often shape their view of politics and the world around signs that charlatan biblical scholars have identified as predictors of the apocalypse — among them a war in Iraq, the Jewish settlement of the whole of biblical Israel, even the rise of terrorism. He convincingly demonstrates that the Bush administration has calculatedly reached out to such believers and encouraged them to see the president's policies as a response to pre-millennialist thought. He also suggests that the president and other members of his administration may actually believe these things themselves, that religious belief is the basis of policy, not just a tactic for selling it to the public. Phillips's evidence for this disturbing claim is significant, but not conclusive.

THE third great impending crisis that Phillips identifies is also, perhaps, the best known — the astonishing rise of debt as the precarious underpinning of the American economy. He is not, of course, the only observer who has noted the dangers of indebtedness. The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, for example, frequently writes about the looming catastrophe. So do many more-conservative economists, who point especially to future debt — particularly the enormous obligation, which Phillips estimates at between $30 trillion and $40 trillion, that Social Security and health care demands will create in the coming decades. The most familiar debt is that of the United States government, fueled by soaring federal budget deficits that have continued (with a brief pause in the late 1990's) for more than two decades. But the national debt — currently over $8 trillion — is only the tip of the iceberg. There has also been an explosion of corporate debt, state and local bonded debt, international debt through huge trade imbalances, and consumer debt (mostly in the form of credit-card balances and aggressively marketed home-mortgage packages) Taken together, this present and future debt may exceed $70 trillion.

The creation of a national-debt culture, Phillips argues, although exacerbated by the policies of the Bush administration, has been the work of many people over many decades — among them Alan Greenspan, who, he acidly notes, blithely and irresponsibly ignored the rising debt to avoid pricking the stock-market bubble it helped produce. It is most of all a product of the "financialization" of the American economy — the turn away from manufacturing and toward an economy based on moving and managing money, a trend encouraged, Phillips argues persuasively, by the preoccupation with oil and (somewhat less persuasively) with evangelical belief in the imminent rapture, which makes planning for the future unnecessary.

There is little in "American Theocracy" that is wholly original to Phillips, as he frankly admits by his frequent reference to the work of other writers and scholars. What makes this book powerful in spite of the familiarity of many of its arguments is his rare gift for looking broadly and structurally at social and political change. By describing a series of major transformations, by demonstrating the relationships among them and by discussing them with passionate restraint, Phillips has created a harrowing picture of national danger that no American reader will welcome, but that none should ignore.

Thanks Papa for your "geometric" addition to the review. Great reading.

[QUOTE=Doggboy]Thanks Papa for your "geometric" addition to the review. Great reading.[/QUOTE]If only he could use the enter key every now and again, it would be readable.

With all the warfare on the boards I like to commend people for disagreeing as gentleman. Papa had a diff view to add and did so without attacking the beliefs or character of Sr Dog. I enjoyed reading your opinion Papa, though I do have to agree with Jaimito:)

OH Jackson Please Do not delete anything I Say. I Remember in the past you were a Bush Supporter. I Hope not now. Dude You Must Have Saw on CNN The Debate Now With Charlie Shenn speaking up on The Truth on 9/11. He was On The Alex Jones show At first on that. Please Do not delate this Jackson The Truth on this can all be seen on [url]www.infowars.com[/url] I am listening to The Show right now. Charlie Sheen Will Be Back on The alex Jones Show last half hour. Plus Charlie used to Bang Porn Chicks. HA Ha. Hails off to Jackson, Alex Jones And Charlie Sheen of course.

Dude Wake Up. Are Country is going downhill Now cause of This War.[QUOTE=Sconjo USA]To all you people that are "shoulda done this and that", and all the Bush bashers: I'll bet none of you all have ever been in the service during a war, but you have all the answers to everything. I say you are all full of crap.

Sconjo usa.[/QUOTE]

I can see why people might beleive what they want but it doesnt have to be in this kind of a way and thats not the only thing in addition there are other things but not the stuff which i want and jackson is the man im coming back to argentina and cool it is a hot dog which doesnt usually mean anything to me but bush and halliburton are all messed up for example there is some dog shit in my kichen but i dont have a dog and it tasted good like a sausage but not quite and i am looking to talk politics here but dammit you know that pussy is really more interesting and always the two and a half men how about that charlie sheen he is really cool and wears really neat shirts and has really smart things to say about politics and everybody should listen to actors who want to talk about politics and who also screw hookers and have a hot wife like denise richards except she filed for divorce but can anybody tell me how to get in touch with her because she is so fucking hottttttt!

[blue]Hi Hunt,

He won't get it.

Thanks,

Jackson[/blue]

Yes A Real American Hero Will Be on The Alex Jones Show Now. This Guy Has Balls for what he says. Plus He Fucked Porn Stars Before. Who Was it Ginger Lynn He Fucked Before. This Guy Is A Cool Patriot Just Like Mel Gibson. Guys Listen Now. [url]www.infowars.com[/url] [url]www.prisonplanet.tv[/url] [url]www.prisonplanet.com[/url] Check out The Alex Jones Poll like 82% Of The People believe in What Charlie Is Saying. Hell His Brother Matin Sheen Rules. Fucking Apocalypse Now Just Killed. Great Damn Movie. Just Saw The DVD Version A Few Months ago. Charile is The Man. Just like CongressMan Ron Paul from Oklahoma. Remember Guys When The Government Told James Woods to Shut Up For knowing About Arab Terrorists to Be on a Flight like a day before 9/11? Shit Guys The Truth is coming out More And More. I am Sure Are Buddy Jackson Has woke up this truth too. Guys Make Love Not War That Is The Way. Hey alex Jones Was Also on [url]www.coasttocoastam.com[/url] Last Night George Nory Rules. I am now listening to Charlie Sheen Talk. Man I Salute This Guy. Hell Yes. Lets Keep Freedom in The world. No War to Iran Next. Like I Said No War Peace. Lets Keep Mongering also For Many Years. Charille Sheen Again Your The Man. Lets fight for Freedom and The Truth Mongers, Nibu Raphael.

Yes Those Guys Are Pure Scum.[QUOTE=Hunt99]I can see why people might beleive what they want but it doesnt have to be in this kind of a way and thats not the only thing in addition there are other things but not the stuff which I want and jackson is the man I'm coming back to argentina and cool it is a hot dog which doesnt usually mean anything to me but bush and halliburton are all messed up for example there is some dog shit in my kichen but I don't have a dog and it tasted good like a sausage but not quite and I am looking to talk politics here but dammit you know that pussy is really more interesting and always the two and a half men how about that charlie sheen he is really cool and wears really neat shirts and has really smart things to say about politics and everybody should listen to actors who want to talk about politics and who also screw hookers and have a hot wife like denise richards except she filed for divorce but can anybody tell me how to get in touch with her because she is so fucking hottttttt![/QUOTE]

charlie sheen is the cats ass but everybody underrates emilio estevez speaking of hey hes got a spanish sounding name it makes me all horny when i hear spanish i think of a taco with sauce but sometimes fish tacos are better i went fishing from puerto vallarta there was a marlin they caught on the dock but the marlins i like are in miami they play baseball the national pastime but really i much more like my balls to be played with does anybody know where i can get my balls played with by somebody who looks like charlie sheen but no that was a mistake im not gay really i just really like him hes my hero i listen to everything he says and hes a genius like einstein the guy who discovered the stuff behind the atomic bomb and speaking of the bomb i hope to meet exons chick miss sol but do you think shell do me for forty pesos i dont know if can pay pay more than that but i can always try and see but i can't see because i need glasses can i buy good glasses in buenos aires i need them to read the newspaper so i can find the tv listings so i can be sure not to miss anything on the television which stars charlie sheen and yes i am still waiting for somebody to tell me how i can get in touch with his exwife because she gives me a massive boner

Great Great for Nibu Bashers Here. See Why I always supported Alex Jones. See Guys. Hell Yes. Tonight on CNN Showbiz 7 P. M. NYC Time and 6 P. M. Chicago time Alex Jones will Be Back on That Show. Damn It Sucks I missed Alex Jones on [url]www.coasttocoastam.com[/url] That Sucks. I Am a Big Fan Of George Nory too. I am Glad Geoege Took Over Art Bells Position. Alex is now talking about What Happened in Madrid Too? Here Charlie is now putting an attack on The Neo Cons. Great Now The Interview Is Over. Guys Watch CNN and Keep up to this. Freedom We Need For sure. It is The Only Way. Lets Keep THE you. S. Free From Control And Freedom, Sincerly Nibu Raphael.

Dude I Do not want to get Jackson pissed at all here Cause I know Jackson was in to Bush Before Maybe Not Now. Why Are you so ignorant? You Know That Americans Are Getting more and more Hated Each Day. It Is Pricks like you That Makes Us Hated. Sorry Jackson but The Truth Most Come out. I Have been on this Site of yours for well over 5 years. Papa Benito attitude Stinks of An Ugly American. Man Dude Why Are You so Ignorant? Anyways Alex Jones will be on CNN Buisnes Celebrities soon in Half An Hour.[QUOTE=Papa Benito]There is a nut you should meet. He hangs at the Alamo watching basketball. He believes pedophiles did it. Plus many other theories. Possibly, you, Charlie, and he could talk.[/QUOTE]

I live in Dallas and have a Bush sign on my front lawn and my house was torched twice last week. It's getting to the point where I can't go out at night without my shotgun on my lap. This is a sad time to live in America. Wish I lived in the suburbs of Paris in a poor muslim neighborhood or possible near the Sorbonne. (seems like a perfect place to store my car when I travel to South America )

Starfe

The evidence of government collusion in 9/11 is overwhelmingly conclusive as it was in 1989 when the terrorists of the first WTC attack produced tape recorded conversations with their CIA handlers.

People unwilling to examine the evidence should at least look at the absurd reactions of the US government to the threat of terrorism. Like the Patriot Act turning every domestic crime into an act of terrorism or implementing draconian airport security measures while leaving the Mexican border virtually unchallenged.

There are many voices more credible than Sheen exposing truth but morons tend to observe the famous and the biggest morons listen not to anything at all.

So keep hiding your head in Argentine pussy screaming "hear no evil".

By the way a CNN quick vote shows 82% support for this "conspiracy theory". [url]www.infowars.com/articles/sept11/sheen_cnn_poll_shows_82_percent_support.htm[/url]

Goblin

[QUOTE=Goblin]The evidence of government collusion in 9/11 is overwhelmingly conclusive as it was in 1989 when the terrorists of the first WTC attack produced tape recorded conversations with their CIA handlers.

People unwilling to examine the evidence should at least look at the absurd reactions of the US government to the threat of terrorism. Like the Patriot Act turning every domestic crime into an act of terrorism or implementing draconian airport security measures while leaving the Mexican border virtually unchallenged.

There are many voices more credible than Sheen exposing truth but morons tend to observe the famous and the biggest morons listen not to anything at all.

So keep hiding your head in Argentine pussy screaming "hear no evil".

Goblin[/QUOTE]Last night while I had my wet nose buried in some Argentine pussy I received a cosmic communication from the ghost of Gary Hart's political aspirations. He informed me that the ghost of Charles de Gaulle's left testicle was intent on destroying our planet, and particularly Charlie Sheen's nose hair, with a newly developed aerosol made from Donna Rice's pubic trimmings. I was, of course, infuriated with this uncalled for interruption of my eager lapping, and said to the specter, "Will you PLEASE call Goblin and leave me the fuck alone!" Has he been in touch Goblin?