Let the Tax Cuts Die

Back when Bush cut taxes for everyone, a change in the tax code that mainly benefited this nation's wealthy elite, I saw a reduction of $300 or so in my tax bill.

Big whoop!

That's why I am not in the hand wringing mode over the prospect that the Bush era tax cuts are set to expire for everyone in a few weeks if the Republicans and Democrats don't start singing Kum By Ah together over the so-called "compromise" reached between Pres. Obama and congressional Republicans.

I say, let the whole thing die! The cuts have been around too long. All they have done is give us record deficits, benefited those who did not need help, and punished those who did.

Let us remember that the Bush changes basically did away with the reforms Bill Clinton made in the US Tax Code, reforms that were passed without a single Republican vote. All that did was give the US record prosperity,its first budget surplus since 1969, and a real reduction in the number of American's living in poverty.

Bush didn't seem to like that arrangement and shoved the whole thing in reverse. In doing so, he not only spent the surplus, but blew a hole in the budget to the tune of $2.3 trillon.

According to The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Allowing tax cuts to expire for married filers with incomes above $250,000 and single filers with incomes above $200,000— the top 2 percent of U.S. households— will avert $826 billion in added deficits and debt over the next ten years. The savings from allowing the top two marginal tax rates to expire for those high-income households constitute $443 billion of that $826 billion.

If we truly want to reduce the deficit as everyone says, we cannot afford these cuts any long. The federal government can have my measly share of the savings to help save future generations the burden of paying off my debt.

So, let the Bush tax cut debacle die. It should have been strangled in its crib.

Was Torture Done to Justify Bush's Actions?

Torture Done of Political Purposes?
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration put relentless pressure on interrogators to use harsh methods on detainees in part to find evidence of cooperation between al Qaida and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime, according to a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a former Army psychiatrist.
Such information would've provided a foundation for one of former President George W. Bush's main arguments for invading Iraq in 2003. In fact, no evidence has ever been found of operational ties between Osama bin Laden's terrorist network and Saddam's regime.
McClatchy

I find this to be the most disturbing revelation so far in this on-going investigation. If this is true, then human beings were tortured, not for any needed information they might supply, but to justify a political decision that the Bush administration made.

It is as if, we were to torture business executives to provide proof of fraud and mismanagement.

I have been skeptical of the claim that we need to prosecute Bush officials for authorizing torture. i am begnning to feel that justice demands that we do so.

Bush Torture and Stalag 17

from Talking Points Memo
A British professor whose research on sleep was cited in one of the just-released Bush administration torture memos has expressed outrage that his work was used to justify extreme sleep deprivation, including keeping subjects awake for up to 11 days.

In an interview with TPMmuckraker, James Horne, a leading authority in the field of sleep research, said he was "surprised and saddened" to see Bush officials "misrepresent" his research to argue that such sleep deprivation does not cause serious harm to its subjects.

In the play Stalag 17, sleep deprivation is used an "enhanced interrogation" techniques against a character named Lieutenant Dunbar, an American officer accused of sabatoging a German train (for only 3 days in the American's case). This leads to an interesting exchange between a Geneva Convention representative and the German officer in charge of the interrogation:

GENEVA MAN
I want to talk about Lieutenant Dunbar. Is this Lieutenant Dunbar?

VON SCHERBACH
It is.

GENEVA MAN
What exactly is he charged with?

VON SCHERBACH
Whatever it is, it's out of your jurisdiction. This man is not a prisoner of war. Not any more. He is a saboteur.

GENEVA MAN
He is a prisoner of war until you can prove sabotage.

DUNBAR
I didn't do it. I was in the Frankfurt station and the train was three miles away when it blew up.

VON SCHERBACH
Oh, come now! You threw a time bomb.

DUNBAR
How could I have had a time bomb? They searched me when they took me prisoner.

GENEVA MAN
And the way you search your prisoners, it does sound rather unlikely.

VON SCHERBACH
All I know is he did it. I am satisfied.

GENEVA MAN
I am not. According to the Geneva Convention --

DUNBAR
Is there anything about letting a guy sleep in the Geneva Convention? [Dunbar shuffles over to the sofa, and plunks himself down -- instantly asleep.]

VON SCHERBACH
(to the Geneva Man)
You were saying --?

GENEVA MAN
Simply this. After the hostilities are ended, there will be such a thing as a War Crimes Commission. If this man should be convicted without proper proof, you will be held responsible, Colonel von Scherbach.

VON SCHERBACH
Interesting.

GENEVA MAN
Isn't it?

As Arte Johnson used to say on Laugh-In Verrry Interesting! Indeed

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

The Bush Economy Fails Us

Today, the United States jobless rate jumped to 5.5%. John McCain has been a big supporter of the failed Bush economic policy. Can we afford a 3rd term with these economic policies still in place.

Oh, and oil prices surged higher up to $139 a barrell.

The linked article below includes a quotation from an Oklahoman:

Cheryl Williams, who lives in the Tulsa, Okla., suburb of Broken Arrow, has been looking for work for two years after losing her job as a certified nurse's aide. The 37-year-old relies on $225 a month in welfare and odds-and-ends jobs to support her two kids.

"I have job searched and job searched and job searched," Williams said. "I would like to have a real job."

It's time for change we can believe in.


Biggest Jobless Jump Since '86

I Thought They Would Throw Flowers In Our Path

Payne

To Hell with War
To Hell with Those Who Crave It
When Masters Rule the World No More
We'll Need No War to Save It!
--Eugene V. Debs

Cheney and Bush hide behind our troops

Cheney the Artful [Draft] Dodger
Cheney and Bush have attempted to equate support for the Cheney/Bush policy in Iraq with support for our troops who have been made pawns in that policy. Cheney and Bush are trying to hide behind the soldiers so that our women and men in uniform can take the bullet for the Cheney/Bush team. Cowardly and Contempible!

Truth through Art

The Mirror

Mirror

Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and George W. Bush went to a fitness spa for some fun. After a stimulating, healthy lunch, all three decided to visit the men's room and they found a strange-looking gent sitting at the entrance.

He said, "Welcome to the gentlemen's room. Be sure to check out our newest feature, a mirror that, if you look into it and say something truthful,
you will be rewarded with your wish.

But, be warned: if you say something FALSE, you will be sucked into the mirror to live in a void of nothingness for all eternity!"

The three men quickly entered and upon finding the mirror, Bill Clinton stepped up and said, "I think I'm the most intelligent of us three," and he suddenly found the keys to a brand new Bentley in his hands.

Al Gore stepped up and said, "I think I'm the most aware of the environmental problems of us three," and in an instant, he was surrounded by a pile of money to fund his next Presidential Campaign.

Excited over the possibility of finally having a wish come true, George W. Bush looked into the mirror and said,

"I think...," and was promptly sucked into the mirror.

New Soup

I wonder if he wore hip waders also?

Bush Bullshit


This veteran wears a protective flap

over his ears while President G.W. Bush

addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars

about veteran's benefits.

I checked this out on Snopes.com to see if this is an authentic photograph and text. They report that this actually happened during a speech made by Bush at a VFW Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah on August 22, 2005. The man's name is Bill Moyer, a 73 year old WWII veteran who was protesting Bush's policies.

"Mr. President, I have bad news and I have worse news."

GI Joke

One day last January there was a heavy snow in Washington D.C. Bush woke up to find that there was at least 4 inches of snow on the ground. When he got down to the Oval Office, he saw something very strange outside one of his office windows. There in the snow were some words written in yellow that said "Bush Lied and Soldiers Died". Bush was enraged. He called down White House security. "Look at that!" he screamed. "If I'm not mistaken. Those letters are written in piss." (Bush recognized this from similar stunts he pulled during his drunken, drugged out college days.)"I want this investigated. And I want it done now!"

The security team got right to it. They photographed the words before they had a chance to disappear, took a sample of the yellow snow, and rushed photo and sample off to the FBI labs.

Later that day, Bush got a call from FBI headquarters. Robert Mueller, the FBI Director himself, was on the phone. "Mr. President," Mueller said, "we have made a positive trace on the DNA from the urine sample we got. I'm afraid I have bad news." Bush thought to himself, if the FBI Director called, this must be bad news. "Sir, I must inform you that the DNA matches that of Defense Secretary Robert Gates. It's a 100% match." Bush exploded, "That bastard., after what I did for him. I'll have his resignation immediately. He and I are finished!"

"Sir,” Mueller continued, "I'm afraid that's not all. It gets worse." Dumbstruck, Bush said, "How could anything be worse?" "Well," Mueller said, "we also used the photo to check the handwriting. It's Laura's."

Molly Ivins 1944-2007

Rest in Peace, Molly

Scalia on War Powers

deja vu?

The White House has been claiming that the president has absolute command over the Armed Forces and can disregard the will of Congress. They might be surprised to learn that case law may not be on their side:

"[E]xcept for the actual command of military forces, all authorization for their maintenance and all explicit authorization for their use is placed in the control of Congress under Article I, rather than the President under Article II." Anthony Scalia in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld 542 U.S. 507 (2004).

Am I the only one who thinks that the actions of a "decider" seem to be very close to those of a "dictator"?

A Man Who Knows His Clientele

The White House has just hired a new Executive Pastry Chef. He is Bill Yosses the author of: