GOP Cons End "Era of Apology" -- Without Even Apologizing

Michael Steele Hails End of "Era of Apologizing."

You have to give them points for creating their own reality. As in unilaterally ending an era it just unilaterally created.

But then you have to take all them points away for their destroying our reality.

I just wish they would shut up and slink off. Really, I do.

Na na na na, Na na na na, Hey hey hey --- Good-BYE!!

The Original Version. Well worth a listen.

Na na na na, Na na na na, Hey hey hey --- Good-BYE!! Parrty in SL. Inauguration Party Coming Right Up

More info at Jesus' General's "Celebrating the Inauguration on Your Computer.".

Bush Breaks the Economy as If It Were a Toy He Got & Didn't Like; Broke Americans Can't Even Afford to Keep Their Pets

A very sad Christmas story.

Stories that go on and on as The Third-Worlding of America continues.

Hubris? Bush Don't Got No Steekin' Hubris!!

I'm not making this up.

I don't have to.

I never have to.

BUSH WANTS HISTORY TO SEE HIM AS LIBERATOR OF MILLIONS.

Quoth Preznit Toad-Exploder's Toadies: All Those Things That Were His Fault Weren't Really His Fault

" . . . [I]nside and outside the administration . . . upbeat talk masks disappointment and frustration among many White House staffers, who believe Bush's reputation has been unfairly maligned for a series of calamities -- from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to the financial crisis -- that were beyond his control and which he handled well. GOP nominee John McCain's escalating attacks on Bush's tenure have added to irritation, these people said.

Ha.

The fault lies not in the stars, but in George Bush.

To wit:

9/11 (for ignoring Clinton's warnings)

Fiscal bankruptcy (for pissing away the Clinton surplus, then drowning the budget in Grover Norquist's bathtub).

Moral bankruptcy (starting a war based on lies about WMDs in the service of an Oedipal conflict between Dubya and Dubya's Daddy, making torture patriotic, killing a million people, ignoring habeas corpus, stuffing government with Talibangelical crazies, etc.).

Etc., etc., etc.

Cowboy up, George. It really is all your fault.

Moral Bankruptcy, Fiscal Bankruptcy, Mental Bankruptcy -- Dirty Bush's Excellent [Mis]Adventure Trifecta

So why is no one really mad at Dirty Bush? Why have we no pitchfork-waving crowds outside the White House?

Lack of imagination?

Never mind.

Let's think about Addie Polk, the 90-year old who shot herself in the chest when she was about to be evicted from her home.

Fannie Mae has now forgiven her.

But -- have we forgiven Fannie Mae? What about Goldman Sachs?

CNN) -- Fannie Mae said it will set aside the loan of a woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home.

Fannie Mae foreclosed on the Akron, Ohio, home of Addie Polk, 90, after acquiring the mortgage in 2007.

Addie Polk, 90, of Akron, Ohio, became a symbol of the nation's home mortgage crisis when she was hospitalized after shooting herself at least twice in the upper body Wednesday afternoon.

On Friday, Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith said the mortgage association had decided to halt action against Polk and sign the property "outright" to her.

"We're going to forgive whatever outstanding balance she had on the loan and give her the house," Faith said. "Given the circumstances, we think it's appropriate."

Residents of Akron have rallied behind Polk, who is being treated at Akron General Medical Center. She was listed in critical condition Friday afternoon, according to Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, mentioned Polk on the House floor Friday during debate over the latest economic rescue proposal.

"This bill does nothing for the Addie Polks of the world," Kucinich said after telling her story. "This bill fails to address the fact that millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, are facing the loss of their home. This bill will take care of Wall Street, and the market may go up for a few days, but democracy is going downhill."

I agree with Dennis.

And while we're on the subject of the Bush/Cheney/McCain/Palin Ruination of America, here's something about ruination by homelessness. That should perk people up, no?

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) -- The number of homeless families in Massachusetts has surged -- a spike that has overwhelmed the state's shelter capacity and forced it to again place homeless families in motels.

The number of homeless families living in Massachusetts motels skyrocketed in September 2008.

Driving the increase is the sour economy, rising energy costs, escalating unemployment and shortage of affordable housing. For the first time, the state is tracking how many families are winding up homeless due to foreclosures.

"You're seeing a perfect storm," said Robyn Frost, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. . .

In just the past 12 months, the number of homeless families living in Massachusetts motels has skyrocketed from 17 in September 2007 to 550 in September 2008. That's on top of another 1,800 or so families in shelters . . .

Massachusetts isn't alone. Advocates for the homeless say that while statistics are still sketchy, many areas are reporting increases in the number of homeless families. . .As of midweek there were 588 families in 29 hotels across the state. . .

The state is also starting to track foreclosures as a cause for homelessness. That typically occurs when a multifamily home or apartment building is foreclosed on and the tenants are evicted, sometimes losing their security deposit in the process, making it harder to come up with the rent for a new apartment.

Frost said the state should focus on creating more housing vouchers to get homeless families into permanent homes quickly.

"If people are permanently housed, kids get education and parents can keep their jobs," she said. "Without vouchers you're going to continue to see this storm."

A brief teaching on karma, cause and effect: DOW PLUNGES DESPITE BAILOUT.

Jesus' General on Obama's Associations, via Swiftboaters for McCain.

VastLeft's Monday Morning Under-Rated Two-Hit Wonder Wall Street Shuffle.

Robin Morgan, When Sisterhood Is Suicide.

Nan Rhyner, Sarah Palin, How DARE You?

DO EXACTLY WHAT WE SAY AND NOBODY WILL GET HURT

Yes, they're holding their gunses to our headses.

They're saying "Do exactly what we say about this financial crisis and nobody will get hurt."

They will pull the trigger on us anyway.

So what's at stake?

The Fate of the Nation


Just. Say. No.


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Yo, who dunnit? That would be -- Dirty Bush. The Breadcrumb Trail Passes through a SECRET POWER PLACE at The Out of Joint Times.

Playing the Apocalypse Card

Official No Blood for Hubris' prognostication on Dirty Bush's upcoming financial disaster cash for trash speech.

It will say:

Be afraid!

Be verry afraid!

DO EXACTLY WHAT WE SAY AND NO ONE WILL GET HURT.

(Update: one was right! BUSH: Bailout Now or Suffer More Later.)



But I'm thinking -- sure, Preznit Toad-Exploder, that fear-hype worked oh so well after 9/11 when the national psyche had wicked bad PTSD -- numbing and avoidance; hyperarousal (anxiety panic hypervigilance irritability angry outbursts insomnia tantruming aggression); flashbacks and nightmares.

Ergo = Rush to War.

But that was seven years ago.

Now, I'm thinkin' we're ready, and that it's now more like -- fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you can't get fooled again.

Eh?

------

Here's a great catch via democommie on Mrs. Palin, Head of Skate.

Imperial Presidency, Imperial Treasury & It's Still the Stupidity, Stupid

Why You Should Hate the Treasury Bailout Proposal at naked capitalism (hat-tip to reader A.T.).

Quelle Surprise! Traders Say Dollar May Be "Crushed" By Bailout Plan

Also at Kos, Stirling Newberry's The Way Forward, against the bailout.

Arthur Silber, Now Don't Go Slashing Your Wrists Or Nothing.

Explaining the repeal of Glass-Steagall (and quite properly blaming it all on the Republicans), we have Back to 1929 With John McSame and the Greedheads (And a warm welcome to blogtopia to The Out of Joint Times!)

Obama opposes blank check for errant fat cats.

Scarecrow at FDL via Jesus' General.

Not to mention, courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald, and more probably courtesy of the crash and bailout, Obama Surges Ahead of McCain.

For anti-bailout action, FEDUP USA.

Here's A Fun Story on How Bushist Fascism Brought Us Not Only Moral Bankruptcy But Fiscal Bankruptcy As Well

Tum-ti-tum-ti-tum.

Some call it deregulation.

Some call it lawlessness.

But hey, greed is good.

The Brave New World of Dirty Bush

He's a generous guy, our Preznit Toad-Exploder. He's always working hard to give us all a little bit more of his special way of being.

He's Bubble Boy. He's unique.

He's Dirty Bush.

Among his many special gifts:

Moral bankruptcy.

Fiscal bankruptcy.

Foreclosures.

And now, his drowning of America in Grover Norquist's stinky bathtub results in --death by foreclosure.

OWNER SHOOTS HERSELF AFTER FORECLOSURE

A US woman shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that, by the time it foreclosed on her house, she would be dead.

Police said 53-year-old mother Carlene Balderrama used her husband's high-powered rifle to kill herself shortly after faxing the letter at 2.30pm (4.30am AEST) on Wednesday.

Her husband had petitioned unsuccessfully for bankruptcy three times.

The mortgage company phoned police in Taunton, Massachusetts, who found Mrs Balderrama's body an hour later.

The auction was scheduled to start at 5pm and interested buyers arrived at the property while her body was still inside, Taunton police chief Raymond O'Berg said.

Business -- as usual.

(Oh, and don't miss toe-tapping airport mensroom anon sex solicitor Senator Larry Craig's very special support of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Shhh.)

ARP Poll: Scooter "OJ" Libby's Get Out of Jail Free Card Does Not Sit Well With American Public: 45% Support Impeachment of Bush

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.


--George Orwell, Animal Farm.












Bet Bubble Boy never thought he'd see these numbers.

Poll: Impeachment talk gains steam after Libby move

A bad week for President Bush may foreshadow a dismal political season, as the president’s poll numbers plummet, Republicans abandon his Iraq policy and he faces a nascent censure and impeachment movement.

A new survey by the American Research Group found that only 31 percent of respondents approve of the president’s commutation of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence. The study by the private New Hampshire-based polling company canvassed 1,100 Republicans, Democrats and Independents from July 3-5, finding 64 percent disapproved of the commutation and 5 percent were undecided.

The president commuted the sentence Monday, saying the 2 years imposed last month on Libby, who was found guilty of perjury and obstructing justice in a case linked to the Iraq war, was “excessive.”

The commutation has sparked a firestorm on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), who has drafted a resolution to censure Bush, said the president’s “intervention is an unconscionable abuse of authority by George W. Bush, and Congress must step forward and express the disgust that Americans rightfully feel toward this contemptible decision.”

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has scheduled hearings Wednesday on the commutation. The hearings will include pardons made by Clinton, former President Bush and possibly other past presidents.

Those hearings may be the least of the White House’s problems.

The ARG poll found a remarkable 45 percent in favor of the U.S. House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Bush.


In Los Angeles, a storefront “impeachment headquarters” emblazoned with American flags opened July 4. Activists who gathered to open the center accuse the Bush administration of condoning torture, spying on Americans and misleading citizens about the war in Iraq. They also were angry at the president’s decision to commute Libby’s sentence.

“Isn’t it ironic that Paris Hilton will spend more days in jail than Libby?” said Byron De Lear, a Green Party activist.

The White House declined to comment on the impeachment poll, the latest bad news for a president who has seen his public opinion standings dragged to record lows by the unpopular war in Iraq. A Newsweek poll puts Bush’s approval rating at 26 percent.

Full story here. (Big coverage from a rightwing newspaper.)

HuffPo story on Bush hiding his dirty laundry by stiffing Congress, here.

A great piece on the Augean stable that is Bubble Boy's DOJ.

And here's a Bush voter who believes in the rule of law!

And here's a Bush voter who wants to re-elect Gore!


Have the American people finally awakened from the deep sleep of 9/11 PTSD-induced numbing and avoidance?

One hopes so.


Libby
Dirty Bush

Happy 4th Birthday,"Mission Accomplished!"! You Must Feel So Proud of All You've Accomplished in Four Years, Must You Not?

WaPo here.

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Mission accomplished

General Eaton's Letter to President Bush on Veto
May 1, 2007

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

Today, in your veto message regarding the bipartisan legislation just passed on Operation Iraqi Freedom, you asserted that you so decided because you listen to your commanders on the ground.

Respectfully, as your former commander on the ground, your administration did not listen to our best advice. In fact, a number of my fellow Generals were forced out of their jobs, because they did not tell you what you wanted to hear -- most notably General Eric Shinseki, whose foresight regarding troop levels was advice you rejected, at our troops' peril.

The legislation you vetoed today represented a course of action that is long overdue. This war can no longer be won by the military alone. We must bring to bear the entire array of national power - military, diplomatic and economic. The situation demands a surge in diplomacy, and pressure on the Iraqi government to fix its internal affairs. Further, the Army and Marine Corps are on the verge of breaking - or have been broken already - by the length and intensity of this war. This tempo is not sustainable - and you have failed to grow the ground forces to meet national security needs. We must begin the process of bringing troops home, and repairing and growing our military, if we are ever to have a combat-ready force for the long war on terror ahead of us.

The bill you rejected today sets benchmarks for success that the Iraqis would have to meet, and puts us on a course to redeploy our troops. It stresses the need for sending troops into battle only when they are rested, trained and equipped. In my view, and in the view of many others in the military that I know, that is the best course of action for our security.

As someone who served this nation for decades, I have the utmost respect for the office you hold. However, as a man of conscience, I could not sit idly by as you told the American people today that your veto was based on the recommendations of military men. Your administration ignored the advice of our military's finest minds before, and I see no evidence that you are listening to them now.

I urge you to reconsider your position, and work with Congress to pass a bill that achieves the goals laid out above.

Respectfully,

Major General Paul D. Eaton, USA, Retired

Bubble Boy Builds a Ghetto

"Tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbachev!"

One thought it was the height of arrogance that Ronald Reagan and his ilk attributed the entire fall of Communism to the Soviet leader's apparent inability to resist carrying out that command. (But it seems like there's never a final height to arrogance).

That was then. This is now.

Now, it's Bubble Boy's Robert Frost Memorial Good Fences Make Good Neighbors Wetback Friendship Wall on the Mexican border.

And this week, in Iraq, it's Bubble Boy building a ghetto!

A nice Sunni ghetto.

Using your tax dollars!

See, you hafta understand that we're pissing away trillions of dollars there, so we don't have to build schools, roads, hospitals, VA hospitals, levees, affordable housing, or spend more money on criminal justice and national health to deal with the needs of sick, old, poor, disabled, struggling, criminally preyed-upon American citizens here!


So, "Yo!

Put up that wall, Mr. Maliki!"


WaPo here.
[Sunni reaction to Bubble Boy's Super Sunni Ghetto, here.]
Sunni wall
worst president ever