That's a Unique Urinal, There...

Regardless of the humorless right's response, this is really funny. (Though why a Bush urinal is only now making news when it's been around since 2008 is puzzling.)

Texas Hypocrisy

Yesterday I pointed out that the people opposing Obama's speech to children didn't care about indoctrination; they assumed that anyone would indoctrinate their children and they only want it to be the right person.

The Arlington, Texas school district has made this statement loud and clear. They refused to show Obama's speech. But they are going to bus their students on September 21 to hear George W. Bush speak, along with several members of the Dallas Cowboys and other people far more appropriate than the current president of the United States.

Arlington has plenty to define itself as evil. The new Cowboys Stadium is only its latest symbol of its commitment to the dark side. But the blatant and open hypocrisy of the city and its people is shocking, even to someone who lives in Texas.

Via Amanda.

Rove's role in the firing of Iglesias - certainly more than a "conduit"

After having dodged legal and political processes all along, Karl Rove has finally been implicated (sort of) directly in the firing of David Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney of New Mexico.

The House Judiciary Committee released over 5000 pages of White House and RNC correspondence, along with transcripts of testimonies by both Rove and Harriet Miers that happened behind closed doors.

Documents show that an email from Rove’s Aide Scott Jennings specifically broached the subject of firing Iglesias. “I would really like to move forward with getting rid of NM US ATTY,” it said. If that isn’t explicit, I don’t know what is.

While Miers mentioned in her testimony that Rove had complaints against the former U.S. Attorney, including indicating that he thought he was a "serious problem" and would have liked to have something done about it, she refused to specifically state what role Rove had played in his dismissal.

In addition, there was abundant proof in the documents that the subject was being elaborately discussed by Rove’s office. Another of Jennings’ emails stated that Iglesias was hesitant about the “job on Madrid,” an obvious indication that the former U.S. Attorney had refused to press voter fraud claims against Democrat Patricia Madrid to help propel Congresswoman Heather Wilson in her re-election race.

Finally, there was also a Miers’ email stating that the White House had made a decision to fire the attorney.

This is as clear a sequence of events of how things transpired as we can get.

We all recall how Rove repeatedly maintained his innocence (after defying a subpoena, being found in contempt of Congress, and finally agreeing to closed-door hearings). Last month, he insisted that he was merely a “conduit” of complaints and grievances from lawmakers in a controversial joint interview to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

This is no simple conduit, that's for sure.

Bush's Parting Gifts.

The absolute piece of shit pardons that Bush snuck in at the end.

It's only fitting that in the closing moments of the most lawless administration in our nation's history, President Bush chose as his final act, to grant clemency to two rogue Border Patrol agents who shot an unarmed man in the back, then attempted to cover up their crime. From its inception, this administration has always been based on the assumption that those in positions of authority are beyond the constraints law and that cover-ups, secrecy, and lies are acceptable means to an end.

Disgusting. Thank goodness it's over.

Worst President Ever?

With the long national nightmare finally ending, many commentators are again talking about Bush as the worst president ever. Here's Bernie Horn's argument.

I think I've discussed this before. And I still disagree. I know that 61% of historians say he is the worst ever, but I think they might be letting their current feelings get in the way of their analysis.

As bad as Bush was, and he was spectacularly bad, I can't say that he was worse than, at the very least, James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce. These guys openly espoused policies that would knowingly tear the nation apart. And the Civil War started on Buchanan's watch. He did absolutely nothing.

There are the more marginal cases as well. Are these people better than Bush? Andrew Johnson? He undermined Reconstruction. On the other hand, at least he wasn't elected. Being an accidental president might make a slight difference. The same goes for John Tyler, probably the most despised president in history while he was in office. His decision to be the president of the slave power and his subsequent annexation of Texas set the nation toward the Civil War. Then there's Richard Nixon, who for all of the less than terrible things he did, permanently undermined the office of the presidency. Herbert Hoover was also really bad, but I feel he was more overwhelmed by the circumstances than malicious. I do like Alan Brinkley's comparison of Bush and Hoover.

So Bush exists in this group I think. Better than Pierce and Buchanan, but not necessarily better than Johnson, Tyler, Nixon, or maybe Hoover.

But one thing is for sure. Bush is far and away the worst president to serve for 8 years. The only possible person who might even come remotely close to this bad is Ulysses Grant, but I don't think it's that close.

Thought for the day

George W. Bush may have made it easier for people to get involved in politics just by being so dumb that average Americans went "Wait a minute--I could do that."

Let the Pardons Begin!

Bush has started pardoning his loathsome friends.

The media narrative around this first round of pardons is that there were no high-profile pardons. Scooter Libby, Duke Cunningham, etc., were all left out. True enough, but we'll see how that goes. Those seem like January 19 pardons because of the criticism they will bring down.

But looking at the recently pardoned reveals some real scumbags. Particularly striking were the people pardoned for environmental crimes. These people aren't as sexy as Michael Milken so the media isn't talking about it.

But why would you pardon Leslie Collier, a man convicted in 1995 of widespread slaying of wildlife, including bald eagles, by laying out tainted meat? Or Milton Cordes of South Dakota, who violated the Lacey Act by smuggling wildlife into the country? Or Daniel Pue of Texas who was convicted of dumping toxic waste without a permit?

If you are George W. Bush, you pardon these people because you oppose any kind of environmental laws. You think it's OK to smuggle animals, kill bald eagles, and dump toxic waste. You oppose even early 20th century conservationist legislation. You are the worst environmental president ever. That's why you do this.

It's not as if these people served hard time for these crimes. Collier got 2 years probation. Pue got 3 years probation. Cordes got 18 months probation and a loss of hunting privileges for one year.

Historical Image of the Day

George W. Bush signing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

In case you needed another reminder of why Republicans suck.

Impeach Bush?

Brad Jacobson has an interesting post (a few days old now) about Nancy Pelosi opposing the attempts to impeach Bush. He supports the case for impeachment.

While admitting that Bush should be impeached, I think attempting to do so would be a distraction from the greater issues we as progressives face. Moreover, it reeks of the self-destructive and self-righteous actions the left so often engages in during election years (see Nader, R. 2000). If the votes were potentially there to impeach Bush, Cheney, and the whole crew, I would support it. But they aren't. There is no way impeachment would even pass the House, not to mention conviction in the Senate.

There are two realistic scenarios in which a president can be impeached. First, the president must have committed clear crimes that are so bad that members of his own party will vote him out. This is what happened to Nixon. While Bush has wiped his ass with the U.S. Constitution (to paraphrase Frank Zappa), what precisely are the charges? I'm not saying that he hasn't broken the law--I am saying that it takes something on the order of breaking and entering the opposing party's headquarters to wiretap their phones, having your thugs get caught, and then ordering a coverup to convince politicians to vote someone out. The clear crime that would offend enough Americans that their congresspeople would act seems unclear here.

Second, a dominant political party can punish a president of the other party for supposed political crimes. This is what happened to Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Although Johnson nearly was convicted, both presidents were acquitted and rightfully so. Johnson was a horrible president but the Tenure of Office Act was blatantly unconstitutional. As for Clinton, well, the Republicans made a mockery of the government there. In any case, the votes simply aren't there to even impeach Bush.

Wouldn't you rather see progressives' energy go toward electing Obama, increasing the majority of Democrats in Congress, and building the party in the states? Wouldn't you rather see political capital be spent fighting for legislation to help the poor, to get us out of Iraq, and to protect the environment? I sure would.

I Love a May Wedding

Would anyone care to be my date for Jenna Bush's wedding on Saturday in Crawford? It's only an hour from my house. Should be a great time.

And we can get wonderful souvenirs like these commemorative plates!

Bush's Incompetence on Film

By chance this week, I watched When the Levees Broke in my Hurricane Katrina in Historical Perspective class and then No End in Sight at home. These two films are great documents to show the historical incompetence of the Bush administration. Plenty of people have talked about both films so I won't go into much detail here. But I think watching them back to back is extremely powerful.

When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee's documentary on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, is possibly the best documentary I have ever seen. That's a strong statement I know. But that film has unbelievable power. It's actually not that great for discussion I think, or at least it wasn't with me leading it, because it is just too overwhelming. After each of the 4 episodes, one just feels completely devastated. Michael Eric Dyson, in his book about Katrina, Come Hell or High Water, explores Kanye West's assertion that George Bush doesn't care about black people. Essentially, Dyson says, that regardless of Bush's actual feelings toward African-Americans, he doesn't care about them as a political group. That disinterest dominated hurricane relief efforts. As we all know, relief was slow and inadequate and hundreds if not thousands of people died as a direct result. In the aftermath, Bush was conducting fundraisers and talking about Iraq, Cheney was hanging out on his ranch in Wyoming, and Condi was shopping. None of them cared. Today, Hurricane Katrina relief funds are running out with most of the city not yet rebuilt and much not even cleaned up. Nothing more is coming either. Disgusting.

Watching No End in Sight only reinforced When the Levees Broke. Again viewing the aftermath of the Iraq invasion and the multiple ways the Bush administration sabotaged their own war through ideology, contempt for the Iraqis, inexperience, incompetence, disinterest, malfeasance, and idiocy. While I still believe that it is a very hard case to make that this administration is the worst in American history, it sure is awfully close and I pray the worst in my lifetime. Because I don't want to live through something worse.

I was thinking about Fahrenheit 9/11 after watching these films. The problem with that movie is the conspiracy theory aspect to it. Why focus on conspiracy theories when this administration has done so many horrible things that are easily documented and clear to the public? Accusing it of conspiracies almost serves its interest because it draws attention from their actual evil.

Happy Birthday Stupid Sign

Today, this stupid sign is five years old. Good for it...kindergarten is an awesome time, enjoy it little buddy.

Since I was never sure which mission had actually been accomplished, I'm just going to assume that it still is. Good Job!

Stimulating the Economy

Joseph Stiglitz provides several possible ideas for stimulating the economy. Unfortunately, they all make far too much sense for the Bush administration to implement.

Stiglitz suggests radical ideas like expanding the size of unemployment checks, federal assistance to state and local governments, and a bigger overall budget for education. You know, things that would actually help people. Crazy.

But of course Bush won't do this. Since he has imbibed deeply of the tax-cut kool aid, his policies exist primarily of creating and extending tax cuts. This will only help the rich. Some small tax rebate will provide a very brief respite for the poor and middle-class but will ultimately do nothing.

Given Bush's absolute lack of flexibility on everything, I see little reason to think that anything positive will come out of this administration in the next year as the economy continues to tank.

366 Days and Counting

In more optimistic news, Brian reminds us that exactly one year from today, George W. Bush will no longer be in office. Thank God. He should leave as the most disgraced president since Richard Nixon. Sadly, it doesn't seem that will happen. But he is at least irrelevant now. Does anyone even care about the man anymore? Not only he is now a lame duck, he is a lame duck completely ignored by the nation. No one looks at him for leadership or even policies anymore. The presidential candidates from his own party do everything they can to distance themselves from him.

The bad news is that we have to live with another year of this fool. The good news is that at least it is only one more year.