Is Gannon/Guckert the GOP’s Monica Lewinski?

The Clinton/Lewinski scandal also broke on the Internet. The Drudge Report carried a story on January 17, 1998 that Newsweek had killed a scoop by Michael Isikoff about an affair between President Clinton and Monica Lewinski. With that revelation, the Clinton/Lewinski expose was off and running. Who would have dreamed the pious Bible thumping GOP could make l’affaire Lewinsky look so tame? Yes, Bill Clinton was a lech, but a garden-variety lech. Clinton was a charming, lusty, lech who found women irresistible and acted on it. But the Bush administration with its values rhetoric, decency harangues, speeches that turn into proselytizing born-again sermons and fire and brimstone rants against homosexuality has taken trouser-dropping erotic episodes to a new low. In the black community it’s called “being on the down-low”. The stories the Net is carrying about the BushMen allege that James Guckert, a gay male hooker who used the alias Jeff Gannon, infiltrated the White House press corps with no bonafide credentials but with White House blessings, that Guckert was a shill for GOPUSA and was scripted by the White House to ask pro-GOP/anti-Dem questions at press conferences, that Guckert provides male companions for the Bush administration for a hefty fee. And that the President has been carrying on a homosexual affair with one of his roommates at Yale, Victor Ashe (who GWB appointed Ambassador to Poland), for the past 35 years. All of these items are in addition to the “scandal sheet” posted by Salon.com on January 18, 2005, listing and elaborating on 34 scandals in the Bush administration which are, as Salon said, “every one of them worse than Whitewater” --the unsubstantiated claims of malfeasance against the Clintons. Could it be any juicier? And what does the Christian Right have to say about the Gannon/Guckert allegations? Bill Berkowitz who writes a column about the conservative movement for WorkingForChange said on February 24th that so far the American Right has been silent. Folks who either said there was no one around at the time to answer Berkowitz’s questions or they weren’t commenting on the Gannon issue were: Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family, The Family Research Council, The Traditional Values Coalition and The Free Congress Foundation. In addition, Berkowitz said, “The editors at Town Hall, the Heritage Foundation's one stop shopping center for conservative ideas, and the Rev. Donald Wildmon's American Family Association, currently involved in trashing HBO's Bill Maher over recent remarks he made about religion, didn't return my calls. Charisma News Service and the Christian Response Network didn't respond to my email questions about their lack of coverage of the Gannon Affair.” A lot of people are saying that focusing on all the alleged sexual misconduct of the Bush administration is unproductive and we should be using our energies to counteract the wrongheaded policies of the BushMen. I would feel that way too if it weren’t for the Repubs’ obsession with sex. I really want to knuckle down and understand the fine points of the Bush social services cuts, or the Bush plan to make wounded American soldiers from the Iraq war pay more for prescriptions, or the plan to screw money out of the elderly, or another plan to give monetary aid to very, very, very wealthy Americans, or the unworkable Bush plan for Social Security, or the Bush plan to bomb the bejesus out of Iran. But every time I start to study these important issues, the White House gang gets their panties in a twist over homosexuals, or sex education for teenagers, or sex on TV, or sex at the movies, or sex on the Internet. And then I have to start thinking about sex again. Which, apparently, is what the BushMen are doing...thinking about sex all the time, twenty-four-seven. Or at least plotting ways to fuck the world every which way til Kingdom Come.

No Trick Too Nasty or Perverse For the GOP

It is difficult for the majority of American citizens to think in Machiavellian terms. In the late 15th century Nicolo Machiavelli had been tortured and reviled by the Medici family which ruled Florence, Italy, because he was involved in a reform movement. In fact, he had become an important diplomat in that movement. But by 1525, Machiavelli had regained favor with the Medicis. He wrote “The Prince” in 1513, although it wasn’t published until after he died in 1527. The treatise was so controversial that Pope Clement VIII condemned it. Machiavelli admitted that his reason for writing “The Prince” was to endear himself to the Medicis. The basic tenet of “The Prince” is that royalty should maintain total control of their realms by any means necessary, including deceit. A few do’s and don’ts from the Machiavelli playbook are: Some "virtues" will destroy a prince but some "vices" will allow him to survive. The prince must be deceitful when it suits his purpose. But he must not appear to be deceitful. The prince must always seem to exhibit five virtues: mercy, honesty, humaneness, uprightness, and religiousness. A prince must be severe when punishing people rather than merciful. Death sentences affect only a few, but they deter crimes which affect many. It is better to be feared than to be loved. Machiavelli also wrote seven books on the art of war. One of his wartime pieces of advice was: Religion and the soldier's oath are to be used to inspire the men - put the fear of God in them. Apparently, the White House copies of Machiavelli’s works are well-thumbed. Today, the BlogBox on Democratic Underground quotes a caveat for all bloggers from the John Arivosis blog, AMERICAblog: “Defenders of Gannon are now phoning people who post comments on AMERICAblog, they pretend to be me, and ask the person to stop posting on the forum. This happened to a good friend of mine who posts here (guys, get a clue, don't call a friend of mine and pretend to be me), and now it's happened to someone else. “First off, when you use a phone, there's an electronic paper trail. Second of all, when you pretend to be someone else, you're very likely bordering on a crime. If this story is so hot that Gannon's, and/or the White House's defenders, are feeling the need to try to sabotage this blog, well all I can say is thanks, and I'm posting this publicly so perhaps we can get another media story out of this. “Folks, just a word of caution to everyone on visiting our site, but also to the good folks working like dogs at DailyKos, World o Crap, and everyone else on this story. I'm starting to sense some disinformation coming our way, especially in the comments section of the blog. We've all finally captured the attention of the mainstream media and made this story a story. We've also captured the attention of the Bush administration and other GOP bad guys, and I suspect they're trying to feed us bad info so we jump on it, print it and thus they can try to debunk all of our good work. “All I'm saying is that I recommend everyone be doubly careful about sussing out any information you find, see printed, or receive before running it on your blog, emailing it around as truth, etc.” So...there you have it from John Arivosis. Be careful about printing anything before you check it out--it may be disinformation leaked by the White House. Normal people do not live their lives based on Machiavelli’s philosophy. Most Americans find it hard to believe just how deceitful, nasty and perverse the White House can be. But the White House could teach Machiavelli a thing or two about deceit and dirty tricks. So believe it!

The Annual Roy Cohn Award

Last summer on July 23rd, BlogACTIVE.com gave the first Roy Cohn Award to Jay Timmons for Outstanding Achievement Against Gay and Lesbian Americans. Timmons was the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The NRSC’s aim was to use the same-sex marriage issue to motivate far-right voters to oust Democrats. Trouble is, Jay Timmons was gay himself and in the closet. It was Washington DC activists Michael Rogers and John Arivosis who outed Timmons and gave him the Roy Cohn Award. They had been instrumental in outing other gay conservative politicians who thought they could safely hide in the closet while bashing gays and lesbians. On February 2nd when the Jeff Gannon scandal was heating up, ProudTinFoilHat posted a suggestion on Daily Kos that the Roy Cohn Award should be an annual event. I certainly hope there is a mounting clamor for this to happen. The list of qualified recipients in the District of Columbia is long and getting longer. You can bet the rent that the halls of Congress and the Pentagon have a bunch of married-with-children closet-case-Republicans who are shaking in their boots right now. Not to mention the White House.

Half the Voters in the USA Are in Denial

Denial is the drug of choice for Republicans. With the truth staring them in the face about the man they elected President, the GOP’s unthinking followers have willed themselves to go blind. George W. Bush has only one goal and that is to make his demons seem righteous. He is an infantile, sadistic, delusional, paranoid sociopath bent on recasting himself as a savior. Bush does not differentiate between lies and truth. He knows only that he must justify his increasing need to inflict pain on others and his increasing need to be seen as a hero. Although Bush’s demons have worked well to advance the aims of the White House masterfascist, Karl Rove, the tipping point may have been reached. What happens when the Bush pathologies can’t be kept in check with medications? What happens when Bush has an episode of rage or inane rambling in front of world leaders? It’s a fine line the Bush handlers are walking. The Prez needs to be medicated to keep him in control, but the medications dull his thinking so that he cannot understand the policies and programs he supposedly is proposing. He can’t explain his Social Security privatization plan without sounding like a moron. He knows that the pleasure he got from killing Iraqis is no longer satisfying his desire to see others suffer. But finding a rationale for waging war on Iran or some other vulnerable country has become problematic for the White House, particularly since there’s no money in the till for another major war. The White House has its agenda and that is world domination. But George W. Bush’s agenda is totally personal. He is incapable of thoughts other than the immediate gratification of his desires. Bush is an addict. He is addicted to appeasing his infantile needs of self-glorification and giving pain to others. And every day he has to anesthetize his anxieties and fears or give in to them by making others fearful about their own security. How is the White House going to contain George W. Bush’s unresolved psychological problems? Bush thought God would neutralize his unholy appetites or give him justification for indulging in them. But God is not living up to the bargain that Bush thought he’d made with Him. Is there a major George W. Bush breakdown in the offing? Oh hell yes.

Two 800-Pound Gorillas Sit in the White House

And we’re not supposed to look at or talk about either one. Gorilla No. 1 is the President’s health problems...mental and physical. Gorilla No. 2 is the increasing evidence that the Bush administration is up to its neck in Roy Cohns. A little history lesson for you kiddies out there: Back in the bad old Communist-witch-hunt days, Roy Cohn was Senator Joseph McCarthy’s right-hand-lawyer during the GOP’s House UnAmerican Activities Hearings in the 1950's. Those hearings, chaired by McCarthy, investigated organized labor, the Federal government and the movie industry in a search for Communists. High-profile people were falsely accused of Communist activity. Careers were ruined and lives were ruined because of the false accusations. Both McCarthy and Cohn targeted homosexuals for their vicious and untrue accusations. Roy Cohn, it turned out, was himself gay, as was Joseph McCarthy. Cohn eventually died of AIDS. Now, once again gays are being targeted by a witch-hunting GOP administration. This time it's fueled by a far-right religious born-again faction. And once again, we’re starting to hear that the gay-hating GOP accusers may be in the closet themselves. Jeff Gannon is a gay male hooker who was allowed by the Bush administration to infiltrate the White House press corps. His function was to ask questions of the President and/or the President’s Press Secretary that would make the GOP look good and the Democrats look bad. All of this we know as fact. But WHY did the White House reach into its copious files of people willing to do dirty tricks and come up with a gay hooker? There are hundreds of rabid young Republican wannabe reporters in the GOP’s files. There are hundreds of lily-white true-believers who could have been tapped for the job. There are hundreds of young and mean-spirited Republicans who would have loved to lob pre-written and scripted questions to the President. Jeff Gannon is a notorious gay hooker who advertised his wares (and his attributes--as in, 8”+cut) on the Internet with graphic photos and suggestive copy as to his talents. Why was he picked out to do the bogus-reporter job? Among some very interesting photos now making the rounds on the Internet are a series showing President Bush patting Jeff Gannon’s shaven head. Why is a gay hooker so cozy with the White House? And why does the White House have the name of a gay hooker in its rolodex? It’s come out recently that the White House has been paying for writers to say nice things about the Bush administration. But is the White House paying Jeff Gannon NOT to say things about the Bush administration? Maybe the White House has tried to turn a gay hooker legit so he won’t let the cat out of the bag about all the Roy Cohns in the administration. As Bill Maher said last Friday night...was Jeff Gannon going to “spill the beans while he...um...spilled the beans”? You can’t ignore two 800-pound gorillas forever. The stink is oozing out the castle walls.

A Skinhead Slug Becomes “Craggily Handsome”?

How does that happen? The UK’s “Guardian” began referring to Jeff Gannon as “shaven-headed, craggily handsome”. Who knows why. They had pictures. Maybe they were just being perverse. Then the Associated Press picked it up and every small-town newspaper from Ohio to Nevada running the story on the White House in-house gay-male-hooker used the line “craggily handsome”. Tom Selleck is craggily handsome. Clint Eastwood is craggy. Kevin Bacon is getting crags. But Jeff Gannon? Jeff Gannon has a pie-dough with raisins for eyes face. I mean no disrespect to the Pillsbury doughboy, but the Gannon face is what it is. If Gannon were an actor...I should say, if Gannon were a better actor, he would be type-cast as a sadist or a child-molester. Maybe that’s how he got on his downward spiral. He looks like a snitch. You can pump up your body and have great abs and lats but what are you going to do when your face looks shifty and depraved? So from now on, let the description line for Jeff Gannon/James Guckert be the truth: shaven-headed pasty-faced White House in-house gay-male-hooker. And leave the breathless prose for the guys who really are craggily handsome.

Secret Bush Tapes--What a Snooze!

There’s this guy who shills for the Moonies’ Washington Times and who has written a book called “All the President’s Children”. His name is Doug Wead. Doug Wead used to work for Bush-the-Elder. Doug Wead used to be an Assemblies of God preacher. So Wead decides in 1998 to tape phone conversations he was having with Bush-the-Younger, because George W. used to confide in Wead. And Wead could see the handwriting on the wall. Wead says he “viewed Mr. Bush as a historic figure.” Now Wead has leaked a dozen or so of those taped phone conversations to the New York Times. In an article in this morning’s NYT, “In Secretly Taped Conversations, Glimpses of the Future President”, David D. Kirkpatrick summarizes the content of those tapes. "I believe that, like him or not, he is going to be a huge historical figure," Mr. Wead said. "If I was on the telephone with Churchill or Gandhi, I would tape record them too." Fat chance Mr. Jesus-Lets-Me-Tap-Phones would have gotten within a telephone wire of Gandhi or Churchill. Wead said he made tapes of his phone conversations with GWB only in states that permit taping a phone conversation without telling the other party that you are doing so. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have these “one-party consent” laws. The twelve states that require the consent of all parties are California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. So...you got the picture? A born-again Bush family employee confidant and friend, who, in 1998, believes George W. Bush is going to be a huge historical figure, secretly tapes phone conversations and decides in 2005 that the time has come to let the world know what the great man was thinking before destiny tapped him on the shoulder. What a load of crap! As reported by Kirkpatrick, the tapes sound like not only Wead and George W. were in on the taping. They sound like all the usual suspects from the Project for the New American Century, the Christian Coalition and Karl Rove were a party to this very stupid simple-minded scam. As Kirkpatrick says, “The private Mr. Bush sounds remarkably similar in many ways to the public President Bush.” Mercy me, what’re the odds?

Jeff Gannon on CNN

Yesterday, CNN’s Anderson Cooper interviewed Jeff Gannon. When Gannon’s minders (read, the White House) see that his current story isn’t going to fly and that the digging for truth is not about to stop, his story will no doubt change and be refined. Such as Gannon contending the White House didn’t know he was a gay male hooker. “My employer was never at any time aware of anything in my past beyond the writings I did, because, frankly, it isn't relevant to the job I was asked to do, which was to be a reporter,” he said. That answer makes the whole Bush administration and their vetting process and security system look so lame that Gannon/Guckert is going to have to think up something easier to swallow. Gannon’s sexforsale sites are still up and running on the Internet. Obviously, the WH knew and didn’t care, or people in the administration knew because they knew, if you catch my drift. So which is it? Anyone can get access to press briefings and be ten feet from the President of the United States? Or the White House rolodex has a list of available gay male hookers? His reason for using the pseudonym Jeff Gannon for James Guckert is equally silly. “I use a pseudonym, because my real name is very difficult to pronounce, to remember and to spell. And many people who have been talking about me on television have yet to pronounce it correctly,” he told Cooper. Someone is bound to bring up the names Walter Cronkeit and Eric Sevareid and to mention that they caused no tongue-twisting or memory problems. He couldn’t remember when he published his first article. Now right there, the man proves that although he may be many things to many people, he is not a writer. Not remember the first time he was published? Pulleeze! He dissembled about the fact that GOPUSA is not a news organization. “Well, we were -- we were -- we had established a news division, and it was later renamed Talon News,” he said. Which didn’t answer the question of how he could get daily press passes to White House news briefings before Talon News was created and while he worked for the right-wing propaganda outlet called GOPUSA. So...it really boils down to this. Why would the White House hire a gay-male-hooker as of February 18, 2003 to pretend he was a reporter? And although I have no idea if a certain blue-eyed male someone is bogus or not. But this blue-eyed male someone posted recently on DU that he had hired Gannon last summer for a weekend. So...Gannon’s past may not be so past. The thing I really can’t figure out is, why did the White House hire Gannon/Guckert? I mean the man looks like a skin-head. What were they thinking? They hired a gay-male-hooker who looks like a skin-head to pretend he was a reporter, and they gave him soft Republican anti-Democrat questions to lob to the President. And now anyone who questions the wisdom of this White House dirty-tricks ploy is being unfair and unAmerican? Remember ex-Secretary of Agriculture Tommy Thompson’s parting shot when he resigned his post? He said he was surprised our food supply hadn’t been attacked yet. Maybe it has...at least in the White House. They all seem to have mad-fascist-disease.

Back To the President’s Health Problems

On July 28, 2004, Capital Hill Blue, an online non-profit news source, reported that President George W. Bush was taking anti-depressant drugs to control his erratic behavior, depression and paranoia. CHB said the prescription drugs were administered to the Prez by Col. Richard J. Tubb, the White House physician. The article went on to say that, “Tubb prescribed the anti-depressants after a clearly-upset Bush stormed off stage on July 8, refusing to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth J. Lay. ‘Keep those motherfuckers away from me,’ he screamed at an aide backstage. ‘If you can’t, I’ll find someone who can.’ “Bush’s mental stability has become the topic of Washington whispers in recent months,” the article said. “Capitol Hill Blue first reported on June 4 about increasing concern among White House aides over the President’s wide mood swings and obscene outbursts.” Then came the reports about the “Bush bulge”. But the device started to be noticed after the episode of Bush falling off a couch when he supposedly inhaled a pretzel on January 13, 2002. It was said he was wearing a LifeVest--a portable defibrillator--because President GW Bush suffered from atrial fibrillation just as his father, President GHW Bush had. And what causes atrial fibrillation? It can be caused by Graves disease, an auto-immune disease of the thyroid gland--a disease that not only Daddy Bush has, but Mommy Bush has also. And, oddly enough, the family dog, Millie died of it. And younger brother Marvin also has Graves disease. Is there something in the drinking water up there at the family compound in Kennebunkport, ME? Who knows? And it doesn’t really matter how George W. Bush came by all his afflictions. What matters is, he has them and he’s on powerful medications and all his medical and mental problems were hidden from us in order to get him elected. The Prez even refused to have a medical check-up before the election. We’ve got a President who is paranoid and abusive unless he takes anti depressants. It’s been documented that he needs to wear a defibrillator. His atrial fibrillations can cause mini-strokes, and from the evidence of the paralysis on the left side of his face, they have caused mini-strokes. He faints, he falls off of things, he can’t corral his thoughts enough to explain his policies, he slurs his words, he smirks to cover up his bewilderment and apparently he has Graves disease. So why did the GOP, The Carlyle Group and The White House fascists want George Walker Bush to be elected president? His medical and mental problems were clearly apparent when he was barely into his first term. Who else could so easily be manipulated by Karl Rove and Company? Would a really strong, Republican contender have put up with the machinations from the White House ventriloquists? Think of any healthy, intelligent, articulate person of the Republican persuasion, and ask if he or she would allow themselves to be pushed around and controlled by Dick Cheney and Karl Rove the way George-the-Unwell has, and the answer is, NO! The real question now is, Will the Mainstream Media recognize that the truth must come out about all the White House shenanigans? The future of the United States depends on it. Will a few brave journalists from a respected large news outlet finally stand up and say, “At long last sirs, have you no shame?”

Automatons Now Will Fight Our Wars

And why not? We’ve got one for President. A New York Times article this morning by Tim Wiener, “A New Model Army Soldier Rolls Closer to the Battlefield”, lays out the plans of the robotics division at the Joint Forces Command research center in Suffolk, VA. They’re hot to trot re robots. In fact, we’re told, robots are already being used in Iraq to locate and dig up land mines. Not only that, Wiener reported that Bart Everett, the technical director for robotics at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego said, "This is the first time they've (the soldiers in Iraq) said, 'I want a robot,' because they're going to get killed without it." See how the groundwork is being laid? Our soldiers want robots. Next we get a quote from Gordon Johnson at the Joint Forces Command research center in Suffolk. “The lawyers tell me there are no prohibitions against robots making life-or-death decisions. I have been asked what happens if the robot destroys a school bus rather than a tank parked nearby. We will not entrust a robot with that decision until we are confident they can make it." So those trustworthy Pentagon lawyers say there are no prohibitions against robots making life and death decisions. And never fear anyway, those Pentagon lawyers with their high moral values and ethical monitors implanted in their brains would never entrust a decision to a robot that the robot couldn’t handle. Well then, Mr. Highly Ethical Pentagon lawyer, sir, how do you account for the fact that we have a robot for President who can’t handle press conferences about privatizing Social Security, and yet he’s been entrusted with making life-and-death decisions? Answer me that. No answer? Okay. Moving along...Gordon Johnson amplified his pro-robot opinion, saying, “They don't get hungry, they're not afraid. They don't forget their orders. They don't care if the guy next to them has just been shot. Will they do a better job than humans? Yes." The robot soldier is coming, Wiener says. And he’s four feet high, has a Cyclops eye and a gun for a right arm. As we speak he’s honing his dead-eye skills on a Pepsi can in Suffolk, VA. Or as Wiener says, he’s “performing the basic tasks of hunting and killing”. "It's the first robot that I know of that can find targets and shoot them," technical director Bart Everett said. So what’s the bottom line? Designing, perfecting and building robots will drive the defense budget up from $419.3 billion for next year to $502.3 billion in 2010, not including the costs of war. You think the Carlyle Group with its investments in war, weapons of destruction and mayhem is not dancing around the campfire over these plans? The Pentagon has been dreaming of being able to invade countries and subdue the inhabitants with nary a loss of US life for over 30 years. How close are the fascists and warmongers in the White House to realizing that nightmare? Tim Wiener says, “By April, an armed version of the bomb-disposal robot will be in Baghdad, capable of firing 1,000 rounds a minute. Though controlled by a soldier with a laptop, the robot will be the first thinking machine of its kind to take up a front-line infantry position, ready to kill enemies.” So...we’ve got our robots, we’re stepping up our production of nuclear arms, armaments, warheads and bombs...we’re ready to take on the world by force and now we won’t shed any American blood. What’s to stop us? Absolutely nothing. Plus...our robot Prez loves the smell of plutonium in the morning.

L’Affaire Gannon: Gay Hooker on the WH Tab

Now let’s see, the GOP is concerned that your morals and my morals may taint the sensibilities of American children. So they lobbied against a TV ad showing a one-second view of Mickey Rooney’s 84-year-old ass. Not, mind you, on the grounds of bad taste, but on the grounds it was salacious. Ditto above re a nano-second view of Janet Jackson’s surgically enhanced titty. Ditto above re an ad with Nicolette Sheridan’s towel-drop in front of footballer Terrell Owens. Ditto above re showing “Private Ryan” with cuss words. And, as a further protection against immorality, the GOP wants to amend the Constitution so that the sacred bond of marriage can never be enjoyed by gays. Okie-dokie, fair enough. The GOP is concerned about the nation’s morals. The President of the United States is a born-again Christian who never misses a chance to sermonize that his values and morals should be a beacon into the dark abyss of our values and morals. The President’s speechwriter is a born-again Christian. Prayers are mandatory in this White House. Prayers start each day. Prayer breakfasts must be attended. It’s even been rumored the Prez has spoken in tongues at one of these prayer-fests and had to be forcibly restrained. Enter James Guckert who uses an alias, Jeff Gannon. Gannon daily attended (until last week) White House press briefings because he had acquired bogus press credentials from a bogus blog called Talon.com. The fake credentials were accepted by the President’s press secretary Scott McClellan, though they didn’t pass muster in the House of Representatives where Gannon was denied a Capital press pass. McClellan always called on Gannon because Gannon was a GOP plant. He shilled for GOPUSA. Gannon never failed to ask pointed questions that put the Democrats in a bad light and painted the Bush administration as righteous. This latest example of the GOP paying for good press, as it did in the case of Armstrong Williams who was bribed to speak well about “No Child Left Behind”, is another blot on the Bush administration. But wait...there ‘s more.... Now we find out Gannon/Guckert is a working male hooker who sells himself on gay porn sites...and one wonders....where else, Mr. McClellan? So the GOP doesn’t think it’s fair for Mr. Gannon/Guckert’s unsavory employment resume to be dragged out into the open and paraded about as an illustration of corruption in the Bush Administration’s White House? Get real, girls...and pull up your trousers.

Now Here’s My Idea

This will make Social Security solvent until the Republicans come to their senses. Humdinger ideas like this come with Whereases and Be It Resolveds. My idea has plenty of Whereases and Be It Resolveds: Whereas, the Social Security system is broke, Whereas, the Republicans say it was a stinko system in the first place because it was a Democrat idea, Whereas, the Republicans feel anyone who needs Social Security didn’t live his life frugally and profitably, and therefore is to blame for being poor, Whereas, all Republicans have lived frugally and profitably, have a safety-net of at least one corporate pension and do not want or intend to live on Social Security in their golden years, Whereas, all Republicans have taken care to teach their children and their children’s children to be frugal and profitable, to have a safety-net of at least one corporate pension and not to want or intend to live on Social Security in their golden years, Be it Resolved, that all Republicans who have a yearly income in an amount over $800,000 a year will never ever claim their Social Security benefits, because they are ideologically opposed to it and they will sign a statement to this effect, turning the money back to the government as a charitable donation. Be it Further Resolved, that all other Republicans, regardless of their financial situation, salary, and corporate pension plan(s), in order to honor their commitment to frugal and profitable living, will stop claiming their Social Security benefits as soon as they have collected the exact dollar amount they put into the Social Security system, which will be after claiming benefits for approximately five years. Now Finally Let It Be Resolved, should any Republican living in the United States in the year 2018 (when the GOP prophesies Social Security will be kaput) be a rare example of a Republican who did not live frugally and profitably and who did not put money aside for his retirement, or who is disabled and sick or to whom shit has happened, that rare Republican may receive Social Security benefits by filling out a questionnaire each month and swearing he is one of the Deserving Poor--which, god forbid! no Republican will ever have to say. Howzat? With all this Social Security money being ceded back to the Social Security system by Republicans who have lived frugally and profitably in the manner to which they ordered their God to say He intended, the broke system can wait to be overhauled. At such time as an administration has been elected that recognizes, 1) Shit happens, 2) People cannot help being poor, 3) People may need a leg up in their elder years, and 4) God is not mean and vindictive, nor does He scorn those who have been less fortunate in their ability to be frugal and profitable, then the Social Security system can be fixed.

Tom Friedman’s Sunday Morning Sermon

In Freidman’s NYT Op/Ed column this morning regarding oil in the middle east, he says, “I believe that combining environmentalism and geopolitics is the most moral and realistic strategy the U.S. could pursue today.” Friedman says he would like for the Bush administration to focus on “sharply lowering energy consumption and embracing a gasoline tax”. Mr. Friedman is a smart man, for the most part. He surely has figured out that the White House is not going to focus on any policy, moral or otherwise that does not put money or power, or money and power in the hands of rich men who already have money and power. Tom Friedman is blowing smoke. He’s talking about what another administration, one which is not beguiled by war, killing, destruction and global supremacy should do. War puts lots of money and power in the hands of The Carlyle Group, which is to say, the GOP. And as long as we are ruled by the GOP, we are going to wage war or at least rattle sabers and threaten to wage war. That always justifies a build-up of weapons and arms. Friedman loves to coin phrases he hopes will be picked up and become household slogans. For awhile now, he’s been using “geo-green”. He’s a geo-green. That is, now that the BushMen have wrecked Iraq, he wants them to start being environmentalists who practice geo-politics. It ain’t gonna happen, Tom. Why? Because it ain’t easy being geo-green, and it doesn’t put money in the pockets of men who are already rich and powerful...as I believe I’ve said before. Right now, when a disenfranchised person looks up out of his lowly state to a position that will bring him money and the clout to make somebody somewhere pay for something, he looks at the GOP and says, Let me in! I want to be rich and powerful and I’ll do anything! How do we counteract that kind of drain on the morals of our nation’s youth, Mr. Friedman? Because I don’t know. If looking at George W. Bush with his mental impairment, drooping face, ideology of war, lies and corruption doesn’t say, “All hope abandon, ye who enter here”, I don’t know what will. If the revelations about Armstrong Williams, Jeff Gannon/James Guckert, and Bernie Kerik don’t make people disgusted with the fascists who recruit them, I don’t know what will. If listening to an apparently decent-enough man like the Bushites’ press secretary Scott McClellan, tell lies and defend the corrupt imperialists in the White House doesn’t make young people vow to go geo-green and work their asses off to make the United States respectable again, what will? At least the last line in Tom Friedman’s column this morning was sharp and true and clear, “The president's priorities are totally nuts.”

The Eason Jordan Flap

Fact: Eason Jordan, CNN’s senior executive in charge of coordinating the network’s Iraq coverage, resigned suddenly last night. He said remarks he’d made at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland this past January 27th seemed to suggest he thought US troops had deliberately tried to kill journalists. Those remarks had ignited a storm of protest. Fact: The MSM is saying bloggers caused Jordan’s downfall. Fact: The recent tempest re Jordan started with a post from Rony Abovitz’s blog, ForumBlog, on January 28 after the Davos Forum, asking, “Do US Troops Target Journalists in Iraq?” Fact: This isn’t the first time Eason Jordan has brought attention to himself. In an interview in the spring of 2002, Sara Sullivan, managing editor of TBS (Transnational Broadcast Studies) interviewed Jordan about the hardships of covering news around the world as a global broadcaster who is not from an American news service. In that interview Jordan said that in both Afghanistan and Iraq journalists were being killed and targeted. In an interview in April 2004 with PBS’s Terence Smith, Jordan disputed journalist John Burns, saying, ”But I do have to take issue with John's point in the beginning. He believes that journalists are not targeted. I do believe that journalists are targeted. There are very specific examples of that. And then beyond what's actually happened on the ground, you have Osama bin Laden in his most recent statement saying that he intends to target big media institutions because he views them as evil propagandists for the U.S. government. And so we take all these threats -- and there are real examples we can cite very specifically -- we take them very specifically and we do consider ourselves targeted.” Fact: David Gergen editor at large of U.S. News & World Report was at the January 27th forum in Davos and he said Jordan had initially said that “soldiers on both sides” targeted more than four dozen journalists killed in Iraq. But Gergen said that Jordan had “quickly walked that back to make it clear that there was no policy on the part of the U.S. government to target or injure journalists.” Fact: Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank was also in the Davos audience. Frank said Jordan had intended to say only that some journalists had been killed by Americans. Fact: Although the Davos Forum was video-taped, no copy has been made available as yet. Fact: The New York Times reported this morning, “Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said that 54 journalists were killed in 2003 and 2004 . At least nine died as a result of American fire, she said.” Fact: The New York Times reported this morning, "Asked last night if CNN had had any contact with the Bush administration over the fallout from Mr. Jordan's remarks, a network spokeswoman, Christa Robinson, said, 'Not that I'm aware of.'" So...looks to me like CNN thinks Eason Jordan went beyond his scope. The Times said, “Among Mr. Jordan's responsibilities at CNN was to be an advocate - often a forceful one - in discussions with the Pentagon on issues concerning the security of journalists in Iraq.” Isn’t the whole point whether journalists are targeted by Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq, not whether a CNN flack spoke out of turn? Or is that just me?

Jon Stewart, Now You Can Get a WH Press Pass

The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart has always proudly claimed they do fake news, and he’s a fake news anchor. Even so, Stewart does some of the best political reporting on television. But alas, being a self-confessed fake newsperson, he would never have been able to get press credentials from the White House. Mirabile dictu! Thanks to Jeff Gannon’s groundbreaking foray into being a fake Washington bureau chief from a fake news outlet who used a fake name and who still got White House press credentials, the door has just opened for Jon Stewart. Although, truth to tell (and God knows, there’s very little of that going on) it might not be so easy for left-leanng Stewart to get a WH press pass as it was for Gannon who was a shill for the Republican GOPUSA web site. When Gannon, aka James Guckert was outed by World O' Crap, AmericaBlog, Mediacitizen, Daily Kos and Eschaton, he whined to his former-hometown newspaper (Wilmington Delaware News Journal) that “it could happen to you”. He said, “it happened to me, what reporter is safe?" Well gee, Jeff...um...James, maybe a real reporter from a real newspaper who used his real name wouldn’t be in the pickle you’re in. But here’s the real lesson in this morality play. Gannon/Guckert had every advantage. His mentor, Morton Blackwell, is also an associate of White House dirty-tricks maven Karl Rove. Gannon/Guckert always got called on to ask his left-bashing questions in White House press conferences. And yet...is the White House scrambling to shield and protect their favored fake correspondent? Of course not. They are scurrying around like rats in a maze to find a way out of yet another PR disaster. And Gannon Guckert can twist in the wind. But of this you may be sure...Gannon/Guckert will slither forth in a new incarnation. And he will be very little harmed by all the revelations coming out about him, his associates and his brand of journalism. Look to your laurels Bill O’Reilly and the gang at Fox News. A younger, more corrupt, sleazier understudy is standing in the wings.

Two to One They’re Selling You Out, Son

The “Maltese Falcon” has some great lines. My favorite is, “The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter”. Too bad Sidney Greenstreet isn’t still around. He could play the Chief of Staff in a “Falcon” update--“Black Day at the White House”. VICE PRESIDENT We’ve got to have a fall guy. CHIEF OF STAFF By Gad sir, you’re a character, that you are. There’s never any telling what you’ll say or do. VICE PRESIDENT Let’s give them the Kid. CHIEF OF STAFF But that’s ridiculous. I feel toward him just exactly as if he were my own son. Really, I do. VICE PRESIDENT It’s our best bet. CHIEF OF STAFF (Turning to look at the President) What do you think of this? It’s mighty funny, eh? PRESIDENT (His eyes are cold) Mighty funny. CHIEF OF STAFF Well, sir, if you’re really serious about this, the least we can do in common politeness, is to hear you out. How would you be able to fix it....(he laughs)...so that he wouldn’t do us any harm? VICE PRESIDENT To be sure of convicting one man, they’ll let half a dozen equally guilty accomplices go free. I can show them that if they start fooling around trying to gather up everybody, they’re going to have a tangled case. But if they stick to the Kid.... CHIEF OF STAFF Your plan is, sir, not at all practical, sir. Let’s not say anything more about it. VICE PRESIDENT You people have your plan...I can deliver it for you. A fall guy is part of the price I’m asking. PRESIDENT I’ve taken all the riding from you I’m going to take...get up and shoot it out. VICE PRESIDENT (to the President) Young Wild West. (to the Chief of Staff) You ought to tell him that shooting me will be bad for business. CHIEF OF STAFF (to the President) Now, now...we can’t have any of that...don’t attach such importance to these things. (to the Vice President) Well, sir, there are other means of persuasion besides what you’re suggesting. VICE PRESIDENT (looking at the President) Two to one they’re selling you out, son. (to the Chief of Staff) Either you’ll say yes right now or I’ll turn the whole lot of you in. CHIEF OF STAFF You can have him. VICE PRESIDENT That’s swell. Yessiree. Good plots are good plots. And great tag lines live forever. In "The Maltese Falcon", Sam Spade is asked what the “black bird” is, and he says, “The stuff that dreams are made of.”

Big No-News Headline: “Rove’s Role Expanded”

Yesterday the wire services reported that the White House had announced that Prez Bush’s senior adviser, Karl Rove, would take on an expanded role. Rove would become WH chief of staff in charge of “coordinating policy between the White House Domestic Policy Council, National Economic Council, National Security Council and Homeland Security Council”, the announcement said. Translation: There is no change in the White House. Karl Rove is still President of the United States. Other changes were also announced. WH deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin will fill in when necessary for chief of staff Andrew Card “at meetings concerning intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation and Defense Department and the Homeland Security Council”. And since deputy press secretary, Claire Buchan, is moving on to chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Carlos Guitierrez, she will be replaced by Dana Perino. Perino, you may remember is the toady who defends the WH indefensible policy on Environmental Quality. Those changes are of course a huge, Who cares? But there was a tidbit that is interesting. Bush’s born-again chief speech writer, Michael Gerson, will become “assistant to the president for policy and strategic planning”. Gerson will now have a lead role “in advancing Bush’s ‘compassionate agenda,’ such as his faith-based initiative”, the announcement said. In addition, Gerson will oversee the writing of Bush’s major speeches. It’s not the faith-based, compassionate agenda crappola that’s interesting. It’s that the role of Bush’s chief speech writer has been expanded. Which means, when Bush is allowed to say anything in public, more than likely it will be scripted. A good move, considering that the Prez laid an egg in Tampa FL last Friday when he couldn’t remember or articulate his Social Security privatizing plans. Okay. Karl Rove is President, Dick Cheney is Vice President and the Bushmaton will tell us whatever Rove/Cheney cook up by memorizing a speech written by born-again evangelist, Michael Gerson. Now...a thought comes to mind. Do you think it was with malice-aforethought that President Rove let the Bushmaton flounder and fumble in Tampa, FL? Are we witnessing the beginning of the WH subtly letting it be known that Bush's...um...battery pack isn’t holding a full charge? When looking at the current Bush administration...who could step down and never be missed? It sure isn't Dick Cheney.

The Prez’s Mental Problems: Does it Matter?

I have been harping on the fact that the Prez has slipped a cog and that his impairment has been going on for awhile now. On February 4th, the White House posted a transcript of remarks President Bush made in a “press event” at the Tampa FL Convention Center. Present were members of the Amen corner (AFL-CIO, ACORN, AFSCME, etc.). The Prez answered questions and explained his plans for Social Security. Why the White House published this transcript is beyond me. The President hadn’t the foggiest notion what he was talking about. He wasn’t making sense and he knew he wasn’t making sense. Following is one segment of his conversation with the folks in Tampa. A woman asked about the cost of the transition to private accounts. The Prez said, “It's estimated about $600 billion over a 10-year period of time to get the personal accounts started on the -- the way we've suggested they grow. It's a good question.” The woman persisted and said she couldn’t understand how the new plan was going to fix the problem. Bush answered, “Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. "Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red. Okay, better? I'll keep working on it.” And my question is: Does it matter that the President’s brain is not functioning? Since he isn’t the one making the policies or even the tiniest of decisions--all the heavy thinking and deciding is done by Rove/Cheney/Wolfowitz--does it matter that Bush’s brain is impaired? Does it even matter why his brain is impaired? Interestingly, one of the readers of Ratfuck Diary said that an article ran in Atlantic just before the debates that claimed the Prez had all the signs of early Alzheimer’s. Others, including me, think he’s had a stroke. We’re not talking about dyslexia, which the Bush apologists say he is afflicted with. People with dyslexia can think and reason just fine. They have difficulty with the written word not with lucidity and understanding. Does it matter that when George Bush meets with leaders of other countries he can’t put together a simple cogent sentence on his own? Does it matter that he can’t understand the policies he is advancing? Does it matter that he makes jokes and smirks to cover up his thinking difficulties? Yes. It matters because his mental problems are not improving. Being wired to brains that actually function didn’t help him during the debates. His meds aren’t giving him the boost in mental acuity he needs--they may even be the reason he’s begun to slur words on occasion. And the solution is what? In the end, it’s up to the Republicans to take care of their biggest problem--George W. Bush. And they will. The GOP is venal, corrupt, mendacious, grasping and arrogant. But merciful it isn’t.

Raspberry Quotes Krugman

This morning, the Washington Post’s William Raspberry pointed out the faulty logic in the White House plan to privatize Social Security. He then quoted the New York Times Paul Krugman who has come to the same conclusion. Both men have seen through the murky rhetoric regarding the witless privatizing plan and they have arrived at the gaping flaw at its core. If the stock market is healthy enough to make your Social Security portfolio grow, then the economy will have been healthy enough to put the old Social Security plan in the black (“through a windfall of payroll tax revenue”, Krugman said). If the stock market is failing, then your SS portfolio is going to fail and the privatizing plan will have suckered you and the old SS plan won’t be there to pick up the pieces either. As Raspberry says, “If the president is so thoroughly convinced that the market will outperform the Social Security trust fund (invested entirely in U.S. government bonds), why won't he propose that the Social Security Administration invest in the market rather than in government bonds? Wouldn't the bigger return guarantee the actuarial soundness of the system? Ah, but if it didn't, the government would be stuck with making up the difference.” That’s the bottom line no matter who is doing the math. If the President has such blind faith in the stock market, why doesn’t he propose that the SSA switch from investing in government bonds to investing in the stock market? As usual, the Bush administration wants to cover the government’s ass while advising you to uncover yours and bend over.

Before the Fall...

Just before a tyrant falls from grace, he seems invulnerable. He has his minions patrolling the palace, shooting down opponents, arresting loudmouths who dare imply the leader is corrupt. The suck-ups have been arranged in a row. Like bobblehead dolls, they nod in unison, goose-step in unison, say Yessir, you’re right sir in unison. The despot is riding high, unassailable And then, suddenly, the deceit, lies, brutality, bribes not fully paid and hastily forged alliances begin coming undone at the same time. It happened to Napoleon, Hitler, J. Edgar Hoover, Joseph McCarthy, and Richard Nixon. The downfall of over-confident zealous men with delusions of grandeur is always the same. Their ambition leads them to overextend their power. And they don’t count on being unmasked in public. Napoleon claimed he was building a federation of free peoples in a Europe united under a liberal government. But his allies--Spain, Portugal, Austria, Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Sweden--grew hostile when they realized the “liberal government” meant rule by Napoleon Bonaparte. God knows the BushMen have overextended their power. But the single thing they haven’t counted on is the Internet. The information that is available to anyone with a computer and the curiosity to seek out the truth will be the Bush administration’s Waterloo. After the fall, exiling the White House gang to Iraq would be a fitting end for a bunch of little Napoleons whose delusions killed 1,448 American soldiers and accomplished nothing else.

Attorney General Gonzales’s Vow is Cold Comfort

America’s first Hispanic Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, says that combatting terrorism will be his top priority. "But,” he added, “we will do so in a way that's consistent with our values, consistent with our legal obligations." Oh swell. And those values would be ...? Those legal obligations are according to whose definition? If Gonzales’s values are those outlined by the BushMen--which were beautifully summarized in the American Civil Liberties Union of PA Free For All pamphlet--then this is his credo: Send gays back to the closet and make them second-class citizens by law Force religion on public school children Give huge sums of tax dollars to faith-based organizations so they can proselytize Deny women the choice to control their bodies Gonzales was one of the lawyers who parsed the Geneva Convention rules for the GOP so that torture was not only allowed in interrogation techniques but was the preferred method to be used on detainees from Afghanistan and Iraq. Newsweek’s International edition last May 24th ran a story about the White House deciding the Geneva Convention rules on torture didn’t apply to the Bush administration. The article stated that, “The story begins in the months after September 11, when a small band of conservative lawyers within the Bush administration staked out a forward-leaning legal position. The attacks by Al Qaeda on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, these lawyers said, had plunged the country into a new kind of war. It was a conflict against a vast, outlaw, international enemy in which the rules of war, international treaties and even the Geneva Conventions did not apply. These positions were laid out in secret legal opinions drafted by lawyers from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, and then endorsed by the Department of Defense and ultimately by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, according to copies of the opinions and other internal legal memos obtained by Newsweek.” All of which means Gonzales is under no “legal obligations” except to torque criminal behavior into acceptable behavior according to White House rules. White House Rules: 1. Fuck you for a start 2. Fuck your mother 3. Fuck your mother's ancestors 4. Fuck the boat that brought your mother's ancestors to Philadelphia 5. Fuck the signers of the Constitution 6. Fuck the particular signer who fucked your grandmother’s great-great grandmother 7. Fuck George Washington who fucked the Indian who fucked the particular signer of the Constitution who fucked your grandmother’s great-great-grandmother. 7. Finally, if you think we’re going to give you the sweat off our balls, the time of day, a hello or smile, much less kiss your ass...let's go back to the beginning. FUCK YOU!

Last Night a Buzzing Sound Washed Over the USA

It was millions of bullshit detectors going off during the President’s SOTU speech. Anyone who forced himself to watch the entire speech was rewarded with one belly laugh, though. About three-quarters of the way through, the Prez said, ”One of the main differences between us and our enemies is that they seek to impose and expand an empire of oppression, in which a tiny group of brutal, self-appointed rulers control every aspect of every life.” So...what was that difference again? But other than that moment of supreme irony, POTUS mainly talked out his ass about Social Security reform. Oh, and he appointed his wife to be the leader of an initiative to keep young men out of gangs. He said young men need to be shown an ideal of manhood that respects women and rejects violence. God only knows where Laura Bush is going to find that role model. Fareed Zakaria has a terrific article in this week’s (February 7) Newsweek. He makes a number of good points. The title of the article, “Elections Are Not Democracy”, is one very good point. “Iraq is on track to become another corrupt, oil-rich quasi-democracy,” Zakaria says, “like Russia and Nigeria.” He also says that one complaint one hears over and over in Iraq is that, “America is spending billions of dollars in Iraq and getting very little for it in terms of improvements on the ground, let alone the good will of the people.” Zakaria quotes Isam al Khafaji who runs the Iraq Revenue Watch for the Open Society Institute who says, “Most of the money is being spent for reasons of political patronage, not creating the basis for a real economy.” Khafaji says the major portion of the money goes to Americans and the rest goes to favored Iraqis. “I can say with certainty,” Khafaji said, “that not a single Iraqi contractor has received his contract through a bidding process that was open and transparent.” The present government in the USA lies, cheats and deceives, whether it’s electing its own leaders or handing out government contracts in the Pentagon. How can we presume to advise other countries on democracy when our own is so warped and perverted? If the new Iraq turns out to be a corrupt, oil-rich quasi-democracy, where did the model come from?

Lockheed Gets Another Big Contract

Four days after out-sourcing a $6.1 billion Navy contract for 23 security helicopters to the Italian and British branches of Lockheed Martin, the Bush administration has blessed Lockheed Martin with another billion dollar contract. According to the Washington Post this morning, a 10-year, $1.9 billion Federal Aviation Administration contract for general aviation flight services (currently handled by 2,500 FAA employees) has gone to Lockheed Martin’s Bethesda, MD unit. Four new bidders (Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md.; Raytheon Co. of Waltham, Mass.; Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, Calif.; Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles) competed for the contract against the FAA in-house team which had teamed with Harris Corp. of Melbourne, FL. When FAA Administrator, Marion Blakey was interviewed by The Federal Times on January 10th, she said the competition started in August 2002 and that the FAA was using “best-value criteria” to decide the competition. Translation: the White House saying they were out-sourcing to save money is hogwash. Best-value means spending as much money as possible. Guess what major corporation has invested in all of the competitors, including the Harris Corp. Here’s a hint. It’s the international war profiteer that owns the GOP. Altogether now: THE CARLYLE GROUP. Tonight the Prez will deliver his State of the Union address. We all know what he’s going to say. Things are going great in Iraq, the economy is going great, our deficit spending is going great but the new budget will be tough, the plan for Social Security to screw the old, poor and sick is going great, and the utopian vision to bring peace, freedom and Jesus to the whole world by 2008 is going great. While the Prez speaks, particularly if you wisely turn off the sound, it will be difficult not to concentrate on the tell-tale left-side droop of his face when he smirks. Repugnant as it is to be reminded that the GOP has picked a mentally impaired zealot to represent the United States in the world. It’s even more repugnant to know that the freedom and liberty global supremacy plans touted by the White House is being implemented by handing out defense contracts to all the Carlyle Group defense companies. And make no mistake, those defense contracts include adding newer and more deadly nuclear weapons to our once-dormant nuclear arsenal.

65 US Soldier Deaths in Iraq in the Last 10 Days

Our imperialist interest in Iraq is not worth it. The US has always dressed up its protection of economic interests in moralistic terms. We claimed we had to protect the world from being over-run by communists. That was the rationale with Vietnam. But in 1954, US News and World Report had an article about why the US was risking war in Indochina which said, “One of the world's richest areas is open to the winner in Indochina. That's behind the growing U.S. concern … tin, rubber, rice, key strategic raw materials are what the war is really all about. The U.S. sees it as a place to hold -- at any cost (April 4, 1954.)” We backed Vietnam dictator Diem and aided the French in their imperialism because of our economic interests. When the French pulled out, we remained, not from the goodness of our heart, not because we wanted to keep China from over-running all of Asia, not because we feared Russia’s military might. We kept fighting in Vietnam to protect our economic interests and because we couldn’t admit we were wrong. Finally, in 1973 Richard Nixon pulled us out of the unwinnable war in Vietnam. We didn’t win. Nobody won. We are doing the same thing in Iraq. Carlyle Group corporations making huge profits from the war in Iraq is not worth one US soldier death. Protecting the Bush family collusion with the Saud family and the bin Laden family is not worth one US soldier death in Iraq. Defending US oil interests in Iraq is not worth one US soldier death. All the lies and deceit coming out of the White House to cover up the real reason we’re in Iraq cannot right the wrong deaths of 1,436 US soldiers. It’s not freedom, liberty or democracy. It’s the rich wanting more riches. That’s why we are in Iraq. So I ask you, now that we’ve bragged about bringing democracy to Iraq, now that they’ve had their elections, and we’ve shown the Iraqis that we mean business and that we will bomb the bejesus out of any country that won’t let us invade and maraud and steal their resources, are they going to hand over their oil? Because that’s what this hideous unnecessary war in Iraq has been about.