TheDailyBanter.com

Olbermann trashes Bushonomics

By Ben Cohen

It is not exactly clear why Bush continues to make public appearances and speeches. Even Republicans do not take him seriously any more, and he would be best advised to play with his dog while competent people attempt to clean up the awful mess he has made. Watch Keith Olbermann completely dismantle Bush's astonishingly stupid and inaccurate speech on the state of the U.S economy:

Come Again Soon....

By Hugo Foster

President Bush’s whirlwind tour of the Middle East, which concluded last week, clearly proved an uncomfortable experience for some of his hosts in the region. In Israel & the West Bank, leg one of the tour, Bush’s arrival preceded some of the worst exchanges of violence between Israel and the Gaza Strip this year.  In ‘friendly’ Dubai, major routes, bridges and tunnels were emptied and shut down, no doubt a sign of the President’s enduring popularity. In Cairo, his mere mentioning was enough to unite both ends of Egypt’s opposition spectrum – Islamist and secular - in protest. Not that he would have noticed – his three-hour chat with Egypt’s President Mubarak took place in the comfortable surroundings of the Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh.  

Bush's sad legacy

By Ben Cohen

Two disastrous wars, a plummeting economy, spiraling health care costs, a wrecked image abroad and huge deficits loom over George Bush's his head everywhere he goes. He must now coming to terms with the fact that he will be resigned to the trash heap of history. From the brilliant Chris Hedges:

By Chris Hedges    

The Gilbert and Sullivan charade of statesmanship played out by George W. Bush and his enabler, Condoleezza Rice, as they wander the Middle East is a fitting end to seven years of misrule.  Despots stripped of power are transformed from monsters into buffoons.  And this is the metamorphosis that is eating away at the Bush presidency.

Bush continues to lie about Iran

By Ben Cohen

The Bush Administration was caught up in another hugely embarrassing scandal this week, when it was revealed by a U.S intelligence report that Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Having been through months of escalating rhetoric (World War 3, a nuclear attack on Israel etc), the report poured cold water on the idea that Iran posed an 'imminent threat' to the U.S. The Bush Administration has been caught red handed given it knew about the report when it came out. Not to be dissuaded by the facts, Bush is doing his best to convince everyone that the report actually proves Iran is even more of a threat.   

From the New York Times:

President Bush warned today that Iran remained a threat despite an intelligence assessment that it had halted a covert program to develop nuclear weapons four years ago, as the administration struggled to salvage a diplomatic process now in disarray.

Thomas Jefferson and George Bush on War

By Ben Cohen

Last week, I posted some comments from a reader about Thomas Jefferson’s views on religion. The article caused a bit of a storm, with literally thousands of people spreading the article around the net.

It got me thinking, why do the words of a man dead for almost 200 years mean so much to Americans today?

I am convinced the reason Jefferson still inspires many Americans is because he causes them to believe in the country the current Administration is doing its best to annihilate.

It is the contrast between the bombastic rhetoric of the Bush Administration, and the reasoned, thoughtful words of the man almost universally as one of the countries greatest presidents that gives Americans hope in their nation.

Where Bush uses war as an instrument of policy, Jefferson saw it as an affront to humanity.

“I love peace”, he said, “and am anxious that we should give the world still another useful lesson, by showing to them other modes of punishing injuries than by war, which is as much a punishment to the punisher as to the sufferer.”

Where Bush sees debt and war as the engine of American society, Jefferson saw the ruining of a nation:

"Having seen the people of all other nations bowed down to the earth under the wars and prodigalities of their rulers, I have cherished their opposites, peace, economy, and riddance of public debt, believing that these were the high road to public as well as private prosperity and happiness."

Olbermann excoriates Bush and Cheney

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDwJBPaupVY]

The Next Generation Is Not So Apathetic

By Ben Cohen


After 6 years of unfettered Republican rule, the newly elected Democratic Congress proclaimed they were there to stand up to the Bush Administration. Apart from some verbal slaps on the wrist, Congress has shown the mettle of a wounded rabbit, failing miserably to hold Bush accountable for his atrocious abuses of power. With such little meaningful political action, it would be easy to lose hope in a world where lying, subverting the law and outright criminal action were part and parcel of every day political life.

There is, however, a growing backlash. Bush and his cronies would be all too happy for everyone to drown their sorrows at the shopping mall, leaving them alone to carry out their radical reforms in government. But a new generation is emerging, unwilling to comply with the culture created by their parents. When working hard and following the rules leads to endless foreign wars, lay offs, unlivable wages and no health care, people begin to ask questions. And they are questions that our politicians can no longer answer.


With the Democrats unable or unwilling to ask anything meaningful, a group of high school students on a trip to the White House presented Bush with letter asking him to stop torturing
people around the world. The letter was a symbolic example of what the United States has come to represent, but more importantly, what festers beneath it. The next generation is angry at what has become of their country, and are unafraid to speak out about it.

Here is an excerpt from a fantastic article by Leah Anthony Libresco, one of the High School students responsible for handing Bush the letter. It really speaks for itself:

"When I got to Washington, before I so much as mentioned my intent to speak out, many of my fellow scholars were admitting that they, too, had been planning to speak. I was overwhelmed by the passion of my classmates, and we agreed that our voices would be much more powerful and effective if we united around a single issue.

This was easier said than done. Many of us disagreed on what the single most important issue was and how we should address it. Many of us suggested the need to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, but some felt that this issue was too divisive. Other students wanted to focus on a school-related issue by addressing the flaws in No Child Left Behind.

We ended up agreeing to focus on torture and detention because we felt that the issue of human rights was non-partisan, something everyone could agree on. More than that, the denial of human rights is the quintessential example of this administration's penchant for secrecy and its disdain for the humanity of its "enemies."

We stayed up until two in the morning, working on the letter. Our final language included, "We have been told that we represent the best and brightest of our nation. Therefore, we believe we have a responsibility to voice our convictions. We do not want America to represent torture. We urge you to do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions, and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants."

Later that morning, we worked on getting signatures. I thought it would be nice if we got a tenth of the Presidential Scholars to sign, but, when I checked in with Mari at lunch, she told me we were two signatures short of fifty people, over a third of the scholars in four hours."

To read the full article on the Huffington Post, click here.

Unbelievable…Bush commutes sentence for Libby

By Ari Rutenberg

From the Associated Press:

President Bush commuted the sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Monday, sparing him from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case.

Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Libby, according to a senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

Bush's move came hours after a federal appeals panel ruled Libby could not delay his prison term in the CIA leak case. That decision put the pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Read full article here