blargblog

Bush Bashing Made Easy

• While Bush all-but-apologized for slavery on Goree Island, the site of a major slave trading station, the island residents were moved to a football stadium where they remained until Bush departed. (Found via Body & Soul)

• The federal commission investigating the September 11th terrorist attacks and intelligence problems have run into obstacles created by U.S. intelligence agencies. According to The NY Times, investigators complain that a Justice Department directive bars intelligence officials from speaking to investigators without the presence of an agency minder—the same sort of tactic, Lisa English reminds us, used by the Hussein regime to intimidate Iraqi scientists when they were being interviewed by WMD investigators.

• David Corn reviews more recent evidence that the BushAdmin lied about evidence regarding not only the Hussein-Nigeran connection, but the Hussein-al Qaeda connection, the certainty of the existence of WMD, the development of an Iraqi WMD program, and the overall certainty of any of the evidence the Bushies have used to justify war. Well, duh.

• According to William Saffire, Richard Nixon offers, from his cell in purgatory, some reassurance for the Bush reelection team regarding its conservative base: "RN: Tax cuts and terrorism — and his just not being Clinton — will keep 'em in line. Add to that the evangelicals' love affair with Israel, where George W. is a world apart from his old man. And toss in some faith-based programs that don't cost much but show his heart's in the right place. Cut the death tax and dividend tax and jack up the child credit this year, and campaign next year on making them permanent, and Bush is home free."

• But the Bushies aren't always evil. Bush has pledged $15 billion to fight AIDS/HIV in Africa, remember? Hogwash, says The Financial Times; try $1.9 billion, which is all Bush has requested in his 2003 budget. And this, writer Linda Bilmes notes, is only the beginning of the descrepancies. (Found via the ever-apocalyptic Bill Connolly.)