When will it stop? Well, my hope is January 20th, 2009 – but I’m not altogether sure of that. What am I talking about? In a short answer: The fleecing of the treasury of the United States of America. It is such a privilege to be part of this great nation and it is so so painful to watch the Bush administration kick their skulduggery into high gear as they are preparing to be put out to pasture. The problem I see with this is that it’s George Bush being put out to pasture, but thousands of the rest of them will remain, either as still part of this government or hanging around until their next opportunity. As I was driving to school yesterday (my day job – and believe me I understand the importance of keeping it) I heard the news that Henry Paulsen and his surrogates had stayed up all night again, this time to “bail out” Citi corp – which is essentially Citibank and a bunch of connected businesses. I thought immediately, when is this dude going to run out of money to give to his banking friends? And how blatant can you get – won’t “loan” the auto makers $25 Billion but will give $45 Billion to a bank that had put itself up for sale the previous week and evidently wasn’t worth buying.

There are a bunch of problems I have with this. First off, we have Democrats (rightly so) demanding some accountability from the auto makers before they will step in and provide them the “bridge loan” that has been requested. I’m OK with that, as long as the lawmakers are committed to getting this done before the calamity of a GM bankruptcy – and I’m not buying for a minute the republican speel that this would be good for GM and the country. Whatever you think about GM’s management, they are being victimized by the financail “meltdown” that is the result of republican nonsense for the past 30 years, but accelerated by stupid greedy decisions – more than normal for even the republicans – in the past 8 years. People can’t get loans to buy cars, and now with all the lost jobs, people can’t get loans period, because they can’t even pay for their food! As I wrote earlier, I’m convinced the republicans see an opportunity to destroy one of the largest unions in the country and that is their goal here, no matter what the residual consequences – they have the money to withstand whatever lies ahead.

At the same time they are fighting the auto makers, republicans (ie Bush/Paulsen) continue to give this money to their banking buddies, and pretty much without oversight. I mean I’m even hearing Senators and Representatives wondering what these institutions are doing with the money. We know that AIG was using the money to further executive perks that were obscene to anyone but the filthy rich. The initial recipients of the money that was originally intended to buy up the “toxic” assets of the struggling mortgage lenders reportedly have used much of that money for things like executive bonuses, dividends to shareholders, and to buy up other banks. In other words, it’s been business as usual and we, the taxpayers, have just extended their incredible ripoff of the last eight years for a few more months. I’m supposing that these bankers are guessing that once Obama is President and they run out of the first “wave” of the $700 Billion, he will be forced to give them the second wave of the money – and I’m sure they are arrogant enough to expect it to be without “strings” then as well. This whole thing is unbelievable to me.

Does anyone besides me remember that some rich Saudi (remember, Saudi Arabia is where all the highjackers from 9/11 came from, it’s where we’ve been sending our money for the last so many years to the point where they have more of it than we do) purchased something like a $5 Billion interest in Citibank just a few short months ago? Has it crossed anyone’s mind that the Bush family has generational ties to the Saudi’s – including the Bin Ladens and others in the aristocracy over there, probably including whoever this “Sheik” was that invested in Citi? I mean, Washington Mutual was allowed to go into bankruptcy and was immediately purchased by JP Morgan Chase. Why did Citibank deserve more? Forgive me, but I have to think that the interests of this Saudi Billionaire (I really wish I could remember his name – and now that I think of it, it might have been the royal family or a large Saudi business that invested the money – if I was a real blogger I’d investigate :o) Really now, is it any surprise to see the Bushites claiming as much of this money as they can before they are booted out the door.

And I think it’s the bold arrogance of it all that bothers me the most. They have the Democrats pegged to a tee! They fully understand that this generation of Democrats don’t have the spine to stand up to them. I personally don’t get it. I can only assume that the Dems view their job security as worth capitulating on some of the most important challenges of the past half century. They’re standing by, making excuses about how “their hands are tied,” as this continued robbery goes on and on (of course they’ve been making the same excuses for the last two years – seems to be kind of habit forming). I even heard today that Paulsen is poised to ask for the remaining part of the $700 Billion because he’s run out of “fun money” for his buddies. All of this while the rest of us just keep sinking lower and lower – hoping that Obama gets here in time to rescue the ship. Of course, the last thing the republicans want is for Obama to be able to rescue the ship. They want to create a situation that is so bad that they can spend either four or eight years blaming the putrid economy on President Obama and hope that the American people are dumb enough to buy it. I hate to say this, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the lame duck congress gave them the money – they’ll get scared into it again – probably in return for giving GM, Ford, and Chrysler enough to last them until Obama gets into office. UGHHHH!!!!

These republicans need to be in jail for what they’ve done and what they are continuing to do. They put Martha Stewart in jail for some flimsy “insider trading” charge a few years ago – probably because she went on a date with a Democrat or something – to set an example. Isn’t that ironic – them setting an example – knowing full well that the Democrats are afraid to set a true example with them. I mean, they lied us into a war – borrowed every penny of the funds to pay for it – and pilfered billions right off of the top – again with no oversight and no strings attached. Blatant no-bid contracts that even 6th grade school teachers like me could see for what they were. War profiteering to the tune of incredible sums of money – without even a hint of trying to hide what they were doing. Wiretapping our phones without warrants – reading our emails without a warrant – I mean I never thought I would live to see the day when my government would be doing this let alone getting away with it in “broad daylight.” And at this point, I blame the Democrats – because if they don’t stop these thugs there’s no one else to do it. The republicans have control of the “liberal media” and the courts – we have been voting to get Democrats in Congress to put a stop to all this – and the result is that Bush and company have just increased the thievery!

I’m reading a book by Mark Crispin Miller called “Cruel and Unusual” which is a bit passe’ because it was written in about 2004, but it’s a very enlightening book. One nugget I got from the book is that the refusal to honor subpoenas is nothing new for Bush and the republicans. They were doing the same thing in Texas before Bush became President (illegitimately as it was – now there’s a topic for a bunch of history books in my opinion). But I fully expect the democrats to allow Rove, Meyers, Bolten and the others who have refused to honor subpoenas to walk away “scott free.” This to me is appalling. And the torture. When the US tortures people, we are ALL responsible! I really don’t understand why that is such a hard concept to get across to the Democrats in congress. We need more than inquiries, we need criminal investigations, and we need to let the cards fall where they may. I am increasingly nervous that Obama is going to let these thugs “walk” in the interest of “moving on.” Clinton did this regarding Iran/Contra and the same criminals re-appeared eight years later and look at the results. It just got worse, and mark my words, it will get worse again – they will be back feeling enabled to take their thuggery to the “next level” if we don’t draw the line right now! These guys won’t quit and go away just because they lost an election.

There is much to be hopeful about, but untold damage can be done in the last two months of Bush’s Presidency. Anyone who thinks that Bush is not going to do as much damage as he possibly can, is fooling him/herself. In the run up to the election I felt a real sense of apprehension thinking that even though, by rights, considering the qualifications of the two candidates and the circumstances “on the ground” it should be a “blowout.” However, I just didn’t trust the system – the voting machines, the media, eveything involved seemed to have been “fixed” over the last many years. As I watched Obama declared the winner I was embarrassed because I couldn’t contain the tears (I’m a former sawmill worker – sawmill workers don’t cry! :o) My sense of excitement over an Obama presidency will wear off rapidly if the Democrats continue to act like cowards in the face of a group of people who are clearly trying to circumvent the clear intentions of our founding fathers who created this great self-ruling nation. I can think of a lot of scenarios that could have led to the last 30 years, some seemingly very far-fetched, but the reality is that the republicans have stolen trillions (with a capital T) of dollars and they’re trying to steal the entire government that is the longest standing self-rule in the history of the world. Once Obama is officially in office the word “Bailout” need only be used to describe Bush/Cheney & Co.’s personal needs!

Today while driving around I couldn’t help but remind myself that there are still two wars going on, we still have hundreds of thousands of our troops in harms way, and we don’t hear much about this due to the collapsing economy. Of course, what most in the news media don’t want to talk about is the effect the war in Iraq has had on our economy, considering that every penny used to pay for this war has been borrowed. It was clear as our recent election approached that the rest of the world was ready to abandon the US as a reliable “world leader” had we been stupid enough to validate the “Bush Doctrine” by electing John McCain. It is also clear that had McCain been elected there would have been no agreement with Iraq to extend our presence there beyond the 31st of December of this year. Evidently this agreement was signed during the latter part of this week by the Iraqi’s and I doubt there will be much discussion of the agreement in our so-called “mainstream” media – which, if you’ve read many of my posts you know that I consider them to be nothing more than a euphamism for a propaganda machine for the republican “right.”

The reports I’ve heard of this agreement are very interesting to say the least. I really do hope there is a thorough discussion of it in the US so that the people of this nation can get an even better understanding of the magnitude of Bush’s failures. This, to me, is so important because I’m still hearing the republican mouthpieces going on as if they consider the Obama presidency nothing but a short term blip in their plan to take over our government on a permanent basis – and to completely destroy it as it was intended to function by our founding fathers. First of all, I heard one top level Iraqi diplomat say that if Obama had not been elected there would not have been an agreement, because the Iraqi’s essentially don’t trust Bush and Company – as the saying goes – “as far as they can throw them!” This agreement calls for a date certain for ALL American troops to be out of Iraq. I suppose that Bush considers it a victory that the date is by the end of 2011, but the irony of the Iraqi’s putting a timetable on the man who said there would never be a timetable is a bit striking. And, yesterday I heard Dana Perino, the President’s spokesperson saying that this has been made possible because of our “victory!”

Her saying that was only further evidence that these people will never stop with the spin and the lies. I could give a long discussion on my confusion over what they might call victory, but I’ll leave that for another day. The second thing that I found interesting about this agreement was that it was being almost totally dictated by the Iraqi’s as the deadline of the UN charter supporting our “occupation” approached. It will be most interesting to find out what all President Bush and his cronies agreed to in an attempt to get something done before he leaves office. And I’m sure that Bush is trying to dictate to Obama how he will proceed with the withdrawal of our troops, and I can only say here that I believe Obama will respectfully do this as he sees fit and not according to any agreement made by a lame duck president who has proven himself incompetent. As I’ve stated before, I believe it is incumbent on Obama to empower whoever is in charge of the Justice Department when January 20th finally gets here to fully investigate everything that has gone on in Bush’s administration – especially relating to this war – and this final agreement is no exception. The good news to me is that our troops will be coming home and the Iraqi’s will finally be on the spot to solve their own problems.

The third and possibly most significant thing I’ve heard about this agreement is that the American contractors and the American troops will be subject to Iraqi law once December 31st rolls around. THIS IS VERY SIGNIFICANT!!!! For example there are about 175,000 “contractors” in Iraq by the estimates I have heard. This includes the Blackwater “security” forces that ambushed 17 Iraqi civilians about a year or year and a half ago. They were not prosecuted because when the Civilian Provisional Authority (CPA) of Paul Bremer set up the “rules” for this occupation after the fall of Saddam, they said no Americans would be subject to Iraqi laws. Well, as I’m sure you can imagine, this hasn’t set well with the Iraqi’s that Americans can murder Iraqi civilians and then be flown out of the country and face no prosecution. I have read several books on this war and I believe it is safe to say that THE IRAQI’S ARE NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS!! In fact, I think they are so unhappy about it that the Blackwater’s and the Halliburton’s and the Bechtel’s might just not feel so welcome there if they are subject to Iraqi law. And if you’re not sure what that means there’s a book about Moqtada al Sadr – I’ve read it but can’t remember the author and I’ve loaned it out – that can give you a good idea of what these contractors might be up against once they are no longer protected by this provision (In fact, in the case of the Blackwater “contractors” who killed the Iraqi civilians, it was argued by Blackwater that they were not subject to American laws either – further angering the Iraqi’s who wanted them held accountable for the 17 murders – and rightly so).

Just this last “change” in “conditions on the ground” could bring our troops home faster than most people think – because if all these contractors decide that it’s not worth the money (and make no mistake about why they’re there – the “contractors” are making about 5 times what our troops are making for providing “support” services – all so that the American public can be deceived into thinking that we “only” have 150,000 troops “on the ground”) we will either have to replace them with military troops or get our occupying troops out of there. I think that under an Obama presidency the latter of the two choices is the most likely. And when you really think about this – “The war in Iraq” – who are we fighting. How can you be liberating a country from itself? The logic of this is so ridiculous that it makes me even crazier that I feel I need to be writing this. And it gets me to my last point – the why we were there in the first place – OIL!!! And the irony of that is that whoever Bush wanted to have control over the oil is highly unlikely to have control over the oil. This can’t be said for certain, because the Bushites are cagey about pilfering things from governments – they are pilfering US taxpayers out of 700 Billion as I speak – but I have heard several reports that the Iraqi’s are looking toward the Chinese as a major trading partner when it comes to their oil. I suppose some American companies might profit in the pumping of the oil, but in the end, I believe that even the oil aspect of this misadventure will be a catastrophe.

So, we finally have an agreement for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and the republicans can’t blame the Democrats for stopping the funding as they should have done two years (and over 1000 American lives) ago. Iran is far more of a world “player” than they would have been had we just allowed the sanctions to take out Saddam Hussein peacefully – although the Shia majority is now in control which is in a sense “democratic” – the Chinese are likely to benefit from the vast oil reserves in Iraq – and the middle east is far less stable than it was prior to the war. I’m sure that Obama’s presidency has given people all over the world the hope that the US will finally take the role of a Moral leader for peace in this world – but GW Bush has created circumstances that are daunting to say the least. I always thought that once an agreement for the timed withdrawal of American troops was finalized there would be massive celebrations across this great land. Yet, I’m not hearing much celebrating. But the incompetency of the Bush administration has been across the board – and the truth is most Americans are just trying to figure out how to make it to the next paycheck – if there is one. As I said earlier, I can’t wait to see the details of this agreement – I suspect it will put the final exclamation point on how pathetic the Bush administration has been – and, of course, they will try to “spin” it as “victory.” The only victory I see from Iraq is the demise of the republican party!

Tonight I read an article in the New York Times Op Ed section written by Mitt Romney, the person most republicans probably now think should have been their nominee. He was lobbying for the demise of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. He related how his father once saved American Motors from bankruptcy in the 1950’s and how they need to be totally re-organized which would happen nicely under Chapter 11 protection of the bankruptcy law. He makes his argument as if he has the best interest of the big three auto maker’s over the long term in mind, making the assumption that if we “bail” them out at this point in time it will just be putting off the inevitable collapse until another day. He is part of the republican “water carriers” who are going to make sure that this “bail-out” doesn’t happen under their watch. He makes a well written argument, especially for the people that think the republicans have the everyday person’s best interests in mind.

Fortunately, there are fewer and fewer people who are buying their speel. The problem is that Bush and Co. aren’t going to be thrown out until January and by the time Obama can do anything to save these companies, it might be too late. The first thing I need to say here is that I’m not defending the Auto companies – and when I say this I’m talking about the management. There can be no disagreement that the management in Detroit has been polluted by connections to the power brokers in Washington and the oil companies. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the management in Detroit went along with Reagan and Company when they reversed the CAFE standards imposed by Jimmy Carter that would have resulted in an average of 35 mpg cars as of this year. Obviously, Detroit has been fixated on building cars with a short-sighted look into the future and the reality of the fossil fuel situation. And I agree that any “rescue,” I like that word better than “bailout,” must have “strings” attached to it that are aimed mainly at management.

There is no way that the workers should be asked to sacrifice unless the management takes the lead. The ridiculous perks, salaries, and two martini lunches along with the private jets and private suites have to stop. For Romney to blame the workers and their health benefits on $2000 per car of cost over their competitors, does not take a fair look at management, and if the foreign companies are underpaying their workers to get a competitive advantage in our markets, there should be tariffs to protect Detroit’s jobs. If the fact that auto workers have good health benefits is the problem, well that’s all the more reason to have some kind of single payer national health system. As I read Romney’s article the underlying current of his argument was that the problem is the unions. Like most republicans, Romney would like to see all unions eliminated from the face of the earth. This is the point the American people need to see. As long as these republicans get away with destroying unions in this country, the middle class will continue to contract.

To me, that is what the last election was all about, restoring the middle class in America. The republicans are already on the attack. Last night I heard another one of their water carriers, I think it was Hannity, actually blaming Obama for the economic downturn. THIS IS SOME 65 DAYS BEFORE HIS INAUGURATION! If that doesn’t tell the democrats what lies ahead I don’t know what will. If they don’t develop a spine and face up to these thugs, I’m going to lose all hope. I fully believe that people like Romney, people with millions upon millions of net worth, are drooling at the prospect of the next few years. They are going to own even more! It seems like there will never be enough for these people. I’ll say it again, I believe it is way more important that we save GM than that we saved Goldman Sachs. Of course Henry Paulsen would never think like that, but the difference is that if Goldman would have gone down Henry would have lost millions, while if GM goes down it’s just the millions of “union” workers and those employed on the periferee that will go down – along with a lot of pensions that I’m sure the republicans think are too generous and the retirement accounts of many more Americans who have invested in American cars.

These guys protect their own. They are the most obviously self absorbed politicians in my lifetime, and probably in the history of the world – when you look at the magnitude of what they have heisted from the treasury during Bush’s 8 years in office. The thing that is really puzzling to me is how they can convince other working class Americans that they’re right. Even in the face of the worst economic crisis in the life of anyone less than 70 years of age, they continue to hammer away with their ridiculous rhetoric. And they will stop at nothing to bring this entire government down – blaming the demise on democrats all the way – and I truly hope that the vast majority of Americans are seeing through their lies. If GM goes down this recession will reach depression proportions – probably within a few months (and of course, they’ll blame Obama for this). Maybe they think that is the only way to stop the Obama phenomenon. Obviously their mantra of “country first” was nothing more than a bunch of hollow words. They want to destroy this economy and every union in the country in the process – before Bush leaves office and they lose control of the senate.

Those who have benefitted from the fiscal policies of the last eight years will be the ones picking up the pieces after the total collapse of the economy if they manage to get it that far. I’m sure their plan is to get even richer while they undermine Obama’s presidency as much as possible – leading to a republican “rescue” in either 4 or 8 years. That is why I have been emphasizing the importance of prosecuting everyone in the Bush administration who has contributed to the fleecing of the treasury and the undermining of the constitution. They are planning to be back soon, and they fully expect all the excesses that Bush has managed to push through to still be in place so they can “go from there.” Mitt Romney’s article to me was his “audition” to be the next republican nominee. He pushed all the “right” buttons. If they can crush the biggest union in the country, the rest of them should be easy!

There is so much I would like to write about, but the Bush administration and the republican party just won’t quit their thievery, so I have to write about them. They’re going to stay in the limelight right up to the last day, and they are perfectly willing to take the rest of us down with them. Remember, these guys HAVE ALL THE MONEY!!! A depression probably looks to them like an innocent mouse looks to the cat while the mouse is trying to steal some of the cat food. These guys are licking their chops at all the things they will be able to buy once they have totally destroyed our economy as it exists today. And I’m not talking about buying a cheap computer like maybe I would be thinking. They’re planning to buy up all the businesses that can’t withstand the economic calamity these republicans have created and are STILL WORKING ON!

At first, I honestly couldn’t understand their reluctance to “bailout” GM and the American auto industry. This is the industry that these republicans encouraged to build gas hog over-priced vehicles since the heyday of the Reaganomic era. Remember, Jimmy Carter had initiated fuel consumption standards that, had Reagan not rebuked them, would have virtually eliminated the present crisis. The average fuel economy coming out of Detroit, had Carter’s standards been left in place, would be something in the neighborhood of 35 MPG today. That’s the average. GM wouldn’t have scrapped their electric car technology. Hummers would have never been the “in” SUV for the elite “yuppie” crowd. Detroit would have been forced to compete with Toyota, Honda, etc. Now the republicans want to allow these American stalwarts to go into bankruptcy – according to Bush and others – because they have created their own problem and it is the result of poor management. This is kind of like when Reagan made promises to the Air Traffic Controllers and then broke those promises and did the opposite of what he promised as he destroyed their union on national television in an incredible demonstration to American business of how to bust unions. I have not doubt that is what they’re trying to accomplish in the last days of republican “rule.”

Clearly the people have spoken and rejected this mean-spirited greedy approach to government. WE’VE HAD ENOUGH! The probem as I see it, is the the democratic party constantly gets outwitted by these republicans. They’re (the republicans) like the 6th grade students in my class who believe there is never going to be a consequence (negative to them) for their actions. And the democrats keep letting them get away with it. The democrats latest folly is the 700 Billion dollar “bailout” of Wall Street – the funds that have gone to Henry Paulsen’s favorite banks – including the one in which he has over a half a Billion dollars in stock – these funds going with an incredible lack of oversight capability from Congress (do you remember the angst when Paulsen proposed a bailout with no strings attached, the democrats said “No way!” and then passed a bill with virtually no strings attached – this is par for the democratic course). From the republican perspective it is OK to bail out their financial buddies on Wall Street (the media continues to ignore the conflict of interest every one of the proponents of this bailout has for the nations banks to stay “above water”) – but if they bail out “large American corporations like GM” where will the bailouts stop. Evidently, AIG is not a large corporation. Neither, evidently, is Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, etc. Now the democrats have no leverage to help save GM because the republicans are going to continue their obstructionist tactics.

Many people are saying that waiting for Obama to take office is going to be too long for GM. The more they say that, the more likely it is true. Because GM, like the banks, relies on the confidence of consumers to a large extent to sell their products. So people in the market for cars are probably going to look elsewhere if they think there is the slightest chance that GM will be going down in the next couple of months. Obviously, Bush has little concern for his legacy, as stated in my last post to this site. I’ve spent a bit of time thinking about this and I keep coming up with only one logical answer. THE REPUBLICANS HATE UNIONS! They have managed to destroy most of the unions in this country in the last 30 years, but the American auto industry has managed to avoid the onslaught. Well, their final “goodbye,” I guess, will be an attempt to take down the biggest union of them all. I’m not sure if they fully realize the impact of GM going into bankruptcy, because they were clueless about Iraq, they have initiated one folly after another, but I tend to think they do understand and they are doing this is on purpose.

What if they are trying to destroy this government ON PURPOSE? Did you or anyone ever think about that? – I know I didn’t until recently. There is ample evidence that 9/11 could and should have been averted. Was Iraq just a way to pilfer the economy by a bunch of war profiteers, leading our nation into bankruptcy? (remember, GW Bush’s grandfather was a war profiteer in WW II – selling materials necessary for the buildup of the war “machine” of Adolph Hitler – it’s been a family trait for generations, including George HW Bush) These people can’t get enough money, and I’m just not sure what the ultimate motivation is. I know as a teacher that they have been trying to destroy the public schools since I’ve been teaching which is approaching 20 years. I’m convinced the reason why is that teachers in public schools are unionized. Again, REPUBLICANS HATE THIS! So, now that the average working class person in this country has been feeling a downward push on their real wages for 30 years, it appears that it is time for the ultimate collapse – and I believe that if GM goes down, that is what will happen. The economy simply can’t absorb the shock that would create.

For the republicans, it creates opportunity. I say it again, THEY HAVE ALL THE MONEY! What is ironic, we the taxpayers – including the millions of taxpayers who will lose their jobs if GM goes down – just gave these thugs 700 BILLION MORE DOLLARS! This makes me even more adamant. There must be a consequence for their behavior, or this will happen again, whether in 4 years, 8 years, or 50 years. Bush, Cheney, Rove, Addington, Gonzales, probably Paulsen, and more – they all need to be prosecuted. They are destroying the very fabric of our nation – and once they’re out of office if we don’t fight back, the fleecing will just get worse. My biggest frustration is that any working class person could even think of supporting these thugs. This will be the topic of another day, but I am predicting that the republicans inciting their “base” with racist rhetoric during the recent election is how they are going to “trick” working class people to fall for their garbage again. I’m sure they are already figuring out how to “blame” Obama for the economic demise. These guys are unbelievable thieves and liars. I say it again, the only fair way for Bush and company to leave office is in a paddy wagon!

One thing you can give the Bush administration credit for is stubbornness. It appears to me they are going to go down, spewing their misguided policies right to the last day. They’ll probably be executive ordering things that will make our heads spin as President Elect Obama is being sworn in. I found the pundit’s perspectives today of Obama’s reported discussions with President Bush as he “toured” the White House quite interesting. It was reported that Obama made a plea with Bush to use some of the “Bailout” money to prop up the US auto industry. Supposedly, Bush agreed to do this provided Obama drop his opposition to the Columbia Free Trade fiasco. This is beyond the pale to me! Is Bush really amenable to having the collapse of General Motors and maybe Ford Motor Company as the next part of his legacy. Let’s do a little inspecting as to what that would look like.

First, there’s the slight legal problem that Bush is potentially looking at. I think his “negotiating” would be more in his interest, both short term and long term, to try to convince Obama that all of the laws he broke were broken in a patriotic spirit. Not that Obama necessarily has the last say. Take for example if Obama was smart enough to nominate Patrick Fitzgerald to be attorney general. This is the guy who prosecuted “Scooter” Libby and appeared to be close to going after Cheney and Rove in the CIA leak scandal. I have a feeling that someone like Fitzgerald has enough respect for the “rule of law” that many of the Bush cronies would be walking on egg-shells while awaiting his decisions on who to prosecute for what crimes. And then there’s the congress with a solid majority – hopefully willing to enforce the supeonas that have been refused during the last two years of Bush’s administration. This could be a real problem for W, Cheney, Gonzales, Rove, Rumsfeld, and others. I personally have written to Obama pleading with him to restore the credibility to our legal system by investigating the Bush administration and letting the evidence determine the outcome of the investigations.

This does not even bring into account the possibility of foreign governments demanding accountability for the known torturing of “enemy combatants” by this seemingly unconscientable group of politicians. There is undeniable evidence that the order for torturing, clearly violating the Geneva conventions – set up by us, came directly from Bush’s White House. OK, so you have the legal problems that are likely to stain the legacy. Then there is the war in Iraq. I suppose you could lump this problem in with the legal problems, based on all the lies, forged documents, and incompetent decisions, but I believe ultimately it will go down as the biggest blunder of any president in US history – virually bankrupting our military and our economy in one felled swoop. For a group of greedy oil executives who never faced the reality of war first hand – Bush and Cheney and the others tried to act so tough on this one. How they sleep at night is beyond me – but Bush’s legacy takes a big hit here that nothing he could say to Obama would fix. The irony of it all is that before Bush leaves office the Iraqi government appears to be on the verge of forcing Bush to accept the same timeline Obama has been proposing for at least two years “regardless of conditions on the ground.” Another irony is that the oil profits will likely fall into the hands of the very countries Bush/Cheney were trying to prevent from getting them.

Then there is our economy. A quick look back on history brings up so many parallels to 1929 that it is a bit scary even for those of us who have been predicting the demise of “trickle down” economics for many years. I thought the Clinton plan of paying as you go, along with the prosperity that went with it, had put a fork into this failed philosophy. But unfortunately Clinton’s inability to control his personal behavior gave the republicans just the opening they needed (along with some devious practices at the polls – and a strategically placed brother to their candidate in Florida). I couldn’t believe it when Bush wiped out the 250 billion surplus with a stroke of a pen in his first few months at the helm. Then he prosecuted a war with 100% borrowed money while telling us (US citizens) that the way we could sacrifice was to “keep shopping.” I could never understand why there wasn’t more outrage to that statement, but I’ve come to understand that the consolidation of the media has led to strict control of the so-called liberal media by about five conservative republican controlled corporations. As far as I’m concerned, journalistic reporting is a thing of the past. Our airwaves are controlled by people looking for ratings – on “both sides of the isle.”

The reality for Bush, however, is a place in history (infamy) right along side Herbert Hoover. He gave his Vice President control of the economy and Dick Cheney was quoted as saying “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.” He said this while adding insult to injury as the Bush administration compounded their initial tax cuts with an assault on capital gains taxes, inheritance taxes, and dividend income taxes. Of course, for most of us, none of those taxes makes a hill of beans of a difference – but they managed to pull it off by getting millions of Americans to support their ideas through virtual brainwashing from media outlets such as Fox “news” and right wing talk radio. On top of the huge debt incurred during Bush’s “watch” his economic advisors virtually eliminated any oversight on the financial sectors of the economy and their greed is taking us all into the “toilet” so to speak. For example, my voice and people’s voices like me have been essentially meaningless except for the few people who listened to us and refused to take out sub-prime loans and got their own finances in order before the collapse of the economy started to destroy one family’s after another’s financial situation. But we will all suffer for the millions of people who had no one to advise them to avoid these sup-prime loans like the plague – people who listened to the Bush predators who were laughing all the way to what was then “the bank.”.

The final straw for Bush has been the mismanagement of the crisis once it became obvious to everyone that the economy was crumbling (I guess that shouldn’t surprise anyone due to the fact everything else they have done has been mismanaged). Bush’s theory (which he got from Reagan) that the government is the “enemy” has come back to bite him where “the hair is short.” Lack of regulation not only exaserbated the incompetence it has led to an inability to manage the crisis. The decision to let Lehman Brothers go into bankruptcy while bailing out Bear Stearns was a bit puzzling – and the consequence was certainly misjudged completely by Henry Paulsen and Ben Bernanke (it’s interesting to me that Goldman Sachs was “next” along with Morgan Stanley when Paulsen decided the government had to step in – Paulsen of course was Goldman’s CEO prior to becoming Treasury Secretay). This led to the wild bailout where $700 Billion was allocated for who knows what – with the result of that being higher executive compensation among other things – and, of course, it has done nothing to stop the hemoraging of housing prices which is the catalyst for the collapse in the first place.

Even when these guys resort to the largest dose of “socialism” this country has ever seen (The Fed had pumped in over a trillion dollars prior to the “bailout”) they keep giving the money to themselves probably believing their own lies that it will eventually “trickle down” to us everyday folks. I guess the fact that the congress went along with the bailout will give them someone to blame as they try to defend their legacy. But the truth is that Bush has messed up this country to the point that it will be difficult to restore our stature in the world, our economical place in the world, and our economy at home. So when Obama was suggesting Bush support spending some of the “bailout” money to rescue the auto industry – an industry that actually employs millions of hard working “blue collar” Americans he should jump at the chance to do something right for a change. If General Motors goes the way of Lehman Brothers the effects will be exponentially greater. And if the President elect feels that the crisis can’t wait until January 20th, then President Bush would be well advised to listen. It’s hard to imagine Bush’s legacy getting any worse, but the failure of General Motors will make Herbert Hoover look like an economic genius compared to Bush!

It’s been almost a week now since President elect Obama’s victory on November 4th and not much has surprised me since then. There are definitely some things of concern that need to be addressed. While I would really like to talk about Obama’s plan to be a uniter and how that won’t happen without putting his foot down, so to speak, on the misdeeds of the Bush administration in general, tonight I’m going to focus on Dick Cheney while the contents of the book “Angler,” by Barton Gellman, are still fresh in my mind. I could also talk about the continued vile rhetoric of the extreme republican right – the people like Limbaugh, Hannity, O’reilly, Palin, and others – people who are still making disgusting, dishonest, and divisive comments imbedded in their own racial prejudices as our next president tackles possibly the most extreme “mess” any president in history has inherited. However, I’ll save that one for another day, because I’m convinced that Obama must overturn the abuses perpetrated by Dick Cheney and his lawyer David Addington (well, that’s not to discredit “Scooter” Libby before he was convicted of 4 felonies) as one of the first things he does once he takes the reins of this great nation on January 29th.

Make no mistake, I believe with all my heart that Cheney and Addington belong in jail. They have operated as if they were mobsters in manipulating the policies of the Bush administration to the point where I believe they thought that our constitution was just an annoying impediment to what they thought was “right.” Bush is not innocent here, and he deserves to spend some “time” thinking about the inhumanity he has perpetrated, but, in my opinion, he’s no match for Cheney. From the beginning many people have surmised that this was really the Cheney/Bush administration – and in many ways that is exactly what it was. Bush allowed Cheney more latitude and power, by far, than any vice president in history. Cheney was not about to be stymied by the president, the constitution, or even the members of his own political party. Most of the “testimony” in Gellman’s book comes from former Bush administration surrogates who have finally decided to start speaking out on what actually was going on during the first 6 years of their tenure in the White House.

For starters, Cheney was Bush’s “vettor” of potential VP’s once he had garnered the Republican nomination back in 2000. Cheney collected extensive “dossiers” on many of the leading republicans, telling each he was on the short list of 3 – 5 candidates for the selection. They were to give every bit of information, even the stuff that might prove embarrassing, to prevent surprises should they be selected by President elect Bush. I believe he collected info on about 20 or so leading republicans which included Bill Frist, Lamar Alexander – two key senators – several governors and just a wide array of republican leaders. Then after Cheney selected himself – he leaked info that basically ruined the political career of the governor of Oklahoma, info that had been included in the info provided for the vetting process. That left a lasting impression on all the others about what information Cheney had and what he would do with it should they decide to disagree with any of the Bush policies. A heckuva way to create unity, wouldn’t you agree – you betcha!

When I read that I thought, even for republicans, that was sicko. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This guy really is evil. I could talk about 9/11 and what that did to Cheney’s psychi, but his garbage started long before 9/11. The invasion of Iraq started, I’m sure, well before Bush became president – at least the plans for it – but Cheney’s so-called energy task force which was highly secret (and still is to this day) was mapping the Iraq oil fields well before the Al Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Also, the philosophy behind the warrantless wiretapping didn’t start on 9/11 either. Cheney had felt that FISA was a mistake since it was instituted in 1978. He was willing to initiate a program of illegal wiretapping without a second thought. He put lawyers in place who were willing to tell him that wiretapping, and just about anything else he wanted to do, was legal. To me, these lawyers were almost worse than Cheney because they were supposed to take an oath to support the constitution, not find ways to “get around it.” 9/11 just gave Cheney more of an excuse to attempt to expand the presidency to a role that approached what we traditionally would call a fascist dictator. In conjunction with large corporate interests the attempt was to gain complete unfettered control of our system of government.

Bush was complicit in all of this because he gave Cheney the power. In most cases I believe that Bush was aware of what Cheney was doing, but not in all cases. And Cheney was actually making some of the presidential decisions himself, even without the Bush “rubber stamp.” During the 9/11 Crisis Cheney actually ordered the Air Force to shoot down any more planes which might be potential “weapons” after he was scurried into the bomb shelter beneath the White House. Logs of phone converstations between him and the President prove undoubtedly that Cheney usurped the President’s authority – when constitutionally he’s not even in the chain of command. The Vice President’s job is to prepare to take over the Presidency should something untoward happen to the incumbent and to break ties in the Senate. That’s it! He is absolutely not to be in the chain of command regarding national policy – anything more than an advisory role. Now I don’t think this action would have been unforgiveable seeing as how Bush was in an elementary classroom and proved somewhat incapable of reacting as if he was the President while all this was going on, but both Bush and Cheney lied – outright – to the 9/11 commission about this, presumably to avoid the embarrassment that would go along with the action – probably more pointedly toward Bush’s lack of leadership in the time of crisis. Both Bush and Cheney refused to testify to the commission under oath – I guess because they knew they were going to lie (making it pre-meditated) – and they refused to testify without being there together. These people proved over the last 8 years that lying is just part of their persona’s, but it is incredible to me how little reaction this obvious, easily provable lie, about an attack on our nation received fromt the national press.

Bush allowed Cheney to fill all of the positions during the transition from the Clinton White House. This explains the hijacking of the justice department. Cheney put loyalists to him from his many years in Washington, and their aim from the beginning was to use the justice department to further their agenda, not giving a hoot about the damage done to the part of our government that needs to be non-partisan more than any other. I believe if we find the extent of what was done by the justice department – the truth – it will, or at least it should, rock this nation. In actuality there were some members of the department that couldn’t go along with the extremes set out by Cheney and Addington. Even attorney general John Ashcroft – no friend of the ACLU – couldn’t go along with the warrantless wiretapping. And Jim Comey appointed Patrick Fitzgerald as a special prosecutor in the CIA leak scandal, leading to Scooter Libby’s conviction as he took one for the “Gipper” (Cheney). Well, Cheney and Addington were not too happy with these (Comey, Fitzgerald, and Ashcroft) traitors to the cause. I’m sure in his mind it was kind of like what Nixon said back in the 70’s about the president, although this time it referred to the vice president – “If the Vice Presient does it, it must be legal!”

Cheney was directly behind the outing of Valerie Plame – Libby covered up for him – in fact, Cheney was the architect behind the policy that anyone who disagreed with the administration would be “slimed” and ruined. I’m convinced that even the democrats were fearful of his slime machine – probably still are. Cheney initiated the warrantless wiretapping program, he was behind the torturing of “enemy combatants” and the secret prisons all over the globe that have ruined the United States moral authority in the world (although this garbage has been going on since the 70’s – or maybe earlier – just not so outwardly sanctioned by the White House), he was the driving force behind the taxing policies that funneled billions to the rich and left this country in virtual bankruptcy as he leaves office, he led the lie machine that got us into Iraq (Dick Armey – the republican majority whip in the house at the time – claims Cheney lied to him, right to his face, in order to get Armey to support the invasion – which Armey now feels he could have stopped had he known the truth), and we would be in Iran right now if Cheney hadn’t worn out his welcome with Bush at about year 6 of his presidency. I believe it took Bush that long to realize how poorly served he had been under Cheney. I even think that when Bush reads this book, he’ll find out some more reasons to be disgusted with his Vice President.

There is much more. Cheney even went behind Bush’s back when Bush didn’t agree with him on legislation. Cheney would just go to his contacts in the house and get them to manipulate bills so that by the time they reached Bush’s desk the bills resembled what Cheney wanted and the president had no idea that Cheney had manipulated the system to go around him. Cheney has probably destroyed most of the records that will provide us with the truth about his goings on in the last 8 years. He has claimed incredible secrecy powers, he has been the driving force behind Bush appointees refusing supoenas in Congress and in an interview about a year ago, when a reporter pointed out how much the public disagreed with his positions, he was finally honest when he said, “So?” More than anyone I’ve seen in my lifetime, Dick Cheney believes he is above the law. This is why it is so important that he be answerable for ALL of his transgressions – along with Addington and Libby and the others who perpetrated this incredible abuse of power. This is no longer about him. This is about our nation and whether we truly are a nation of laws. I am writing to Obama to encourage him to empower his justice department to investigate EVERYTHING that was done in this White House, especially Dick Cheney. I really did gain a bit of compassion for President Bush after reading this book. While Bush went way over the line, his motivation was entirely different than Cheney’s. Cheney was operating as some kind of professional criminal – I’m sure there is going to be a movie about his Vice Presidency and it will be Godfather like. Those that think like him, I’m sure, believe that Obama is just a bump in the road, and it is imperative that President Obama eliminate any thoughts that a future administration might go there again. The way to prevent another Cheney, is to prosecute the one we’ve got!

Well, the tears of joy have been wiped away and I just have to write. As I was sitting on my couch watching as the results of the most significant election of my lifetime were coming in, I couldn’t help but think that I never thought I would live to see this day.  And then my good friend, Pastor Ronnie Hill, a true man of distinction who I had the pleasure to work with in the public school system for many years, a man of African decendency, an honored veteran of the American military, and a man who grew up in Ohio in an age when “no we couldn’t” ruled the day, called me as Barack Obama went over the threshold and became the president elect of this nation.  I asked him that question “Did you ever think you would live to see this day;” and the emotion in his voice as he told me that, no – he never thought a day like today would happen in his lifetime, made it clear I could not even imagine what him and other people who have directly suffered the pain of discrimination were feeling tonight.

 As a former “sawmill worker” I always am embarrassed when I find tears in my eyes.  Usually, it happens at some movie with a happy ending.  Well, tonight as I lay on the couch the tears started to flow and I realized how much emotion I had invested in President elect Obama’s campaign – and then I watched the camera pan the crowd in Chicago where Obama was to give his acceptance speech.  There was Jessie Jackson – tears flowing down his face as he was just standing quietly in the crowd.  From person to person, there were the tears.  This is truly an historic night.  But as Obama said, this election did not bring about the change we who supported him so desire, it only brought about the opportunity for that change.  The battle has just begun.  And I don’t think a president could be facing any tougher challenges than the ones Obama will be tackling.  As he said, he is the president of the people who didn’t vote for him, the ones who disagree with him, and it will be up to all of us to bring about the change that will truly restore greatness to this nation.

John McCain gave a very gracious concession speach.  But make no mistake about it, the republicans fared about as well as they could have hoped in this election.  The senate will be nowhere near the 60 vote majority.  The republicans will be able to continue blocking progressive legislation unless “we the people” stand tall along side Obama in the four years to come.  Anybody who gets all caught up in the “fluff” of the moment is kidding him/her self.  The republican “attack machine” will be in full force before January 20th.  When McCain conceded to Obama many in the crowd booed – reminding me of the divisive campaign McCain/Palin waged – and McCain suggested just what I had written about in previous posts – that we can expect a full dose of Palin in the next four years.  She has become the darling of the republican party.  And she’s no more qualified now than she was a couple months ago, she’s still affiliated with a group with ties to the John Birch Society, and I expect her to continue to fling about ridiculous claims about Obama as we go through the next four years.

Also, the republicans will be planning their return to power, if not in four, then in eight years.  I personally am expecting another Bush – Jeb the former governor of Florida.  I totally feel he would have been the candidate this time if George hadn’t been such a disaster – even the republicans aren’t that stupid.  But, make no mistake about it, if Obama does not hold George Bush, Dick Chaney, Alberto Gonzales, et al accountable for their trampling of our rights and the rights of so-called “enemy combatants,” we will pay a price down the road.  While I agree that unification is important, it is not more important than justice.  It is not more important than the basic tenets of our constitution.  All the violations of our citizens rights, our adversaries rights, all the signing statements, all the executive orders that have trampled the environment at the bequest of big business, all the abuses of the power granted by our constitution to the executive branch, the politicization of the justice department, the demise of the CIA, the introduction of government sponsored militias, the idea that the vice president is part of the chain of command – we can not truly begin the healing process in this country until these wrongs have been “righted.”

If George Bush and Dick Cheney, along with others in their administration, end up in prison – so be it.  We have sent a message to the rest of the world that we are rejecting the past eight years of abuse to our system of government and to the accepted international norms that we helped to create after the last so-called war to end all wars, WW II.  Once the abuses of the Bush administration have been fully investigated and we know all that was done in our name, then the healing can truly begin.  If I could just spend five minutes talking to Senator Obama, I would encourage him not to stand in the way of this necessary justice as Clinton did with the first Bush administration after the abuses of Iran/Contra – like Carter did after the abuses of the Nixon administration.  The American people need to know, they deserve to know, everything that has been done in the last 8 years in almost total secrecy.  Future presidents need to understand that they will not refuse oversight investigations from congress, their aides will not refuse to answer supoenas to congress or anywhere else, that this is a nation of laws and not of men.  The future of our country is far more important than the future of George Bush, Dick Cheney and the others who perpetrated the fleecing of our nation.  If these men do not get the opportunity to defend their actions in a court of law, we have failed in this election.  If they are either held accountable for their actions or exonerated by a truly impartial jury of their peers, then all America – when referring to the future – can say, “Yes we can!”