Countdown's <I>Bushed!</i> Immunity, Economy and Other Priorities
By Nicole Belle Monday Mar 03, 2008 8:30am
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Does it bother anyone else that there never seems to be a lack of material for these Bushed! segments? It's amazing to me how the producers must actually have to pick from all the choices they have.
For Monday's edition we look at the letter written (.pdf) to Congress beseeching them to not consider telecom immunity--yeah, like they're listening to anyone but the White House fear mongering--written amazingly enough by a group representing some of the very companies that would benefit from said immunity. Wow, honor and standing for what's right...we haven't had a lot of that during these Bush years, have we?
Next up is Warren Buffett, the second richest man in America, who laughs at the overly rosy characterization by Bush and says sorry, we are actually in a recession:
Asked in an interview with the CNBC business television network whether he thought the economy was in a recession, Buffett responded: "I think it's clear. What isn't clear, is how far it goes."
"I see what's going on in terms of the wealth of Americans and how they feel about their houses, I see purchasing power decline, obviously when someone forecloses on a home, the purchasing power of that family is not going to be very much. I see unemployment increasing a little bit," Mr Buffett said.
And finally, we get the two most recent departures from the Bush Administration: VA Undersecretary of Benefits Daniel Cooper and Office of Public Liaison's Timothy Goeglein. Cooper has quit amid growing criticism of the backlog of VA and his stated preference for Bible study over any work, proving once again that to the Bush Administration, 'supporting the troops' is only a bumper sticker. Goeglein resigned after it was revealed that in addition to providing oh-so-important access to the religious right, Goeglein was also a serial plagiarist. What, was Ben Domenech not available?
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Bush the gift that keeps on giving :
"I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who were trying to defeat us."
-- George Bush, thanks the troops with a Freudian slip
(3/3/2008)
We should put the big hurt on the Big D
The actions of senior Democratic leadership on this issue is galling. We should call up the people who are responsible for laying down the plans for this horrifying abrogation of our rights as citizens, and make it plain to them that if they try to go through with this unspeakably corrupt legislation, that we will reach out and touch them. I don't live in Silvestre Reyes's congressional district, or Steny Hoyers's, nor do I live in Nevada, home of Senator Harry Reid, or West Virginia, home of Senator Jay Rockefeller. But I can send money to primary challengers, and if they think they can trade my rights for their congressional safety, they have another think coming. It doesn't matter who occupies those chairs in Washington if the result is the same as GOP domination.
Silvestre Reyes:
Phone: (202) 225-4831
Steny Hoyer:
Phone - (202) 225-4131
Harry Reid:
Phone: 202-224-3542
Jay Rockefeller:
(202) 224-6472
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee:
202-224-2447
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:
202-863-1500
Give a moron near-absolute power and you will always have tons of 'material'.
Too bad the country had to go down the tubes to get it.
OK trolls, when was the country this fucked up? I want a real card carrying Bush voting troll to tell me when the country was anywhere this fucked up, post depression era of course. I lived throught the 70s, 80s and 90s so you all tell me. is this an unprecedented era of governmental ineptitude, corruption and lethargy?
I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR yesterday and heard this piece about how the VA makes injured Iraq War Vets jump through hoops to get any kind of compensation. They have to prove where they were injured, they have to prove which hospitals they were treated in along the way from the battlefield through Germany, back in the states. They have to prove what their diagnosis is.
There are currently 200,000 vets awaiting final judication for benefits after a long arduous process. 400,000 have just begun the process.
But then again, "God's word" written down 2000 years ago by self serving humans and misinterpreted and fought over for millenia does take precidence...
Nixon must be smiling wherever he is. Because this is without a doubt the most corrupt, incompetent, idiot-filled administration of all time, bar none, without hyperbole. Makes Tricky Dick look like a fucking patriot.
Yet another reason why the press corp has been turned into a bunch of pavlovian dogs waiting for the dinner bell. Because shrub co. doesn't want the public to get the pics of his staff in their day to day "positions": squatting on the floor waving bibles, raving in tongues and soaking cheney's shoe leather with kisses if he happens to pass by.
The WORLD has been Boooooooooooooshed! Send him and his fellow treasonous cretins to the gallows (after a nice vacation and "fair trial" at Gitmo).
Nobody should be sent to Gitmo. It should be torn down.
All you have to do is turn the spigot half a turn to get a few gallons of slime coming off the administration. No wonder bush is trying to run this "Hide-History" Bill through Congress.
I've never seen a more secretive admin in all my years on the planet.
When people act THIS secretive, it means only one thing, THEY HAVE PLENTY TO HIDE.
All right! All right, already! I'm convinced. The Bush Administration is all fucked up.
Question: Have they ever done anything that benefited anyone other than themselves?
I cant wait till this moron is out of office. I prayed he would be impeached but alas, no one has the balls. Now we have a dysfunctional government (It was never really functional, but it's much worse now). I never thought i would see the day when I lived through the worst president, but here we are!
xoites defends Constitution @ 7:
Come on xiotes. Please, please just this administration.
Dr. Acula @ 6:
What if other nations are petitioned to charge these bastards with war crimes? It's obvious nothing will ever be done to any of them on US soil, but.....what if it was impossible for them to ever leave? Remember the Rumsfeld deal, where another country had issued a warrant for his arrest, and he ended up visiting and had to sneak out to get out of there? Would that not be sweet if the entire bunch had to live their lives like that? I can see the headlines............Suspected War Criminal Condi Rice Arrested Shoe Shopping In Canada............Cheney Arrested In Sweden, Held On Charges
WAR is a racket. It always has been.
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.
Smedley D. Butler - USMC Retired
If you look at the pdf letter, it says clearly that the administration broke Constitutional rules, and that the telecoms want protection. I'm so mad I can hardly type straight. Can't we ditch Pelosi or something? Can't we recall her from her so-called leadership position?
Ron @ 11:
The camel's nose under the tent.
Heres a wacky idea:
How about when a service-person gets injured in action
they are taken care of financially by the companies who are making Billions from them being there in teh first frikken place.
Lets see....
Exxon
Haliburton
KBR
Blackwater
GE
Fox
...I'm sure these MegaCorporations would be more than happy to 'support the troops'
wouldnt they?
xoites defends Constitution @ 7:
No, Xoits. I think that sending them to Guantanamo for waterboarding would be poetic justice and the perfect ending of the neo-con reign of terror.
I don't think anyone in Germany will let another Hitler hijack their country again, after Nürnberg.
The US needs to solve the problem in a similar fashion, or it may just happen again in a generation or two.
xoites defends Constitution @ 7:
I'd make an exception for Busholini and his cabal of scumbags.
Dr. Acula @ 18:
You don't usually get this many people disagreeing with you. Maybe you should relent.
Harry and Nancy should be replaced. They refuse to uphold the constitution and do their jobs.
Nancy and Harry are to polite for their own good. How did Repukes come to power? By smearing and bullying every chance they got. Now that Americans are sick of it, Nancy and Harry seem to be playing the "Lets all be Friends" crap. We need people with the guts to demand justice.
It bothers me altogether the criminal and insane Bush Administration has been allowed to continue for eight years. With no impeachment insight or any accountability of their actions...the next Administration will be even worse.
Livin' in AmeriKa...we live in AmeriKa.
No, i won't relent. You can't stand up for justice when it is conveinient. I defend the free speech of the KKK because their right to speak is the same as my right to speak. (My right not to listen i also hold dear.)
xoites defends Constitution @ 23:
Hey I was just joking, but I do think this administration should be prosecuted.
Ron @ 24:
I agree with prosecution whole heartedly.
Utopia for all the freshly minted War Millionaires and Billionaires.
LA Confidential, You got that right!
Dr. Acula @ 18:
A reasonable compromise: We send them there and don't let 'em leave until they tear it down -- using nothing but plastic cutlery and bits of metal salvaged from Dick's pacemaker.
xoites defends Constitution @ 23:
Good point, Xoits. What would you prefer, Den Haag? Or would you trust an American tribunal?
321 days.
CheneyIsADick @ 29:
I think both venues have a strong case.
fastfeat @ 30:
Assuming the Diebold machines are honest.
P.D. @ 27:
It's true everyone from Tweety to Blitzer to you fill in the ________ is making a literal "Killing" off of this Boosh*t.
And people scratch their heads wondering why they promote war?
xoites defends Constitution @ 31:
Considdering what the judicial branch of gov't. managed to do in 2000, I wouldn't trust an American tribunal further than I could throw one.
CheneyIsADick @ 32:
Diebold had an unsolicided bid of 3 billion $ from a company that has a lobbyist working on McCains campaign.
"written amazingly enough by a group representing some of the very companies that would benefit from said immunity. Wow, honor and standing for what’s right…we haven’t had a lot of that during these Bush years, have we?"
Let's not kid ourselves. The telecoms are suffering from cancelled subscriptions because of this.
This is about self interest, not about doing what is right.
Why is there nothing on Crooks & Liars about Hillary's campaign commercial on the Daily Show last night?
CheneyIsADick @ 34:
Yes, but if they are tried both here and in the International Community the Judiciary will be falling all over themselves to do it correctly.
A life sentence in the US to be followed by a life sentece elswhere would work for me.
ched @ 37:
Was that not the worst Daily Show this year? Wow. I was so un-laughing.
LA, I hope 2008 is a banner year. Tweety and Blitzer and Tucker are mouth pieces for corporate interests. The sad thing is, Americans have no idea or are interested, including my family. Sad, huh?
ched @ 37:
I wouldn't be surprised if they're working on it as we
speakwrite.xoites defends Constitution @ 38:
They deserve to grow old in shame, deprived of their ill gotten wealth. Yes, the rest of their natural life in prison would suffice.
McCain lobbyists company made a bid for Diebold.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/business/04diebold.html?_r=1&ref=busin...
ConcernedCanuck @ 39:
And they say HRC does have a sense of humor? I'm not sure an SNL skit really qualifies..
Everytime I send an e-mail I also send a copy of it to my Senator, Congressman and the White House. I like to explain to them that I am saving the government the effort of spying on me. I hope they enjoy looking at my penis.
debg @ 14:
I read the letter - quite an eye opener. In the CCIA letter the word "conflates" appears. Now my memory tells me that they want to "combine" what they have done and what they intend to do because they strongly support "prospective immunity".
What the telecoms are saying in essence, they plan to go right on with breaking the law. "Prospective immunity" will get them out of hot water in the future. Same thing as "retroactive immunity" - - - isn't it?
The letter is signed by a man named "Black". Who is he?
Chuck @ 45:
LOL!
ConcernedCanuck @ 39:
I totally agree with you. I turned it off the interview after about a minute. It was too painful to watch.
How is it, no one else but Huffington Post picked up on Vanity Fair's Iran Contra 2.0 article? THAT is the definition of "BUSHED", all these are just sidebars. how many Palistinians were killed because of this?
P.D. @ 21:
Rest easy,
George W. Bush Jr. will pardon himself of all things
good, bad and in between.
BD
For Monday’s edition we look at the letter written (.pdf) to Congress beseeching them to not consider telecom immunity–yeah, like they’re listening to anyone but the White House fear mongering–written amazingly enough by a group representing some of the very companies that would benefit from said immunity. Wow, honor and standing for what’s right…we haven’t had a lot of that during these Bush years, have we?
Um, that's nice, but I don't see that CCIA actually represents any telephone line owners or operators, who would be the ones affected by "telecom immunity". Rather, its member companies include computer manufacturers (such as Sun), software companies (such as Microsoft), and companies that use the Internet, such as Yahoo and Google, rather than companies whose telecom infrastructure underlies both the WWW and the telephone/cell networks.
So companies NOT affected by the immunity call to oppose the immunity? It's nice, but it's not so much of an argument against interest.
The world should have paid more attention to Molly Ivins.
Several people have read the CCIA letter, but apparently no-one has checked its membership list:
http://www.ccianet.org/members.html
None of the big telcos are on that list. This letter was written by an organization which represents computer companies who are trying to break into the telecom business.
AT&T, Sprint and Verizon are definitely NOT represented by this group.
James D. Milne @ 54:
God I miss her. She was so right.
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