ByeBye Bush

I was chatting with a friend recently and we had to admit that seldom have we been so thrilled to see a President of the United States leave office. And I think that would be true even if we were not looking forward to the 44th holder of the office.

GW flying off to obscurity (he does not get to take Air Force One like in this picture) brings joy to my heart equal to the time that Nixon was wisked away by Marine heliocopter after resigning. He was immediately pardoned by the first Bush to the hold office of President. That soured the whole joyful celebration sadly. Nixon should have had to stand trial for his high crimes as should GW. I hold no illusions that he will. But listening to his goodbye press conference and exit interviews I just could not face his farewell address.

If nothing else Georgie is guilty of revisionist history. (Historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations and decision-making processes surrounding an historical event. The assumption of the revisionist (GW in this case) is that the interpretation of a historical event or period as it is accepted by the majority of scholars needs a significant change.)

I reached my tolerance level when he said even in the worst moments he had fun being president. Does this man listen to what he says? Rather like Palin, huh? But probably the worst thing about this prolonged farewell of GW's is that he has fiddled while Rome burned or in this case he has preened before the cameras while our economy has crashed around our feet. And not just in the United States but around the world.

Still Fox had the audacity to post a poll they took (I will assume among their viewers) that Bush now had a 34% approval rating which combined with his highs and lows gave him an overall aproval rating of 51%. If nothing else this is a condemnation of polls, Fox News (bought an paid for by its advertisers), and the Republican party.

I approve only of his going. He essentially left the day after the election. We have had nobody at the helm, not even the village idiot. Soon we will have a real president.

Word Salad

I chanced upon this little illustration on a BBC News item: Words that Sum up the Bush Presidency.

They, or a computer, took the words he used in the state of the Union addresses over the term of his presidency and left out little words like of and that and the. The more frequently a word is used the bigger it is. So we could say that for Bush people of America must.

It is not really clear what the American people must do but it clearly has very little to do with rights, lives, building, or liberties. Women, Medicare, relief, funding, or opportunity also scores really low.

But the thing which hit me is he gave eight speeches of about an hour in length each and there are maybe a 100 to 150 words is this image? My dog training book tells me that my oodles (a standard poodle and a labradoodle) should be able to master the meanings of 125 to 150 words. That makes them smarter than the 43rd president of the United States.

Another article of a related nature I read said that GW's speeches were generally on a 3rd to 4th grade level of understanding (because of how many kids no child left behind left behind?) while President-elect Barack Obama's speeches are generally on a 9th grade level (must be dumbing it down for a wider audience from his college lecture days) while most newspapers are written on a 6th grade reading level in part because people can understand orally (not unlike my ooodles) more than they can read or write.

Some interesting points to ponder I think.

Shadow President

Recently on an interview Former President Bush (Daddy not son) was asked about Jeb Bush running for President in 2012 and he replied that it might be too early for another Bush in the White House. At least George (Daddy not son) is still firing on all thrusters as they say on StarTrek.

Son does not have a clue to this day. Polls say that 79% of the American people will be HAPPY to see him gone (no one has bothered to poll the rest of the world on this issue) and yet he has said he hopes to not overshadow Obama after he leaves office.

Frankly I don't see a chance of that. Most people are not aware he is still president. He has gone from being a lame duck to being a shadow president. While Obama visits Capital Hill drumming up support for his economic stimulus package GW is giving "exit interviews." Iraq burned, New Orleans flooded, and the economy crashed and he has remained oblivious to each and every pratfall while he has been in office. What little mistakes he will admit to he blames on others. His spin on his legacy is often laughable if it were not so sad.

He claims to have kept America safe (if his presidency began September 12, 2001); gave us record economic growth( if it ended December 2007); vanquished leading Qaeda terrorists (if you don't count bin Laden and al-Zawahri). He claims to have lead the world in providing food aid and natural disaster relief (if you don't count our own country and Katrina). Only 1/3 of his devout followers even entertain a post-presidency presence for this failed leader of the free world. The rest wish it had ended with the "Mission Accomplished" banner. GW is sure from the perspective of history all his decisions in office will be seen as memorable.

They are now. Horridly memorable. Laughable even if we were not going to have to live with the consequences into the next century if not beyond. We want him and his presidency to go away. If there were time machines we would go back to those hanging chads and riot in the streets for a recount NOW. And while GW has 13 more days in office he really is not president of the United States. Obama is in all but name. He is our hope for a better tomorrow.

Oh, if the previous eight years were only a bad dream.

Seventeen More Days But Who's Counting

Sometimes when you Google an image you get pleasant surprises like this electronic abacus designed in 1990. Cool, huh?

The sentence above is probably a good indication of just how interesting political news has been of late. It seems all about accounting. A million dollar bailout there and a million dollar bailout here and pretty soon you are talking about real money. Now the state governors want $1 trillion. Poor Christmas sales make poor sales tax and the retail companies are asking for relief from the sales tax they have to pay. The trickle down theory of economics at its worst.

President elect (we can only have one president at a time) Obama is going to be on Capital Hill this coming Monday to talk to Congressional leaders about a stimulus package to get the economy going. He would like to sign it on day one of his presidency - January 20th. And the Republican opposition is already lining up.
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"We agree with President-elect Obama that taking action to turn the economy around is job one. We also agree, though, that every dollar needs to be spent wisely and not wasted in the rush to get it spent," McConnell (R-Ky) said. "And we hope that Democrats in Congress don't attempt to shut the American taxpayer out of this process by trying to pass a bill that hasn't been the subject of bipartisan review and that hasn't been available for public inspection."
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And TARP, the troubled asset relief program pushed through the congress by the Republicans and GW. is spending money wisely and not wasting it? And we got an opportunity for public inspection of the bill? And it was subject to a considered bipartisan review? I think NOT.

Why is it the other party always demands that the opposition not make the same mistakes they are making? And does it in a way that sounds like they didn't make any?
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"Let's be clear," said Boehner (R-Ohio), "it is essential that this legislation be debated in a fair, open, and honest way. Congress should have public hearings in the appropriate committees, the text of the measure should be made available online for the American people to review for at least one week, and it should be free from special-interest earmarks."
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Duh? This stimulus package is all about earmarks. It is about building bridges and restoring our interstate highway system. It is about putting people back to work after all the huge outsourcing of industry to China. This is about trickle up economics. Put Americans back to work rebuilding American (not Iraq) and then we spend money at retail stores and car dealerships. They pay sales tax and the states don't need a bailout.

I vote we take any remaining TARP funds after the Republicans have rewarded all their buddies for tanking the economy and throw it in this stimulus package as well.

Seventeen days and counting.

That Was the Year that Was

It is that time of year where everyone in the media comes up with their best and worst list. The outcome of the 2008 election seems to have made a lot of the best lists and number one in most. No surprise as 75% of the population is thrilled GW Bush is leaving office. So his departure is contender for best in 2009.

The rise and then fall of gas prices gets it considered for both my worst and best list. I frankly am joyful about the trend downward. I am frankly waiting for more deflation before buying much of anything. But the best part of rising gas prices was that it got me looking seriously at my driving habits, energy use in my house, etc. I think the earth will benefit in the long run from all the above: Obama winning, Bush leaving, and the blackmail done by oil companies.

One of the things which has to make the best list for me is getting back into politics with the Obama campaign. I had been so turned off by GW cheating himself into office twice I was ready to move to another country. I was even studying Italian. But when I began to blog here about the primary process for my European friends I got involved in the blogging community who was still willing to invest time and opinions in the United States. It was infectous.

And the blogging community proved to be a powerful force for change in this country. I was thrilled to see Obama's campaign take full use of the internet. The FreePress is alive and well in the ether and that is just too cool. That gets number one for me. GW controlled the professional press after 9/11 to a level not used since Hitler. That probably gets number one on worst for about eight straight years in my assessment.

So the economy has tanked. Everyone is asking for a bailout and yet I feel surprisingly optimistic about the American people and our future. Though I do think we should cancel all bailouts to banks, investment companies, and auto dealers and just lower the interest rate on all personal mortgages, cancel all personal chapter 13 bankruptcies, and give tax breaks to all alternative energy systems installed in your homes.

All the remaining bailout moneys can be used to rebuild infrastructure, restore our national parks to their former glory, and develop affordable alternative energy technology and production. I personally want a windgenerator system and a solar well pump.

Dog with a Bone

Not my dog and not my bone. But I have dogs. Two. One that wants to be alpha. And I always give them three bones. It avoids the fights. And lets me take one away anytime I want to let everyone know I am the alpha fur kid.

Obama threw Senator Clinton a really nice bone: Secretary of State. But Hillary Clinton is already fighting over the other bones in the cabinet and nobody has even been confirmed by the Congress.

It seems Hillary is not satisfied with being Secretary of State. She wants pieces of the pie from Treasury and Commerce. She is leaking to the press her plans to expand the role of the State Department to deal with economic issues. And to nominate special envoys. That particular honor may be Obama's bone.

I may have seriously misjudged Senator Clinton. I thought her only problem would be her husband. Wrong. She ran for president and she clearly wants to be president. Or at least Secretary of State, Commerce and Treasury. Not unlike the old office of Health, Education and Welfare. Maybe she wants that too.

I am anxious to see if Obama asserts his place as leader of the pack. If not than Hillary with her Alpha dog genetics will always have the bones in her corner.

BTW I have only fur kids to referee on bone issues so I have time to read the OpEd pieces and blog about them here even though Christmas is but two days away. Does Hillary think with Obama in Hawaii for Christmas she can claim dominance of all the bones before he returns? I bet he finds time to keep up with her issues.

How Low Will They Go

I read and printed out three days ago a New York Times Obed piece on the fall of gas prices and that it was putting Big Oil projects in jeopardy: "From the plains of North Dakota to the deep waters of Brazil, dozens of major oil and gas projects have been suspended or canceled in recent weeks as companies scramble to adjust to the collapse in energy markets."

When we were called a nation of whiners by the current administration I thought they meant the little guys but it seems those that whine the most are the big CEO's and corporations all rushing to the bailout trough with the rest of the political pigs. What did Big Oil do with all those quarter after quarter record profits? Give them as bonuses to their CEO's? I suppose it is only a matter of time before Exxon execs fly into Washington in their corporate private jets and beg for funds to continue their plans for new refineries in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and India.

Help me here - didn't they just claim the reason gas prices were so high a few months ago was because they had built no new refineries? And now they are suspending their plans to build at least three? And they wanted the right to be able to drill where they had never drilled before like the Alaskan wilderness. Now they are daily shutting down wells across the United States.

Not to mention they are now saying that this fall in demand for their fuel supplies (yes, there is a glut being stored in tankers because they ran out of storage space) globally could curb investment and research alternative clean energy resources. Doesn't that seem rather short sighted? I suppose the Big Three Auto makers will now argue that they do not need to produce more energy efficient cars since there is ample energy just sitting around waiting to be burned.

If Big Oil cuts back dramatically on investments as they seem to be doing we could end up in a situation where supply growth goes flat when the economy starts to recover. Said on analyst: "The steeper the decline, the steeper the response."

It would seem that Big Oil (not unlike investment firms and the auto companies) look only toward the next quarter's profits. They do not take the long term five and ten year plan approach that would make for more stable markets and supplies. And yet Bush and other Republicans stay committed to the free market approach. And yet deregulation has worked so well as the current economic situation proves. We clearly cannot expect capitalists to look beyond immediate profits and bonuses and the annual corporate meeting at a five star hotel in Hawaii.

Obama is promising regulation of the banking and investment industry. I think we need regulation of Big Oil and the Big Three and all imports from China (just thought I would throw them in since they are now poisoning dog treats). I think they have all proven there is no limit to how low they will go to insure record profits at the expense of the economy and the American people.