Americans call Bush "Incompetent, Idiot, Liar"

America has spoken, and for George W. Bush, it's not pretty. Asked to use one-word answers to describe how they felt about the president, an astounding 48%--virtually half the country--said "incompetent," "idiot," and "liar." The Pew Research Center survey released this week shows a stark contrast to how Americans answered the same question three years ago, when positive one-word descriptions of Bush, such as "honest" and "integrity," far outnumbered negative ones. In the current poll, only 28% used positive words. And previously used superlatives like "excellent" or "great" were virtually non-existent.

The survey casts Bush's overall approval rating at a pathetic 33%. With a few more dead soldiers and a civil war in Iraq, combined with a couple of more political blunders like Harriet Miers, the ports deal and illegal NSA wiretappings, the president just might find himself facing single digits in the not-too-distant future.

Other highlights of the survey include:

-Only 42% now approve of Bush's job in handling terrorist threats, an 11-point drop since February.

On the executive branch and war powers, continued

It is my purpose here to continue our examination of the Executive Branch in relation to the powers of war.  I expect to raise a few reasonable doubts about the premises and consequences of currently prevailing war-powers doctrines, which are all too common amongst us as of late.  Perhaps, in the end, the ideological structures of absolute power in the Executive, with full presidential sovereignty and endless war powers, are sound.  Maybe we should all become believers in this new way of administering a free government.  I think, however, on the evidence to be reviewed, that we shall wish to return, at minimum, to the expressly-stated powers of the Constitution; those delegating to the Executive the power to wage war, and to the Legislature, the power to declare war.

True to its history, FBI is still violating civil liberties

According to a report released last week by the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) violated procedures for wiretapping and other methods of obtaining intelligence more than 100 times in the last two years. The department’s inspector general regarded some of the violations as “significant,” including wiretaps that were broader than what a court had approved, and wiretaps that were allowed to go on for weeks, even months, longer than had been authorized. Given the bureau’s history, this shouldn’t be surprising. The F.B.I. was created for partisan political purposes, and has blatantly violated civil liberties since its inception.  

Utah testing of the Diebold touch-screen reveals new problems

Emery County Clerk Bruce Funk has been running elections for 23 years. He was quite content with his optical scan system. The state of Utah thought otherwise: On Dec. 27, Funk took delivery on 40 Diebold TSx touch-screen machines, part of a statewide directive.

"I had concerns about Diebold," says Funk, "but I thought, 'If the state is going to mandate it, then I guess they'll assume responsibility if anything goes wrong.'"

Not so. He soon learned that he will be responsible but the state will decide what election system will count the votes.

"YOU'RE GOING TO HATE MY GUTS ON ELECTION DAY"

Funk's concerns escalated when he heard a particularly unusual statement by Diebold sales rep Dana LaTour.

"Some of you are going to hate my guts on Election Day," she said to the assembly of elections officials. Later, another Diebold representative named Drew was asked what LaTour meant when she said "Some of you are going to hate my guts..."

"We're going to have problems on Election Day, and we're just going to have to work through them," he said.

FAILURES RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE

Libby attorneys identify CIA officials in Plame leak

The identity of intelligence officials who are thought to have passed information about covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson to Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, surfaced in a federal court document filed Friday evening.

Separately, Libby's defense team has once again attempted to engage in a high-stakes gambit to devalue the nature of Plame Wilson's status and work with the CIA. The attorneys claim that Plame Wilson was not a very important figure at the CIA and that therefore no damage was done to national security by unmasking her identity.

"The prosecution has an interest in continuing to overstate the significance of Ms. Wilson's affiliation with the CIA," the court filing states.

However, in previous hearings, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has pointed out time and again that Plame Wilson's CIA status is not the issue. Rather it's Libby's repeated lies to the grand jury and the FBI.

National Lawyers Guild calls for the impeachment of South Dokota Governor Michael Rounds for signing anti-abortion legislation

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) calls for the impeachment of South Dakota Governor Michael Rounds for signing a bill that would effectively outlaw abortion in South Dakota. The Governor and proponents of the law have openly declared that the law is intended as “a direct frontal assault” to Roe v. Wade.  The NLG opposes this unconstitutional action by Governor Rounds.  We call for his immediate impeachment and for the law not to be implemented.

“Murdered By Capitalism: A Memoir of 150 Years of Life & Death on the American Left”

“Murdered By Capitalism: A Memoir of 150 Years of Life & Death on the American Left”
by John Ross (Nation Books, 2004)

In his most recent book, author John Ross combines the fire of Edward Abbey with the rampaging flare of Hunter S. Thompson to produce a masterpiece of historical prose. Caught between his personal memoir and an intimate discussion with the dead the author slips in and out of history - fueled by wine, whiskey, and drugs - to tell the story of the American Left.

The book begins in Trinidad, California at the grave of Eddie Schnaubelt brother of Rudolph Schnaubelt an anarchist who was implicated in the bombing at the Haymarket on May 4th, 1886. The historical narrative begins when Ross accidentally spills a bottle of wine at the grave and hears the voice of Eddie demanding more.

The age of anxiety redux

Airplanes crashing into buildings. Daily body counts from Iraq and Afghanistan. Hospitals filled with hideously mutilated young service men and women. Prisoners being tortured and abused. People being beheaded. Religious leaders urging us to “take out” heads of state. Katrina survivors stranded on rooftops while FEMA fiddles. Tsunami victims stranded nowhere -- just gone.

These are only a few of the kinds of grisly images bombarding the American people every day.

To which we can add the 24/7 menu of relentless television alarums: 90-mile-an-hour car chases, online child pornographers getting busted, corporate executives and congressmen being frog-walked to the slammer in handcuffs, judges receiving death threats, murdered children found in shallow graves, millions dead and displaced in Darfur, children dying from HIV-AIDS and many totally curable diseases, ports being turned over to ‘Muslim terrorists’, phone calls and emails being intercepted, and on and on and on.

Radical minds and critical thinkers

Several months ago during a casual conversation, I was described by someone as being a radical. When he first said it I didn't know whether I should laugh or be offended.

It never quite dawned on me until then that my standing up against spiritual homophobia, writing a gay spiritual book and producing and hosting a national black gay TV talk show would qualify me for radical status, but apparently in the minds of some it has.

Prior to this particular conversation, my mental concept of radicalism or the word radical represented outdated images of white women burning their bras in protest of anything male dominated or people chaining themselves to century old oak trees.

So now I asked myself, what exactly is a radical? Is it someone who marches down the street shouting, screaming, and decrying the injustices of the day? Or is it someone who commits outrageous acts of protest capturing his/her 3 minutes of fame on the evening news?

Most Democratic senators fail as presidential candidates

The Feingold resolution to censure Bush over illegal wiretapping is the single most important measure of qualification for 2008 Democratic Presidential candidates. The measure is incredibly mild. Democratic Senators should be calling for impeachment hearings for Bush and Cheney based on this issue. The failure of all other Democratic Senators to support the Feingold censure resolution completely disqualifies them to represent Democrats in the 2008 Presidential election in the opinion of Democratic Talk Radio.

The censuring of Bush over illegal wiretapping is supported by 70 percent of Democrats in the latest American Research Group http://www.americanresearchgroup.com poll on the issue. Independents are fairly evenly split. Only Republicans strongly oppose the censuring of Bush, although a significant Republican minority does support the measure. Senate Democrats with the exception of Senator Feingold are demonstrating a spineless character that shames Democratic activists everywhere.

Pages

Subscribe to ColumbusFreePress.com RSS