Category Archives: Shrub Watch

It’s All About The Euro, Baby! (?)

Is this all about Saddam switching to the Euro?
Mmmmnnahh–could be?!

“Not Oil, But Dollars vs. Euros”

America’s Bush administration has been caught in outright lies, gross
exaggerations and incredible inaccuracies as it trotted out its litany of
paper thin excuses for making war on Iraq. Along with its two supporters,
Britain and Australia, it has shifted its ground and reversed its position
with a barefaced contempt for its audience. It has manipulated information,
deceived by commission and omission and frantically “bought” UN votes with
billion dollar bribes.
Faced with the failure of gaining UN Security Council support for invading
Iraq, the USA has threatened to invade without authorisation. It would act
in breach of the UN’s very constitution to allegedly enforced UN
resolutions.
It is plain bizarre. Where does this desperation for war come from?
There are many things driving President Bush and his administration to
invade Iraq, unseat Saddam Hussein and take over the country. But the
biggest one is hidden and very, very simple. It is about the currency used
to trade oil and consequently, who will dominate the world economically, in
the foreseeable future — the USA or the European Union.
Iraq is a European Union beachhead in that confrontation. America had a
monopoly on the oil trade, with the US dollar being the fiat currency, but
Iraq broke ranks in 1999, started to trade oil in the EU’s euros, and
profited. If America invades Iraq and takes over, it will hurl the EU and
its euro back into the sea and make America’s position as the dominant
economic power in the world all but impregnable.
It is the biggest grab for world power in modern times.

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4 American Soldiers and 8 British Soldiers That Didn’t Have To Die

This tragic accident only emphasizes the dangerous situation our troops are up against over there.
It’s too dangerous to even fly a helicopter safely during a sandstorm.
Here are more details from a KTVU News broadcast here in San Francisco.
If someone knows more information about the 8 British soldiers that were killed, please let me know so that I can post their information here.
These soldiers that are dying for oil aren’t just numbers on a page. They are human beings with names and families. How many human beings must die for this war of “Iraqi Freedom”?
Entire Clip – About the 4 Americans Dead In Kuwait (9 MB)
Kendal Damon Waters-Bey’s Father (2 MB)
Jay Thomas Aubin’s Family (2 MB)

“President Bush, you took my only son away from me.”


Entire Clip – About the 4 Americans Dead In Kuwait (9 MB)

Kendal Damon Waters-Bey’s Father (2 MB)


Jay Thomas Aubin’s Family (2 MB)



Repubs Slash Veterans Benefits

How can the Shrub Administration proudly send our boys and girls off to war, while quietly cutting their benefits by billions at the same time?

VETERANS PROGRAMS SLASHED BY HOUSE REPUBLICANS

Budget Committee Blueprint Cuts Veterans Health Care and Other Benefits
by Nearly $25 Billion

Congressman Lane Evans (D-IL), the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, today said the budget adopted by the House Budget Committee would mean drastic reductions in funding for veterans

Maureen O’Dowd On Our Country’s Xanax Cowboy

The Xanax Cowboy
By Maureen Dowd for The New York Times

As he rolls up to America’s first pre-emptive invasion, bouncing from motive to motive, Mr. Bush is trying to sound rational, not rash. Determined not to be petulant, he seemed tranquilized.
But the Xanax cowboy made it clear that Saddam is going to pay for 9/11. Even if the fiendish Iraqi dictator was not involved with Al Qaeda, he has supported “Al Qaeda-type organizations,” as the president fudged, or “Al Qaeda types” or “a terrorist network like Al Qaeda.”
We are scared of the world now, and the world is scared of us. (It’s really scary to think we are even scaring Russia and China.)
Bush officials believe that making the world more scared of us is the best way to make us safer and less scared. So they want a spectacular show of American invincibility to make the wicked and the wayward think twice before crossing us.
Of course, our plan to sack Saddam has not cowed the North Koreans and Iranians, who are scrambling to get nukes to cow us.
It still confuses many Americans that, in a world full of vicious slimeballs, we’re about to bomb one that didn’t attack us on 9/11 (like Osama); that isn’t intercepting our planes (like North Korea); that isn’t financing Al Qaeda (like Saudi Arabia); that isn’t home to Osama and his lieutenants (like Pakistan); that isn’t a host body for terrorists (like Iran, Lebanon and Syria).

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Shrub Attempts To Usurp Our Democratic Process

Bush Calls For Ban on Judicial Filibusters
from CNN and the AP.

President Bush, his appeals court nomination of Miguel Estrada mired in party politics, called Tuesday for a ban on judicial filibusters and a mandatory vote on all court nominations he and future presidents send to the Senate.
In a letter read on the Senate floor by Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, Bush called for a permanent rule “to ensure timely up or down votes on judicial nominations both now and in the future, no matter who is president or which party controls the Senate. This is the only way to ensure our judiciary works and that good people remain willing to be nominated to the federal bench.”
Senators in the past have called for similar changes but to no effect.
Republicans have so far failed in their efforts to end the Democratic filibuster of Estrada’s nomination for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia…
Democrats have said Owen and Pickering would face serious opposition from them, including possible filibusters.
The Republicans lost a filibuster vote on Estrada on Thursday, with only four Democrats voting with the GOP majority to give him an immediate confirmation vote. Frist said he would soon try vote on ending the filibuster, and Hatch said he expects such a vote perhaps as early as next week.

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The Shrub On The Pulpit – The Daily Show On Faith-Based Governement Aid

The Daily Show has put together a beautiful little couple of sequences about the Shrub’s latest attack on the Constitution (and the very important separation of church and state).
Part 1 includes the Shrub at a recent conference for religious broadcasters in which he takes a whack at preaching on the pulpit himself.
You have to see this to believe it. Unbelievable.
Part 2 takes a stab at the Shrub’s prison faith programs (when he’s not killing ’em, he’s saving ’em).
Part 3 is Stephen Colbert’s new “Constitution Shmonstitution” series in which he lets the author of the Faith-based initiative explain how vague the requirements are to qualify for funding.

Daily Show Faith Part 1 (All) (Lo-res 13 MB)
Daily Show Faith Part 1 (1 of 2) (Lo-res 8 MB)
Daily Show Faith Part 1 (2 of 2) (Lo-res 6 MB)
Daily Show Faith Part 2 (Lo-res 6 MB)
Daily Show Faith Part 3 (All) (Lo-res 12 MB)
Daily Show Faith Part 3 (1 of 2) (Lo-res 4 MB)
Daily Show Faith Part 3 (2 of 2) (Lo-res MB)



Ride the Faith-Based Gravy Train! Woo! Woo!

You Too Can Die For Oil

So we can give up all of our freedoms, and create hassles and holdups in every aspect of our daily lives, and there’s still really no way to protect ourselves from becoming “soft targets” once the war has begun.
Sounds like another good reason to NOT START THE WAR IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Sounds like an even better reason to NOT GIVE UP ALL OF OUR FREEDOMS since it won’t make us any safer anyway.
I have a real problem with articles like this. Parts of it regarding the use of Total Information Awareness are informative, but the rest of it just adds to the hysteria.
Are we drawing up roadmaps for the terrorists now?
Writers and officers are thinking up horrific potential disasters, and printing them up, with details about which places would be best to blow up in order to cause the largest amounts of casualties — and for what purpose? To let us know how bad it could be if we don’t let our freedoms be compromised? To add to the re-freakening of America, perhaps?
At the risk of adding to the hysteria. I bring this article to you.
Fortress America
By Matthew Brzezinski fo the NY Times

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Law Professor Will Assist With Articles Of Impeachment, Free Of Charge

International Law Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign thinks we ought to pre-emptively kick the Shrub’s butt out of office for making pre-emptive strikes a part of our foreign policy. He thinks we should rid ourselves of Ashcroft while we’re at it. (I think he’s forgetting somebody…But two out of three ain’t bad.)
Preemptive impeachment
Law professor stands ready to draft articles for any member of the House
By K

Senator Max Baucus On CSPAN – More About This Unprecedented Situation

Here are some clips of Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) from
yesterday’s debate over the nomination of Miguel Estrada
to the second highest court in the land.

It was lengthly, but very interesting. I sure learn a lot watching
CSPAN. (Well, a lot compared to what I used to know before about this stuff anyway, which was nothing 🙂
Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) explains a thing
or two about the Estrada situation

(Note: These clips are in no way complete — he spoke for
two or three times as long as these clips):
Highlights with descriptions: Part 1: Baucus recalls how he
recalls Supreme Court Justice O’Connor starting the
practice of not answering certain questions when she
was being considered for the bench — noting that she
had an extensive record from which she could be
assessed. Estrada, in contrast, has refused to answer
any questions whatsoever. (Not just one or two
questions that he doesn’t feel comfortable about.)
Sen Max Baucus On CSPAN Part 1 of 4 (Lo-Res – 17 MB)
Audio – Sen Max Baucus On CSPAN Part 1 of 4 (Lo-Res – 2 MB)
Part 2 – Baucus talks about how important it is to
know what kind of a person that nominee is since
these are lifetime appointments.
Sen Max Baucus On CSPAN Part 2 of 4 (Lo-Res – 17 MB)
Audio – Sen Max Baucus On CSPAN Part 2 of 4 (Lo-Res – 2 MB)
Part 3 – Baucus elaborates about how he feels
responsible to do what is right by the people.
He also brings up the point that the Justice Dept.
probably interviewed Estrada before the Shrub
made his recommendation — and asks “why wasn’t
that information made available to the Senate?”
Sen Max Baucus On CSPAN Part 3 of 4 (Lo-Res – 25 MB)
Audio – Sen Max Baucus On CSPAN Part 3 of 4 (Lo-Res – 3 MB)
Part 4 – Baucus talks about when Roosevelt tried
to pack the Supreme Court when he didn’t like
the decisions it had been making. (He tried to
add Justices to the court.) But the Senate stood
up to him. Now it is time, he said, for the Senate
to stand up against the blind approval of these kind
of mystery nominees.
Sen Max Baucus On CSPAN Part 4 of 4 (Lo-Res – 40 MB)
Audio – Sen Max Baucus On CSPAN Part 4 of 4 (Lo-Res – 4 MB)
Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) Complete Audio:
Audio – Sen Max Baucus On CSPAN – Parts 1-4 (Hi-Res – 10 MB)
Audio – Sen Max Baucus On CSPAN – Parts 1-4 (Lo-Res – 5 MB)