This Week in The News
This week, another oops from the Department of Justice. In 2005, while he was urging the re-authorization of the Patriot Act, Attorney General Alberto "Fredo" Gonzalez stated that "There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse," related to the expanded powers the Act gave the FBI. Not so true. It seems that Gonzalez had received up to a half dozen reports from the FBI itself about illegally obtained information before he made that statement. The DOJ has refused to confirm or deny whether the Attorney General actually read the memos addressed to him. The disclosure did not seem to bother the AG though, "Right now I am in a good place. My incompetence and lying have been the subject of congressional hearings and El Presidente continues to support me like the mother of his illegitimate child. So I lied .... again. Ohhh boy, George will be really sore at me now... What's he gonna do? Fire me for making a mockery of the DOJ. That ship sailed my friend."
This week, we needed a reality check. Iraq. Guantanamo. Warrantless wiretaps. Abu Ghraib. National Security letters. The Attorney General Scandal. The Plame Affair. The Libby Commutation. Tax Breaks for the Wealthy. Executive Privilege. The Almighty Vice President. It all starts to add up. So TWN intrepidly went out in search of "twofers," those people who voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and in 2004 to find out exactly what they were thinking. We found Michael Buckminster in Patoon, WI. According to Michael, " I saw this country was facing a new type of enemy, a rapidly changing economy and a shifting world order . Last thing you want is someone who is going to overthink all that. Stick with what you know." We received an e-mail from Mark Tomlin in Ferris, Illinois: "The thing was, Bush did a so much better job of pretending that he was just like me than Kerry or Gore with all their fancy smarty pants talk. In the end, they looked like smart guys trying to look average. Bush was really good at being average. Heck he even looked less than average." Lastly, Sally Goldenrod of Montrose Beach, FL wrote: "After 9/11, I was just so scared. And the President and Vice President just seemed so strong and resolute. Why they wouldn't let the law get in the way of making me feel safe and they certainly weren't going to let a bunch of angry Arabs interfere with my way of life. It was like they just said, "Relax. Trust us. Go shopping. We will keep you safe."
This week, Sen David Vitter (R LA) publicly apologized after his phone number was discovered in the personal directory of Washington Madame Pamela Martin. Vitter, a conservative Republican, who boasts support for traditional values admitted to a "sinful" relationship. Vitter, who also serves as the Southern Director for Rudy Giuliani's campaign, chafed at any allegation that his conduct was hypocritical, however, "I am now and always have been a supporter of traditional marriage. That means man gets married. Man gets bored. Man gets a little sumpin' on the side. Man is found out. Man puts on show of contrition. It does not get any more traditional than that. Shoot. Goes back to Adam."
This week Pope Benedict XVI (a/k/a "the Rat") issued two proclamations aimed at undoing the work of the 1962 Vatican Council. The first document liberalised the use of the Tridentine Mass (ie the "Latin Mass"), a cause celebre among Catholic traditionalists who believe the faith lost its magic once people could understand it. In the second document, the Pope declared that all Protestant demoninations are not "churches" in the true sense of the word as Christ established only the Holy Roman Catholic Church and, last he checked, the Protestants weren't paying any license fees. Responding to criticism of both documents the Pope fired back with typical style: "As always, the Church believes the best of times are behind us and while we cannot reach all the way back to the glory days of the Middle Ages, we can try to recapture a bit of the pre Vatican II life. Heady days for an authoritarian fellow like me. So few choices. So many restrictions. So much faith in institutions. So much condemnation. And the guilt. Don't even get me started. We had guilt like no one's business. We made the jews look positively self indulgent..... I miss the hungry years."
This week, Richard Carmona the former Surgeon General (2002 - 2006) told a Congressional oversight committee that the Bush Administration routinely prevented him from speaking on subjects such as abstinence education, stem cell research and contraception when scientific data conflicted with the White House's stand on an issue. The result, according to Dr. Carmona, was that the public was often given information that omitted critical facts or was "scientifically incorrect." (real quote) Carmona joins the heads of NASA and the NIH in claiming that scientific data was suppressed in favor of ideology. responding on behalf of the White House, Tony Snow commented only that a reliance on science was just a "little too Gore-y for this President."
This week we learned that CIA Director Michael Hayden told the President in November of 2006 that the government of Iraq was fatally unstable and "unable to sustain and defend itself." (real quote). This week, the White House released its own study that admitted that in many critical areas the Iraqi government is paralyzed or regressing. This week, the US intelligence community leaked a memo indicating that Al Queda has greater operational strength than it did in 2001. This week, the President gave a speech in Cleveland in which he steadfastly promised to continue his current policies in Iraq. I am sure there is something funny here, but you are going to have to hunt for it.
This week, we needed a reality check. Iraq. Guantanamo. Warrantless wiretaps. Abu Ghraib. National Security letters. The Attorney General Scandal. The Plame Affair. The Libby Commutation. Tax Breaks for the Wealthy. Executive Privilege. The Almighty Vice President. It all starts to add up. So TWN intrepidly went out in search of "twofers," those people who voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and in 2004 to find out exactly what they were thinking. We found Michael Buckminster in Patoon, WI. According to Michael, " I saw this country was facing a new type of enemy, a rapidly changing economy and a shifting world order . Last thing you want is someone who is going to overthink all that. Stick with what you know." We received an e-mail from Mark Tomlin in Ferris, Illinois: "The thing was, Bush did a so much better job of pretending that he was just like me than Kerry or Gore with all their fancy smarty pants talk. In the end, they looked like smart guys trying to look average. Bush was really good at being average. Heck he even looked less than average." Lastly, Sally Goldenrod of Montrose Beach, FL wrote: "After 9/11, I was just so scared. And the President and Vice President just seemed so strong and resolute. Why they wouldn't let the law get in the way of making me feel safe and they certainly weren't going to let a bunch of angry Arabs interfere with my way of life. It was like they just said, "Relax. Trust us. Go shopping. We will keep you safe."
This week, Sen David Vitter (R LA) publicly apologized after his phone number was discovered in the personal directory of Washington Madame Pamela Martin. Vitter, a conservative Republican, who boasts support for traditional values admitted to a "sinful" relationship. Vitter, who also serves as the Southern Director for Rudy Giuliani's campaign, chafed at any allegation that his conduct was hypocritical, however, "I am now and always have been a supporter of traditional marriage. That means man gets married. Man gets bored. Man gets a little sumpin' on the side. Man is found out. Man puts on show of contrition. It does not get any more traditional than that. Shoot. Goes back to Adam."
This week Pope Benedict XVI (a/k/a "the Rat") issued two proclamations aimed at undoing the work of the 1962 Vatican Council. The first document liberalised the use of the Tridentine Mass (ie the "Latin Mass"), a cause celebre among Catholic traditionalists who believe the faith lost its magic once people could understand it. In the second document, the Pope declared that all Protestant demoninations are not "churches" in the true sense of the word as Christ established only the Holy Roman Catholic Church and, last he checked, the Protestants weren't paying any license fees. Responding to criticism of both documents the Pope fired back with typical style: "As always, the Church believes the best of times are behind us and while we cannot reach all the way back to the glory days of the Middle Ages, we can try to recapture a bit of the pre Vatican II life. Heady days for an authoritarian fellow like me. So few choices. So many restrictions. So much faith in institutions. So much condemnation. And the guilt. Don't even get me started. We had guilt like no one's business. We made the jews look positively self indulgent..... I miss the hungry years."
This week, Richard Carmona the former Surgeon General (2002 - 2006) told a Congressional oversight committee that the Bush Administration routinely prevented him from speaking on subjects such as abstinence education, stem cell research and contraception when scientific data conflicted with the White House's stand on an issue. The result, according to Dr. Carmona, was that the public was often given information that omitted critical facts or was "scientifically incorrect." (real quote) Carmona joins the heads of NASA and the NIH in claiming that scientific data was suppressed in favor of ideology. responding on behalf of the White House, Tony Snow commented only that a reliance on science was just a "little too Gore-y for this President."
This week we learned that CIA Director Michael Hayden told the President in November of 2006 that the government of Iraq was fatally unstable and "unable to sustain and defend itself." (real quote). This week, the White House released its own study that admitted that in many critical areas the Iraqi government is paralyzed or regressing. This week, the US intelligence community leaked a memo indicating that Al Queda has greater operational strength than it did in 2001. This week, the President gave a speech in Cleveland in which he steadfastly promised to continue his current policies in Iraq. I am sure there is something funny here, but you are going to have to hunt for it.
posted by Jack Reed at 9:35 AM
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