Bush to America: "FOAD"

Remember when I criticized Speaker Pelosi for taking impeachment and the issue of gays in the military off the table? And I got hammered over at dKos for saying things that were – gasp! – not conciliatory and friendly?

Well, have you paid attention to Bush’s rhetoric lately? He’s not going to budge an inch unless we force him. The time for making nice with the GOP is over, folks, if there ever was such a time at all. We have just as much of a mandate as Bush had in 2000. Why is it so hard for us to take advantage of it the same way he and his regime have?

Jeb! takes on Tancredo

Republicans in turmoil! Party in disarray!

These are pronouncements you won’t hear from the SCLM.

Recently, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) compared Miami to “a third-world country.” Jeb! responded in kind yesterday, calling Tancredo “a nut.”

For once, I think Jeb! is right. As evidence, look at Tancredo’s incredible reply:

Tancredo responded Wednesday in a letter to Bush, saying he understood why the governor was trying to “create the illusion of Miami as a multiethnic ‘All American’ city.”

But Tancredo said it was “neither naive nor insulting to call attention to a real problem that cannot be easily dismissed through politically correct happy talk.”

He added, “Unfortunately, fewer and fewer Miamians think of themselves as Americans.”

He cited an article in this week’s Time magazine that described Miami as a “corrupt, exorbitant mess” that has lost 20,000 residents a year since 2000.

“Do you not worry that Miami’s ’sanctuary city’ rules serve as a magnet for illegal aliens and undercut the state’s sound law enforcement policies?” Tancredo asked.

He added that he had “simply said something most people – even in Florida, if our calls and e-mails are a measure of sentiment – believe is true.“

“I have no doubt that people of wealth can still lead a comfortable and pleasant life in Miami, but ask yourself why ordinary middle-class citizens are leaving in such high numbers.”

Naturally, the SCLM’s double standard will continue, at least outside of south Florida. See, here’s how it works: when Democrats have a competitive election for majority leader, and there is disagreement, they are polarized and ineffective. When Republicans battle in a war of words … crickets.

Anyway, whatever one’s opinions may be of Miami, Tancredo is courting political disaster by his stubbornness. Hasn’t he learned anything yet? You can’t fuck with a Bush.

Hmmm … maybe I ought to rephrase that …

Soup Nazi foreign policy

Evoking the Seinfeld-ian exclamations of “No soup for you!,” the U.S. is imposing sanctions on North Korea designed especially to piss off psychotic despot president Kim Jong-Il:

But the list of proposed U.S. penalties, obtained by The Associated Press, aims to make Kim’s swanky life harder: no more cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, expensive cars, Harley-Davidson motorcycles or even personal watercraft such as Jet Skis.

The move is intended to spare the average North Korean citizen any further hardship from sanctions, but to me it’s an unnecessary risk. Anytime I’ve done anything intentional just to piss someone off, it’s come back to bite me in the ass. Trust me on this one.

Guess I’m not the only skeptic, as the article continues:

Experts said the U.S. luxury sanctions would be the first ever to curtail a specific category of goods not associated with military buildups or weapons designs — and the first tailored to annoy a foreign leader. They acknowledge that enforcing the ban on black-market trading would be difficult.

“He’s got folks who can move around nuclear weapons. If he tells these guys to get him a case of scotch, they’re going to pull it off,” said James A. Lewis, a former State Department official who worked on arms controls. “Unless it’s too large to fit into the cargo hold of a commercial aircraft, it’s going to be tough to restrain him.”

Precisely. Dude wants his cognac, he’ll get his cognac. It’s not like sanctions kept him from getting, say, plutonium.

I don’t know how the U.S. can afford to continue Bush’s medical care. Those operations to extricate his head from his ass can be quite pricey.

At least Jabba got to hang with Carrie Fisher

Whither Dennis Hastert? Whatever shall he do?

[R]umors continue that despite his denials, Hastert is planning an ‘07 exit from the House. But if he stays, he would be the first former speaker of the House to do so after being relegated to the minority since 1955.

That’s a half-century of history you’d be bucking there, Jabba. If I were you (granted, I’d have to be about three of me to be you, but just go with me on this one), I’d quit while the quittin’s good.

Just sayin’.

OK, on to the House of Representatives, where nobody — save Rep. Duncan Hunter (R) of California — is planning on running for president.

Oh, really? Then I guess Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) is “nobody,” eh?

Oh, yeah, he is nobody. Never mind.

As if hurricanes and Republicans weren’t bad enough

Yet another reason why we’re nuts to live in Florida:

Feds collect giant rats in Florida

I don’t know why they’re in such a hurry. After all, the biggest rat is almost out of office.

Is this dirty …

… or is it just me?

Crazy Train

You’d have to be crazy to support Bush. And now there is academic proof of that.

[Christopher] Lohse, a social work master’s student at Southern Connecticut State University, says he has proven what many progressives have probably suspected for years: a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush.

Lohse says his study is no joke. The thesis draws on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse’s study, backed by SCSU Psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, found a correlation between the severity of a person’s psychosis and their preferences for president: The more psychotic the voter, the more likely they were to vote for Bush.

Well, duh.

Another rider on the "civil war" bandwagon

Colin Powell: Iraq “could be considered a civil war.”

Truth: it’s not just for breakfast anymore.

Wanker of the Day: George W. Bush

Wes pointed me in the direction of another astonishingly crass display by the preznit. Once again, George W. Bush has proven himself to be petty and immature. Witness this exchange with Sen.-elect Jim Webb (D-Va.):

At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t. It’s safe to say, however, that Bush and Webb won’t be taking any overseas trips together anytime soon.

Let’s sum up: A man who couldn’t even fulfill his responsibility to the Texas Air National Guard belittles both a decorated Marine officer and his son, who is risking his life for the present folly in Iraq, for which the aforementioned man (or “man,” I should say) is responsible.

Words fail to adequately express my disgust.

Reining in the madman in the White House

Yet another overreaching action by the Bush Maladministration has been ruled unconstitutional in federal court.

This time, it’s the arbitrary power to freeze assets of individuals and groups determined – by the President alone – to be “specially designated global terrorists.”

[U.S. District Judge Audrey B.] Collins said the order was flawed because it failed to explain the criteria used to make the designations and because it included no process to challenge the decision.

“The president’s designation authority is subject only to his unfettered discretion,” the judge said.

Eventually, this regime will understand that in America, they can’t just make up their own rules. The rulebook was written in 1787, and if they want to change it, there’s a process for making changes:

Article V.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress. …

It’s always amazed me that the Executive Branch seems to have forgotten (or never learned) under what authority it exists.