Clipmarks | BobbyDelray's 'bush' clips

Get Osama Bin Laden before I leave office, orders George W Bush

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:48:53 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

President George W Bush has enlisted British special forces in a final attempt to capture Osama Bin Laden before he leaves the White House.

Defence and intelligence sources in Washington and London confirmed that a renewed hunt was on for the leader of the September 11 attacks. “If he [Bush] can say he has killed Saddam Hussein and captured Bin Laden, he can claim to have left the world a safer place,” said a US intelligence source.

The Bush jobs record

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:02:04 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: krugman.blogs.nytimes.com

Changes in nonfarm employment since inauguration under the last two administrations:

1. The official recession may have been short, but the employment recession of 2001-2003 was anything but

2. The administration’s habit of counting job gains since August 2003 is revealed for the cheap trick it is

3. Even during the good years, job growth under Bush was slower than the average under Clinton

Add: I may have been unclear: this is the total number of jobs added, in thousands, since January 1993 and January 2001 respectively. So the Clinton years ended with a net gain of about 23 million jobs, whereas the Bush years so far have seen a net gain of about 5 million. That’s not to say that either president deserves credit/blame for everything that happened on his watch; it’s just about the real facts of the case.

Tags: bush, jobs

Army Worried by Rising Stress of Return Tours

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:14:17 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray
clipper's remarks: I wonder when people are going to ask themselves about their own patriotism? We sit back comfortably and watched as the same men and women are sent to Iraq over and over.

What sacrifice has the American public made to support our efforts in Iraq?

What is the real definition of Patriotism?

When is the public going to say that these practices go against everything we believe and stand up against?

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Army leaders are expressing increased alarm about the mental health of soldiers who would be sent back to the front again and again under plans that call for troop numbers to be sustained at high levels in Iraq for this year and beyond.

Among combat troops sent to Iraq for the third or fourth time, more than one in four show signs of anxiety, depression or acute stress, according to an official Army survey of soldiers’ mental health.

President Bush has signaled that he will endorse General Petraeus’s recommendation, a decision that will leave close to 140,000 American troops in Iraq

But in a meeting with Mr. Bush late last month in advance of General Petraeus’s testimony, the Joint Chiefs of Staff expressed deep concern about stress on the force, senior Defense Department and military officials said.

Among the 513,000 active-duty soldiers who have served in Iraq since the invasion of 2003, more than 197,000 have deployed more than once

more than 53,000 have deployed three or more times

Tags: iraq, war, patriotism

Bush to bypass laws to build border fence

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:54:37 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

The Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said Tuesday.

"Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement. "These waivers will enable important security projects to keep moving forward."

nvoking the two legal waivers — which Congress authorized — will cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently stand in the way of the Homeland Security Department building 267 miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to officials familiar with the plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly about it.

Bush Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:26:20 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: news.aol.com

Do not adjust your computer monitor. No need to go in for an eye exam. It's true:

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian politician.

Harald Tom Nevsik, a member of the right-wing Party for Progress, said that he had nominated the two world leaders for fighting terrorism and promoting world peace.

Conservatives have long viewed the Nobel Peace Prize as something of a joke. They have scoffed at Arafat, Carter, and Gore when each took a turn at the Swedish podium. So, perhaps Nevsik simply figured, what's good for the goose...

What are Bush's chances at taking this year's prize? Well, in this topsy-turvy world, I suppose anything is possible.

To Cut Medicare Growth, Bush Targets Hospitals

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:48:31 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: blogs.wsj.com

Bush’s proposed Medicare budget would cut $15 billion over five years through a reduction of annual updates for inpatient care. It would also cut $25 billion from payments to hospitals serving large numbers of poor people, and $20 billion from payments for capital projects such as putting up new buildings and buying equipment, the New York Times reports.

The president would also cut $1.2 billion from Medicaid next year and nearly $14 billion over five years, according to the NYT. One cost Bush wouldn’t cut: Payments to private insurance companies who manage Medicare Advantage plans, which cost more than traditional Medicare plans.

Medicare and Medicaid accounted for $627 billion in federal spending last year, and the cost of the programs is projected to double in the coming decade, the Times said.

Tags: medicare, bush, budget

Bush Administration to Bailout Subprime Fools

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 01:20:49 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray
clipper's remarks: Would you like to receive a nice low government subsidized loan on your home? How about 2 percent?

Clip Source: blogs.wsj.com

The WSJ is reporting that the Bush administration and major financial institutions are close to agreeing on a plan that would temporarily freeze interest rates on certain troubled subprime home loans. The plan is being negotiated between regulators and a coalition of mortgage-related companies including Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Washington Mutual Inc., and Countrywide. Details are still being worked out but the plan might freeze teaser rates for as long as seven years.

“People made their own judgment to buy homes on their own. When people make profits off of their properties, they don’t share them with others. Why should rest of us pay for their mistakes?”

One counterargument is that some borrowers didn’t know what they were getting into. “The banks and mortgage lenders that pulled out all the stops to persuade them to the contrary were in a far better position to know,” wrote former Robert Reich on his blog last month. “After all, they had lots of experience at this game.”

Tags: subprime. loans, bailout, bush, administration

Bush, Cheney behind Plame leak spin

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:19:14 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray
clipper's remarks: The plot thickens.

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove helped engineer the coverup of who in the White House leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan says in a forthcoming book.

In What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong with Washington, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak.

"There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday by the publisher, PublicAffairs Books. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff, and the president himself."

Some others writing about this eyebrow raiser include Fox News, the New York Times and Politico.

Tags: bush, cheney, cia leak, plame, rove, scooter, libby, scott mcclellan

Americans getting 'heads blown off for the president's amusement'

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:05:10 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., has added another item to our catalogue of the sort of discourse that now defines so much of American politics.

Stark took to the House floor yesterday to speak in favor of overriding President Bush's veto of legislation that would have expanded a children's health insurance program. He somehow veered into Iraq, saying that young Americans are getting their "heads blown off for the president's amusement."

"The truth is, Bush just likes to blow things up in Iraq, in the United States and in Congress," Stark says.

What do you think about what he said and how he said it?

Tags: president, bush, pete stark, children's health insurance program, iraq, war

From the Krugman Blog

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:55:19 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: krugman.blogs.nytimes.com

Failing to Pass the Laffer Test

The revenue boom of the last few years, which mainly depended on booming corporate profits, is over. Here’s a chart from the Congressional Budget Office:

And a further slowdown is visible within the fiscal 2007 data: revenue in September was up only 2 percent from the previous year.

To put this in perspective, here’s revenue as a percent of GDP since Clinton took office:

So everything you’ve heard about how revenues have boomed since the Bush tax cuts is wrong. What really happened was that revenue plunged, as a percent of GDP, in the early Bush years, then staged a partial, but only partial, recovery. And that recovery seems to have run its course.

Tags: laffer test, krugman, paul, gdp, revenue, taxe, receipts

Dalai Lama and Debakey Get Congressional Gold Medal.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:38:30 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

USA TODAY's David Jackson reports that President Bush will welcome the Dalai Lama to the White House this afternoon, and China is not happy about it.

China has protested the meeting and is threatening to walk out on talks about new sanctions against Iran. (Here's a story from today's paper about the controversy.)

Fratto said, "we understand the concerns of the Chinese." But he also said the secrecy of today's meeting is not a response to Chinese criticism, noting that Bush will attend the ceremony on Wednesday at which the Dalai Lama receives the Congressional Gold Medal.

Update at 10:30 a.m. ET: USA TODAY's Catalina Camia tells us that Bush just signed legislation that bestows the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor on Dr. Michael Ellis Debakey, a physician who specializes in cardiovascular surgery and helped develop the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals that saved thousands of lives and provided a premise for the M.A.S.H. television show.

Tags: debakey, dalai lama, congressional gold medal., bush, chinese

95% of Troops in Iraq Americans

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:12:26 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

CNN's top story summarizes an essay about Burma by Laura Bush. MSNBC uses its front page to report on the "crumbling coalition" in Iraq, pointing readers to a report that says American forces will soon account for 95% of the troops on the front lines. Fox News sends a message to Fred Thompson, the former senator who participated in his first GOP presidential debate: "Welcome To the Show."

Tags: iraq, war, bush, troops

Bush Admin Leak Severed a Link to Al-Qaeda's Secrets

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:39:56 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.

Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.

The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications network.

Tags: osama, bin, laden, bush, administration, site, intelligence, group, al-qaeda

Supreme Court sides with Bush

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:00:35 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

This just in from the Associated Press: The Supreme Court has sided with the Bush administration in blocking a lawsuit by a man who claims he was tortured by the CIA.

Update at 10:06 a.m. ET: Khaled el-Masri, a 44-year-old German, claims that he was kidnapped and tortured by American officials who mistook him for a suspected terrorist.

Update at 10:52 a.m. ET: USA TODAY's Joan Biskupic reports that if the justices had taken up el-Masri's petition, it could have clarified the breadth of the government's privilege to withhold information about its tactics in a post-Sept. 11 era. The privilege, as the high court explained in a major 1953 case, allows the government to withhold information if "there is a reasonable danger" that disclosure would threaten national security.

Tags: supree court, bush, khaled el-masri, privilege to withhold information, terror

Public splits with Bush on war spending, childrens' health insurance

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:51:28 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that most Americans oppose President Bush's proposal to spend $190 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a "sizable majority" support the changes to a health insurance program for children that Bush has pledged to veto.

This lack of consensus extends to the president' war-funding proposal. About 70% of respondents say they favor reductions in the war budget, with half saying they want the allocation "cut sharply or entirely."

A third of respondents say they approve of the president's performance.

"When the parties are pitted directly against each other, the public broadly favors Democrats on Iraq, health care, the federal budget and the economy. Only on the issue of terrorism are Republicans at parity with Democrats," the paper says.

Tags: war spending, kids health insurance, bush, public