Clipmarks | arifsali's 'bush administration' clips

Oh Yes, I believe you, George!

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:36:05 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks:

"And I share their concerns."

You really don't, because you've been in the office for eight freaking years and you've had enough time to not let the crisis come to our doors.

Clip Source: www.sfgate.com

Bush says he's working hard on economic turmoil

Eager to show that he feels people's pain, President Bush scuttled a political fundraising trip Thursday to tell the country his administration is working feverishly to calm turmoil in the financial markets.

Bush was supposed to spend the day in Alabama and Florida raising money for Republicans and talking energy policy. He canceled his trip and sent Vice President Dick Cheney to sub for him at the fundraisers to focus on the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression.

"The American people are concerned about the situation in our financial markets and our economy," Bush said. "And I share their concerns."

The tumult in financial markets and the disappearance of corporate giants have shaken people's faith in the economy. On Wall Street, the fear is that more significant financial companies will fall, causing a spillover effect within the United States and on world markets.

Tags: united states, finance, bush administration

Humans cause climate change, US body accepts

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:10:32 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: environment.newscientist.com

AS THE Bush administration enters its final months, the US Climate Change Science Program has issued a report concluding that computer models do effectively simulate climate. It also accepts that the models show human activity was responsible for the rapid warming of the 20th century.

The report is the 10th of 21 due to be issued by the body, which the sceptical Bush administration set up late in 2002 to review the validity of climate-change science before making policy decisions. At the time, environmentalists accused the administration of using the programme as a way to drag its feet on the issue.

"The evidence is pretty convincing that the models give a good simulation of climate," lead author David Bader of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California told reporters last week. He concedes that the report did not examine predictions of future climate change. Nor did it address policy issues, which will be left to the next administration.

Tags: environment, bush administration

How Tenet Betrayed the CIA on WMD in Iraq

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 06:15:59 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Habbush explained to the British official that Saddam tried to maintain the impression that he did have such weapons in order to impress Iran.

Suskind writes that the head of MI6, Richard Dearlove, flew to Washington to present details of the Habbush report to Tenet, who then briefed National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Soon after that, the CIA informed the British that the Bush administration was not interested in keeping the Habbush channel open, according to Suskind’s account.

Clip Source: www.ipsnews.net

Journalist Ron Suskind’s revelation that Saddam Hussein’s intelligence chief was a prewar intelligence source reporting to the British that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) adds yet another dimension to the systematic effort by then Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet to quash any evidence -- no matter how credible -- that conflicted with the George W. Bush administration’s propaganda line that Saddam was actively pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.

According to Suskind’s new book, ‘The Way of the World’, Iraqi Director of Intelligence Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti had been passing on sensitive intelligence to the UK’s MI6 intelligence service for more than a year before the U.S invasion. In early 2003, Suskind writes, Habbush told MI6 official Michael Shipster in Jordan that Saddam had ended his nuclear programme in 1991 and his biological weapons programme in 1996.

Tags: iraq, bush administration

Bush wants permanent spying powers

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:04:10 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

The US president has pressed congress to expand the government's domestic spying powers permanently to prevent attacks by "enemies".

But critics say George Bush is riding rough-shod over civil liberties.

The Democratic-led congress in August temporarily expanded the Bush administration's authority to monitor phone calls, emails and other electronic communications between individuals in the

and overseas terror suspects without obtaining a traditional court's approval.

Tags: bush administration, civil rights, democrats, politics, united states

Bush wishes Cuba's Castro would disappear

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:17:40 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: I feel for the atheists in America, their leader is governed more by the faith then anything else. Sad.

Clip Source: www.canada.com

NEWPORT, R.I. (Reuters) - U.S. President Bush made plain his feelings about Fidel Castro Thursday - wishing the Cuban leader would disappear.

"One day the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away," Bush said in answer to a question after a speech at the Naval War College.

Asked whether Bush was wishing Castro dead, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said: "The president was commenting on an inevitable event."

Tags: bush, bush administration, cuba, castro, politics, faith, religion

Bush subpoenaed over wiretapping

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:13:53 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: This is a Holy Cow news of the day.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Bush faces eavesdropping subpoena

The US Senate has issued a subpoena ordering the White House to give up documents related to its surveillance of domestic terror suspects.

The Senate Judiciary Committee asked the Bush administration to give up the papers as part of its inquiry into the controversial spying programme.

The administration has refused a series of requests to release the documents.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's subpoenas target the White House, Vice-President Dick Cheney, the National Security Council and the Department of Justice.

"Our attempts to obtain information through testimony of administration witnesses have been met with a consistent pattern of evasion and misdirection," the Senate Committee's chairman, Patrick Leahy, says.

Tags: bush, united states, bush administration, politics

Pinky and the Brain

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:10:26 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: I loved that cartoon when it was around

Clip Source: i.thefairest.info

Tags: cartoon, bush administration

Reverend Bush

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 14:25:36 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Is there any ethics involved here, the ethics of giving?

Clip Source: conversionagenda.blogspot.com

LAKARTINYA, Kenya -- The herders of this remote mountain village know little about America, but have learned from those who run a US-funded aid program about the American God.

A Christian God.

The US government has given $10.9 million to Food for the Hungry, a faith-based development organization, to reach deep into the arid mountains of northern Kenya to provide training in hygiene, childhood illnesses, and clean water. The group has brought all that, and something else that increasingly accompanies US-funded aid programs: r egular church service and prayer.

President Bush has almost doubled the percentage of US foreign-aid dollars going to faith-based groups such as Food for the Hungry, according to a Globe survey of government data. And in seeking to help such groups obtain more contracts, Bush has systematically eliminated or weakened rules designed to enforce the separation of church and state.

Tags: charity, church, faith, religion, christian, bush administration, politics

Bush hires Halliburton/KBR to build detention camps in USA

Wed, 30 May 2007 22:37:08 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: The word "extraordinary" is scary at best under the circumstances.

Clip Source: www.worldnetdaily.com

Directive from Bush allows president extraordinary powers in national crisis

Halliburton's former engineering and construction subsidiary has a contingency contract with the Department of Homeland Security to construct detention facilities in the event of a national emergency, according to WND columnist Jerome Corsi.

As Corsi reported last week, President Bush recently signed a little-reported National Security and Homeland Security Directive granting extraordinary powers to the president in the event of a declared national emergency, apparently without congressional approval or oversight.

Tags: bush administration, united states, politics

Why were/are so many in Journalism afraid of the Bush regime?

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:59:09 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: This is from Landay and Strobel Talk Back and Moyers' blog. I'm sure some of you have already clipped parts of it, but the whole piece is worth a read. Visit the source.

Clip Source: www.pbs.org

Why were/are so many in Journalism afraid of the Bush regime? Are we under a government of, by and for the corporations?

Warren Strobel:
Thanks for the comment. One of the things that got left out of the show was how then Knight Ridder, now McClatchy, has given us tremendous corporate backing for our journalism. I know the corporate office got some flack for what we were doing and writing back in 2002, 2003, 2004, but we never felt chill winds from our own company trying to hold us back. Questions wondering whether we were sure we were on the right track, yes. Self-censorship, no.

Also, to get to your first point, we find it kind of ironic to see all sorts of journalists challenging the administration on all sorts of fronts now - I mean, it's good and healthy to have that kind of accountability. But it's a lot easier for a reporter to do that when Bush has low approval ratings, the Iraq war is not going well and the Democrats control Congress...

Tags: bush administration, iraq war, war, politics, journalism

Bill Moyers and the Fight for American Journalism

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:24:18 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.thenation.com

After Wednesday night's premiere, Moyers will return to PBS on the Friday night schedule where he was resident for a number of years as the host of "NOW with Bill Moyers." And, just as he did before leaving "NOW" several years ago, at a time when President Bush's allies and appointees were attacking him for giving air time to administration critics – including Republicans such as Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel – Moyers is still practicing the craft of journalism in the manner intended by the rebels against empire who wrote a "freedom of the press" protection into America's founding document.

In other words, he is refusing to be a stenographer for the powerful.

"Buying the War" highlights that refusal.

Tags: journalism, journalists, bush administration, united states

BUYING THE WAR: Watch the Show

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 04:47:18 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: A must watch show for those who may have missed it.

Clip Source: www.pbs.org

BUYING THE WAR: Watch the Show

Tags: bill moyers, pbs, iraq war, journalists, united states, politics, bush administration

Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 04:39:59 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

Defense Secretary, ex-chairman of flu treatment rights holder, sees portfolio value growing.

NEW YORK (Fortune) - The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the world.

Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)'s chairman from 1997 until he joined the Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million, according to federal financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld.

Tags: rumsfeld, bird flu, tamiflu, finance, bush administration

Why I Declined To Serve

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:57:45 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Well worth the read.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Why I Declined To Serve

By John J. Sheehan

Service to the nation is both a responsibility and an honor for every citizen presented with the opportunity. This is especially true in times of war and crisis. Today, because of the war in Iraq, this nation is in a crisis of confidence and is confused about its foreign policy direction, especially in the Middle East.

Tags: bush administration, iraq war, military

Bush names industry lobbyist as consumer safety head

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 19:30:02 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: pressesc.com

President Bush today nominated industry lobbyist Michael Baroody to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) drawing heavy criticism from public interest groups.

Baroody, the incumbent vice president for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), has spent most of his professional life as a lobbyist and political operative on behalf of corporate interests, according to not for profit organization Public Citizen.

The group claims that Baroody is extremely ill-suited choice to lead an agency charged with protecting Americans from dangerous products, many of which are made by the manufacturers he is accustomed to representing.

Public Citizen described the nomination as the latest example of the Bush administration’s systematic attempts to gut federal agencies by replacing regulators with corporate cronies.

Tags: bush administration, consumer, safety, politics