Current Events Watch

The Bush Administration may go down in history as the most scandal-ridden in U.S. history. After six years of running roughshod over the rights of American citizens, trashing the constitution and spending like a drunken sailor, Bush is facing a Democratic Congress dedicated to rooting out all the evil.

While it is almost impossible to keep up to all the scandals without a score card, the controversy surrounding the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys may well yet turn a spotlight on all the ways Bush deputy Carl Rove and company have cynically manipulated the electoral process.

Granted, the prosecutors serve at the pleasure of the President and Bush had the right to fire them. What turned these firings into a national scandal was the unprecedented way in which the eight were booted mid-term and then the constantly changing explanations from Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and company that have all the earmarks of a cover-up.

All along, Gonzales has maintained that he wasn’t directly involved in the firings. This past week, that lie exploded in his face. His chief deputy, D. Kyle Sampson, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, that “Gonzales’s statements about the prosecutors’ dismissals were inaccurate and that the attorney general had been repeatedly advised of the planning for them.�

And, we learned what everyone pretty well knew – the firings were clearly politically motivated. What is frightening about the whole affair is it is shedding light on how far Rove will go to manipulate the political process.

We know that in the 2004 election, he worked to get initiatives on the ballot banning gay marriage in a number of key swing states to energize Bush’s base. Many believe that had those initiatives not been on the ballot, John Kerry would now be President.

But Bush and company, burdened down by an increasingly unpopular war and facing a backlash from the voters in 2006, seemed as if they had no more political tricks up their sleeve.

Now it appears they did. Seven of the eight prosecutors who were fired were in swing states. Among the e-mails that have been released and the testimony of Sampson, it appears that the prosecutors were fired because they either didn’t aggressively pursue investigations into purported corruption by Democrats before the election or that they were putting Republicans in
jail and wouldn’t back off.

Is the cover-up continuing? There is an 18-day gap of missing e-mails covering the days between November 15 and December 4, 2006? Thousands of e-mails both before and after those 18 days, but only one during that 18-day period.

“The firing calls went out on December 7th. But the original plan was to start placing the calls on November 15th,” notes Josh Marshall on his Talking Points Memo blog. “So those eighteen days are pretty key ones.”

In other words, the very days in which Gonzalesgate was being finalized and executed are the only days in which only one e-mail exists.

The only way the Judiciary Committee will be able to root out the real truth about these firings will be to get Rove and Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, first proposed the dismissals after the 2004 election, to testify in public under oath, something Bush is adamantly against. Ultimately the truth will come out and we will see how cynical and – in my view – evil this administration has really been.

Today in Brazil, protesters took the streets by storm to protest a visit from Bush. The police used tear gas and beating tactics to control the protesters.

I know we were hated in some areas of the world before the Iraq War, but I get the feeling that we’re not making any friends over the war to say the least. I know that this doesn’t necessarily represent all of Latin America or even the majority of the people in Brazil, but it’s still painful to see banners of our president with a Hitler mustache next to a swastika.

Latin America, protest, Bush, Brazil, tear gas, Iraq

Christian ministers have a knack for getting into the headlines.

Rev. Jerry Falwell is claiming that global warming is a tool of Satan being used to distract Christians from their real purpose, saving souls. Falwell doesn’t seem to understand that if mankind ceases to exist, there will be no souls to save.

I still believe there is reason to doubt the idea that humans are responsible for global warming, but the notion that the church is now suddenly becoming “distracted” is laughable. Especially from this man.

This is a man who has spent his career as a minister, not on the subject of worshipping God, but on the immorality of abortion and homosexuality. It’s ridiculous to suggest that now the church is becoming distracted…and on something that could potentially end mankind.

And I obviously see the error in taking something said by Rev. Falwell seriously, but it is symptomatic of the attitude that many evangelicals have. It’s this obsession with keeping homosexuals from marrying, preventing a woman from having an abortion, keeping prayer in school, etc. It’s not that I have a problem with those whose viewpoints are different than mine. I do have a problem however with pushing these policies under the banner of Christianity while failing to promote the very topics that Jesus spent the most time talking about. Jesus did not mention the gays and he most certainly did not mention abortion or stem cells, yet they are extremely vocal on these issues and are silent when it comes to virtues like helping the homeless. The Religious Right blatantly misleads people when it comes to who Jesus really is.

And that is precisely the problem. The Religious Right is more right than it is religious. With them, it’s about using God for political purposes, not using politics for God’s.

Jerry Falwell, devil, God, religion, religious right, politics, Jesus, global warming, Christianity

In a post on Andrew Sullivan’s blog, a reader provided the text from a speech Barack Obama delivered at AIPAC concerning Iran:

President Ahmadinejad has denied the Holocaust. He held a conference in his country, claiming it was a myth. But we know the Holocaust was as real as the 6 million who died in mass graves at Buchenwald, or the cattle cars to Dachau or whose ashes clouded the sky at Auschwitz. We have seen the pictures. We have walked the halls of the Holocaust museum in Washington and Yad Vashem. We have touched the tattoos on loved-ones arms. After 60 years, it is time to deny the deniers.

The world must work to stop Iran’s uranium enrichment program and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. It is far too dangerous to have nuclear weapons in the hands of a radical theocracy. And while we should take no option, including military action, off the table, sustained and aggressive diplomacy combined with tough sanctions should be our primary means to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons.

In the past, Obama, who favors direct talks with Iran, has been criticized of being too soft. It’s similar to the criticism that Jack Kennedy faced when he engaged in talks with Krushchev, the leader of the USSR. While these times were rocky, it should be noted that they were also peaceful. Kennedy showed a resolve that not only helped keep peace, but also kept the U.S. form being bullied out of West Berlin. Richard Nixon also received criticism from engaging in talks with China’s Communist leader, Mao Zedong. This move opened up trade with the U.S. and China and is considered one of Nixon’s greatest achievements.

This is in comparison with the Bush administration, who until recently would not engage in any talks with Iran. In their defense, the administration has shifted its position and is now willing to talk with Iran on the issue of security in Iraq.

In my opinion, this is one of Obama’s strengths. He seems to understand the importance of talking with our enemies while at the same time being open about his disdain for what they are doing. He understands that diplomacy works and if it doesn’t, then military force is a second option. Barack Obama is not soft when it comes to foreign policy, but he is smart.

Barack Obama, Iran, foreign policy, diplomacy, middle east, 2008 election

Well this is my second post in a row that has something to do with law. This is noteworthy because like the last post, it has nothing to do with the body of Anna Nicole Smith.

New developments have been made in the story about a man in Pittsburgh who has been accused of mailing his ex-girlfriend the severed head of a cute little kitten. I’m assuming it is cute. It is a kitten after all. He will faced reduced animal cruelty charges because it has been ruled that the animal was dead before he took off the head.

But let’s get back to the cuteness, because that is what really gives cause to my outrage. If it had been a skunk or a raccoon, no one would care. Assuming that it would be prosecuted, the punishment for doing that to an ugly animal would be far less than the punishment this guy is going to receive solely due to the fact that his victim happened to be cute.

It’s discrimination based on looks, and it is all due to those people out there who go, “awww” any time a baby and/or cute little animal does anything apart from pooping. In other words, females. And then to take it further we have those with their radical cat-loving agendas:

This picture is from the book, Dancing With Cats, the radical cat lovers’ manifesto. They sound crazy, but it is nothing more than an extension of the “awwww, how cute” society that has been created.

Legally, we already discriminate against the less fortunate humans in our society. The statistics are stacked against those who come from poor backgrounds. Desperateness no doubt leads to higher crime rates. On top of that, the scale of justice definitely tips towards those with deep pockets. It’s been that way for quite a while and it doesn’t seem to be improving too much. That’s why I’m saying that the least we can do, is look out for the less fortunate animals out there. Though not nearly as important as humans, maybe they at least can enjoy Lady Liberty, color/beauty-blinded and all.

Note: Despite the seemingly anti-kitten statements posted above, Steve Johnson does not endorse/condone the killing, decapitating, and/or the mailing of severed heads to ex-girlfriends, in regard to these animals. Because of this, he is not held liable for any such action that is taken by a reader after viewing this article. Kill, decapitate, and send at your own discretion.

cat, cute, kitten, crime, head, severed head, cat head, dancing with cats, cat lovers

If this story had turned out differently, I would be upset.

A South African man was sentenced to one month in jail after his cell phone rang in a courtroom. The judge was obviously less than understanding. The Supreme Court of Appeal voted unanimously to overturn the ridiculous conviction.

It’s kind of scary that a judge, a man who’s job rests on the notion that he has some kind of sound judgment, would just get irritated and snap because of something as small as that. Don’t get me wrong, I realize how annoying cell phones can be, but one month in jail is excessive. I wonder how harsh his punishments are when someone does something really bad.

cell phone, South Africa, court, judge, conviction

The master is interviewed by the apprentice…

Colbert, Larry King, interview, comedy, funny, humor, video

McCain has become the second presidential candidate in only a few weeks to use the word “wasted” to describe the lives lost in Iraq. Barack Obama made the same mistake. Obama quickly came to his aid. You can read the full story here.

From the Oxford American Dictionary:

waste |wÄ?st| |weɪst| |weɪst|
verb
1 [ trans. ] use or expend carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose

I wish that instead of immediately back-peddaling from using this term, someone would argue the fact that this is exactly what has happened. Careless is exactly what this war has been.

We came to Iraq with virtually no exit strategy and we thought that once we toppled Saddam, the Iraqis would immediately be on our side. We thought we would be greeted as liberators. Sure, there are a lot of them on our side, but we grossly underestimated the power of those who aren’t.

And the last phrase in that definition, “to no purpose.” I would venture to say that most Americans you talked to could not give you a confident answer if you were to ask them what the purpose of this war is. The original purpose was to find the WMDs. They have not been found. I have a feeling that at the end of this thing, like Vietnam, the purpose will be to get out without embarrassing ourselves too much.

We have severely underestimated the cost of this war, and because of that, we have wasted time, money, and yes, lives.

Iraq, McCain, Obama, war, 2008 election, politics, gaffe

The do-nothing Democrats in Congress are at it again. This time, they are going to develop a proposal that “would require President Bush to acknowledge problems with an overburdened military.” You know what would really cause him to acknowledge it? De-fund that sucker. But yet again they are going about this in a completely meaningless way. Sadly, there seems to be a pattern of this with the Democrats since the last election.

I wrote about this subject earlier, but this keeps happening. I assume part of it has to do with the fear of being perceived as not “for the troops,” but I think pure political manipulation is being done here. As long as they continue to debate meaningless anti-war bills that simply reprimand the president and neglect to take any strong action, they can throw the blunders of the war back on the president in the 2008 election.

This tactic, if it is what they are using, is flawed in many ways. First of all, it operates under the pretext that this is the president’s war. It is not. The minute Congress decided to grant Bush the power to declare war, they forfeited their right to wash their hands clean of any wrong doing in the war. It is their responsibility as well.

And to make matters worse, the American voters have given them the power to fix this, yet they refuse to do so. The American public didn’t vote for the Democrats in the hope that they would simply reprimand the president. They voted because they wanted change. It would be nice if we got a little of that.

Senate, Democrats, Bush, Iraq War, Congress