How Bush started
For the "whatever" department of quotes...
Showing posts with label Bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bush. Show all posts
The last Bush act: banning French cheese
I can not resist this piece of gourmet -slash- political news. One of -what must be- Bush's last acts of.. whashalwecalit.. idiocracy? This must have been part of his war on terror cheese.
The United States, it turns out, has declared war on Roquefort cheese.
In its final days, the Bush administration imposed a 300 percent duty on Roquefort, in effect closing off the U.S. market. Americans, it declared, will no longer get to taste the creamy concoction that, in its authentic, most glorious form, comes with an odor of wet sheep and veins of blue mold that go perfectly with rye bread and coarse red wine.
The measure, announced Jan. 13 by U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab as she headed out the door, was designed as retaliation for a European Union ban on imports of U.S. beef containing hormones. Tit for tat, and all perfectly legal under World Trade Organization rules, U.S. officials explained. (Full)
Shall we add this to the to-do list of Obama: reinstate the stinky trade relations with France? Read the full post...
The after-Bush-math: UN to prosecute the Bush administration
The UN's special torture rapporteur called on the US to pursue former president George W. Bush and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture and bad treatment of Guantanamo prisoners.
"Judicially speaking, the United States has a clear obligation" to bring proceedings against Bush and Rumsfeld, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak said. (..)
He noted Washington had ratified the UN convention on torture which required "all means, particularly penal law" to be used to bring proceedings against those violating it.
"We have all these documents that are now publicly available that prove that these methods of interrogation were intentionally ordered by Rumsfeld," against detainees at the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Nowak said.
"But obviously the highest authorities in the United States were aware of this," added Nowak, who authored a UN investigation report on the Guantanamo prison. (Full)
You know what I am thinking? Now that Obama is removing the seal of secrecy on loads of government files (nice political move, Obama!), we will see plenty cans of worms. Let Pandora reign and justice be done.
Discovered via The Road Daily. Read the full post...
Undoing the wrongs...
One of President Barack Obama's first was to put the brakes on all pending regulations that the Bush administration tried to push through in its waning days.
For example, just six weeks ago, the Bush administration issued revised endangered species regulations to reduce the input of federal scientists and to block the law from being used to fight global warming.
The order went out shortly after Obama was inaugurated president, in a memorandum signed by new White House chief of staff.
Former President George W. Bush's administration moved into overdrive in the last year or so on a host of new regulatory proposals. Now the Obama administration will review everything that is still pending. (Full)
Picture courtesy Getty Images
Bye Bye Bush
It must be sad to leave a job after 8 years, knowing most of the people you dealt with, think badly of you, and your performance.
Even more so when there's a couple of billion people thinking you are the worst ever.
Neeeeext !
Picture courtesy Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
News: Bush's last days in office: "Let's screw the environment"
While Bush boasts of his efforts to cooperate with President-elect Barack Obama to ensure a smooth transition, his administration is rushing to complete work on regulations to which his successor object. The rules deal with air pollution, auto safety, abortion and workers’ exposure to toxic chemicals, among other issues.
A week ago, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the repeal of a 1983 law that prohibited surface coal mining within 100 feet of flowing streams. The new rule will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys.
Mountaintop removal is an extremely destructive form of coal mining. After clear-cutting all the timber and destroying the undergrowth, mining companies push millions of tons of waste rock and top soil into the valleys below, permanently burying streams. (Details)
"The EPA's own scientists have concluded that dumping mining waste into streams devastates downstream water quality," said Ed Hopkins of the Sierra Club, an environmental activist group. "By signing off on a rule to eliminate a critical safeguard for streams, the EPA has abdicated its responsibility and left the local communities that depend on these waters at risk."
The Environmental Protection Agency is also trying to finish work on a rule that would make it easier for utilities to put coal-fired generating stations near national parks and another allowing utility companies to modify coal-fired power plants and increase their emissions without installing new pollution-control equipment. (Full)
Update Dec 28: I guess the Bush administration did not foresee a coal waste spill like the one from Tennessee this week. Shows the potential impact, though!
More on The Road about Bush, pollution and the environment.
Picture courtesy Vivian Stockman (Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition) and Tennessean.com
News: US - 1.2 million jobs lost in 3 months.
The US lost 533,000 jobs in November for the worst monthly decline in 34 years. More than 1.25 million jobs vanished in just the last three months.
The unexpectedly high job losses, coupled with the threat of an auto industry collapse and escalating home foreclosures, point toward a much deeper recession than many economists had anticipated. (Full)
Meanwhile, the Bush administration seems to be rushing through any legislation favouring the "big business", they expect Obama would oppose. Like allowing coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys. (More)
Picture courtesy DuckDown Read the full post...
News: Obama appoints US ambassador to the UN.
Interesting. Maybe the US will -for once- have a president who remembers his promises even after the election... Obama had vowed more direct action against the Darfur genocide. He now appointed Susan E. Rice, as ambassador to the United Nations.
The New York Times reports on her appointment:
The choice of Ms. Rice to represent the United States before the United Nations will make her one of the most visible faces of the Obama administration to the outside world aside from Mrs. Clinton. It will also send to the world organization a prominent and forceful advocate of stronger action, including military force if necessary, to stop mass killings like those in the Darfur region of Sudan in recent years. (Full)
To get a feel for her stance on Darfur, check out this article she co-authored for the Washington Post.
It is not only that. Obama also wants to restore the ambassador’s post to cabinet rank, as it was under President Bill Clinton. This would send a message to the UN that the US commitment is to be taken more serious. As it should be. Are the Bush years definitively over?
More on The Road about the UN, the US, Darfur and Obama.
Discovered via Stop Genocide and For Those Who Want to Know Read the full post...
News: Bush goes, Oil Drops
Rumble: Stock Market Disaster Prompts Massive Humanitarian Effort
Amid the chaos of this growing humanitarian crisis, President Bush has bravely taken the lead and, through the coordinated efforts of several federal agencies, sought to bring relief to these weary, bejeweled souls.
"I know we took a lot of heat for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina," said Bush, "and I really don't want to repeat that mistake."
Aid helicopters hovered over the Hamptons beach club on Wednesday morning, air-dropping crates of supplies including canteens of single malt scotch, cigars, and MRE's filled sandwiches topped with Grey Poupon. At first the thirsty and famished residents were quite receptive, but the crowd turned ugly when it became clear that the cigars were of not of Cuban origin.
"This is so humiliating," said Hamptons resident Thurston Howell, trying without luck to light his generic cigar with a lowly five dollar bill. "Plus, this whiskey can't be more than five years old. How dare they!"
As the dusk approached, FEMA officials recognized that the relief effort had reached a critical point. If they did not act before night fell, some feared that there might be nothing left when the sun rose the next day. With that in mind, Chertoff and others made a last-minute decision to drop a second shipment of emergency supplies in the hardest hit portions of the Hamptons, this one a bit more practical: premium bottled water and bales of hundred dollar bills.
The exhausted and dehydrated Wall Street evacuees received the relief packages with great enthusiasm, especially the cash. News cameras perched on helicopters overhead captured footage of the gleeful residents rubbing the bills together lovingly, tucking them into their clothing, and using them to making a small bonfire on the beach.
"I guess George Bush really does care about rich white people after all," said Howell, his eyes dewey and moist. "President Bush cares for all Americans, everyone from the obscenely wealthy down to the very very rich."
This satire was respectfully ripped from Ridiculopathy, with thanks.
Picture courtesy sharpchoice.com
News: White House calls Berlusconi "an amateur"
Reporters travelling with President Bush to Japan received an interesting press kit in which the Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi was described as a political "amateur" who is "hated by many".
The "insulting" biography further depicted Berlusconi as "one of the most controversial leaders" of a country "known for governmental corruption and vice". It said Mr Berlusconi was "regarded by many as a political dilettante (amateur) who gained his high office only through use of his considerable influence on the national media".
Only last month, Mr Bush visited his old ally in Rome, calling him a "good friend".
The White House apologised for the goof. (Full)
Picture courtesy whitehouse.gov Read the full post...
News: In case you still doubt the Iraq war was pre-planned
The full 2004 CBS "60 Minutes" interview of Paul O'Neil (the former Secretary Of Treasury) and reporter Ron Suskind discussing Bush's politics.
Specifically interesting is the mention of "the Commander in Chief" asking his National Security Council to "find a way" to invade Iraq during their first meeting in January 2001. That is 8 months before 9/11.
More articles on the Road about Iraq.
Video via belowgroundsurface.org
News: Bush on Global Food Crisis: "Indians eat too much"
George W. Bush, in a press conference in Missouri on May 2, touched the subject of the soaring global food prices (taken from the official transcript):
 "Worldwide there is increasing demand. There turns out to be prosperity in developing world, which is good. It's going to be good for you because you'll be selling products into countries - big countries perhaps - and it's hard to sell products into countries that aren't prosperous. In other words, the more prosperous the world is, the more opportunity there is.It also, however, increases demand. So, for example, just as an interesting thought for you, there are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population. And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food. And so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up. (Full) |
News: Nelson Mandela (90) is still on US Terrorist List.
Other things have not changed: all ANC leaders, including Nelson Mandela, are still tagged as 'terrorists' in US security databases and need to get a special waiver to enter the US.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has now asked for the "embarrassing" travel restrictions to be lifted. Good. I am happy the US administration is keeping up with the fast moving pace of world politics. The ANC has been South Africa's governing party since 14 years. (Full)
Soon, one embarrassment less. Some more challenges still to tackle, though. Like convincing US President Bush statements like "Mandela is dead" is not really OK. Not really.
It might have something to do with the fact that Mandela has never been short of criticism on US politics or the current US presidency. Remember that back in 2003, he commented: "If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don't care."
Mandela was rather specific on Bush too: "What I am condemning is that one power, with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust (referring to the Iraq war)." (Full)
News: "Green card soldiers": Die in Iraq, US citizenship guaranteed.
A young, ambitious immigrant from Guatemala who dreamed of becoming an architect. A Nigerian medic. A soldier from China who boasted he would one day become an American general. An Indian Sikh native. What do they have in common?
They are among more than 100 foreign-born members of the U.S. military who earned American citizenship post-mortem, by dying in the Iraq war.
Immigrants have always fought — and died — in America's wars. There are tens of thousands of foreign-born members in the US armed forces. Many have been naturalized, but more than 20,000 are not US citizens.
Early in the Iraq war, Bush signed an executive order making the "Green card soldiers", as they are often called, eligible to apply for citizenship as soon as they enlist. Previously, legal residents in the military had to wait three years.
Since Bush's order, nearly 37,000 soldiers have been naturalized. And 109 who lost their lives have been granted posthumous citizenship.
Immigrant advocates have mixed feelings about military service for non-citizens. "Immigrants are lured into service and then used as political pawns or cannon fodder," said Dan Kesselbrenner, executive director of the National Immigration Project, a program of the National Lawyers Guild. (Full)
Picture courtesy About.com. Source: The Road Daily Read the full post...
News: Corporate Hall of Shame. Open for Voting.
Corporate Accountability International opened its poll booths. Vote for the Corporate Hall of Shame or submit a company you think should be set as an example of unresponsible corporate behaviour.
This year’s nominees include:
- ADM (Archer Daniels Midland), for helping make Indonesia the world’s third worst contributor to global warming through its clearing of endangered forests and wildlife habitat for palm oil plantations.
- Blackwater Worldwide, for killing unarmed Iraqi civilians, hiring paramilitaries trained under military dictatorships, and using its close political and financial ties with the Bush Administration to secure lucrative contracts.
- Countrywide, for predatory mortgage lending to elderly and non-English-speaking borrowers, and for gouging minority borrowers with discriminatory rates and fees.
- Mattel, for producing tens of millions of lead-contaminated children’s toys, and aggressively lobbying against bans on other highly toxic chemicals
- Nestlé, for numerous labor violations — including child exploitation — contributing to the obesity epidemic, and threatening community water supplies with its bottled water brands.
- Toyota, for aggressively lobbying against increased fuel economy standards and state measures to reduce global warming gas emissions while hypocritically spending millions to advertise its environmental “leadership” and popular Prius hybrids.
- Wal-Mart, for displacing local businesses, failing to cover employees under the corporation’s health plan, and opposing legislation that would increase homeland security.
- Wendy’s, for its contribution to the growing childhood obesity and diabetes epidemics, and for refusing to meet nutritional labeling regulations.
News: Bush Tries to Justify Torture.
Fact: The bill would have limited the CIA to 19 interrogation techniques that are used by the military and spelled out in the Army Field Manual. In a recent speech, Bush said he vetoed the measure because it is important for the CIA to have a separate and classified interrogation program for suspected terrorists who possess critical information about possible plots against the United States. (link)
Fact: Waterboarding (picture) involves strapping a person down and pouring water over his/her cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It has been traced back hundreds of years to the Spanish Inquisition and is condemned by nations around the world and human rights organizations as torture. (link)
Fact: The CIA admits the use of waterboarding as one of its interrogation techniques. (link)
Fact: The UN Human Rights Commission has condemned waterboarding (as used by the United States) as torture. Violators of the U.N. Convention against Torture are to be prosecuted under the principle of "universal jurisdiction", allowing allowing countries to put accused war criminals from other nations on trial. (link)
Thus: What is the logical conclusion and the legal course of action?
Picture courtesy Amnesty International. Source The Road Daily
News: The Cost of the War in Iraq: US$3 Trillion
Stiglitz: "You can look at it and say, "This is a small percentage of a rich economy," or you can look at things like the proposed children's health-insurance program that was recently vetoed as too expensive—that can be measured in the cost of days of fighting in Iraq. Funding for a major autism research effort is equal to hours of fighting. Bush has said there's a "giant hole" in our Social Security program, but for one sixth the cost of the war in Iraq, we could have fixed Social Security for the next 50 to 75 years." (Full)
My observation: this is only the cost to the US. Add to that the cost of the other nations involved, the cost to the world economy due to the staggering oil prices, the Iraqi economy, and your total tally would even be higher.
Leave alone all the human suffering this has caused. Was this all worth it, for a war waged under false pretences?
Source: Newsweek
News: Did Bush Forget to Tell Sarkozy What the Deal Was?
On his first trip to the region since taking office in May, he will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), three states interested in developing a civilian nuclear programme despite their oil and gas wealth.
Sarkozy will land in Saudi Arabia as US President George W. Bush tours the region to rally support for his policy of isolating Iran over its "controversial nuclear activities".
Apparently, the UAE has already signed the deal with France, making it the third Arab country to do so, after Algeria and... Libya. (Full Post)
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Peter. Flemish, European, aid worker, expeditioner, sailor, traveller, husband, father, friend, nutcase. Not necessarily in that order.
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