Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Bush Regime and Big Business Still Pillaging And Plundering & "Taking The American People For A RIDE "

Anyway American conservatives and the Republicans are once again trying to write a new narrative about the election and the American people in which they claim Americans are not really rejecting conservatism or the way the War on Terror has been waged by George Bush with his use of invading a sovereign nation under false pretences or his use of torture or his deregulating and outsourcing and privatizing one part of the government after another and the Americans are happy with the present Health Care system etc. What these conservatives are still arguing that any American who seriously questions the Bush Regime's policies is not a real American. And if these American citizens want a better Health Care system or more money put in to the public schools or even create a national pre-school program or are concerned over Global Warming or other environmental issues or are concerned about how deregulation combined with tax breaks for the rich have helped lead to the economic meltdown or how deregulation has led to a lack of consumer confidence in the items they buy from battled water to processed meats and vegetables to children's toys and baby bottles - than according to these conservatives these Americans are " socialists " or Communists" out to destroy America.

Conservatives after being beaten in last weeks election in the USA still want to claim no matter what the reality actually is that America is a conservative nation. But the reality is that most Americans are in fact more to the left than to the right.

as Joshua Holland explains about the central issue of this past campaign : "In other words, they made this election explicitly about ideology, and Obama kicked their collective ass."

America Is a Center-Left Country No Matter How Much the Corporate Media Say Otherwise By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. November 10, 2008.

Outside of a few social issues, Americans are firmly in the progressive camp, but that hasn't prevented a lot of bloviating to the contrary
The American people are center-left (or at least firmly in the center) on the primary matters over which government presides: taxation and debt, public services, the regulation of the economy and America's role in the world.

But that hasn't stopped a lot of bloviating to the contrary. Only moments after the networks declared Barack Obama the winner of a dramatic realignment election, William Bennett, the conservative icon, declared on CNN that "America is still a center-right nation, no matter what anybody says."

Implied was that it also didn't matter what exit polls, mountains of public opinion data, shifts in partisan identification and changes in the country's demographics say. That stuff's apparently for the "reality-based" community to worry about.

...During the campaign, the Republicans called Obama a socialist, clunkily accused him of being a "wealth redistributor" and held up Joe the Plumber as an example of the burdens small businesses like Exxon-Mobile and JP Morgan would have to bear under an Obama administration. In other words, they made this election explicitly about ideology, and Obama kicked their collective ass.

Again, that brutal beating took place mere moments before the blathering class started gazing into their navels in search of evidence of our center-right essence.
One can only imagine the paper shredding of documents and the destruction of computer hard-drives taking place under the supervision of Bush Regime loyalists since Obama was elected to replace George W. Bush.


But daily the hits keep coming as it has become more acceptable for the media to no longer act as apologists for the corrupt and criminal Bush Regime. Now all those who were reluctant in the media to criticize in any way President Bush are now jumping on the bandwagon and claiming they had never played the role of apologists for the Bush Regime. But what the Bush supporters fear is that like Madam Defarge in " The Tale of Two Cities " those of us against the Bush Regime's ultraconservative and neocon agenda have been taking down names in preparation for the hoped for ultraconservatives fall from grace. There were a few who were critical of Bush all along such as Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow , McClatchy Newspapers, Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post , and The People For The American Way & Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert etc.. . The rest of the US media were glad form 2000 on to act as the cheering section for the Bush./Cheney Regime . Some late-night comedy show host might have made the odd joke about Bush but it was with a sly wink meaning it was just all in fun since they would never truly doubt the word or the policies of their Commander in Chief Generalissimo George the Butcher Bush .

The Mainstream Media have a lot to answer for since most of them bent over backward to promote the Bush Regime's Neocon agenda treating all those ultraconservatives as if they were giving independent non-partisan analysis of a particular piece of that agenda. The Mainstream Media acted as mouthpieces or megaphones defending Bush and the Neocons at every turn from The Necessity of invading Iraq which they claimed was involved in 9/11 and that Saddam was an imminent threat to the USA to the abuse and torture of detainees to the Bush administrations botching of the occupation of Iraq or its criminally inept response to the destruction of Hurricane Katrina to defending the Bush Regime's disastrous environmental record to the Regime's abysmal record in dealing with the 1.7 million vets who have returned to the United States from Combat Duty since the beginning of the War on Terror. Meanwhile they treated critics of the Bush Regime as if they were disloyal Americans who were on the side of the Terrorists. This insanity was continued throughout the primaries and then took an even uglier turn during the actual election campaign . Americans should keep all this in mind and not forget it for it showed the conservative movement and the Republican party would go to almost any lengths to maintain power even if it meant creating a hate-filled racist environment which might have exploded into violence in the streets.

This should be the death nell of the conservative movement in America but don't count on it since they have the money and power to regroup and they have the know-how to once again rev up their Propaganda Machine of lies and half-truths to once again put fear into the hearts and minds of the American public who never seem to learn anything from their own history. Conservatives know this and they have always taken the long view so a four year interlude is no big deal. To the conservatives Obama is a mere blip or bump along the road as they get ready to take power again in four years time. The problem for Obama is that expectations are so high that he when he makes mistakes the conservatives hope to use these undermine his ability to govern and finally his ability to be re-elected.

Maybe now the Mainstream Media will report truthfully about the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or is this still too sacred and taboo of a subject for Americans. Probably since most Americans have never been able to face the cruel and hard truths about Vietnam let alone come to grips with an ongoing conflict which has led to the deaths of 4,000 Americans and as many as one million Iraqis. Even now one can find articles written by ultraconservatives claiming America lost the Vietnam war because of the AntiAmerican Godless-Liberals.

Most Americans even now haven't a clue about the numbers of innocent Iraqi civilians who have been killed by US Troops . Or they just don't want to think about it because it might spoil their day.

Anyway the conservatives and the Republican Party under McCain/Palin and Bush/Cheney and the gang along with FOX NEWS and their shock-jocks and Hate-Radio and their Hate-Filled malicious bloggers etc. claimed Barack Obama was out to re-distribute the wealth which they saw as a great evil force about to be unleashed on unsuspecting information and knowledged challenged average Americans. They couldn't just come out and call them stupid of course which is what the conservatives' really meant. But the irony is that the Bush Regime and the Republicans and the conservative movement went into panic mode in September insisting that some $700 billion be given as a bail-out to Wall Street- but isn't this a form of wealth re-distribution or a form of Corporate Welfare and an interference in the "FREE MARKET PLACE ECONOMY " . It also seems that there is little or no oversight in this hand-out to Big Business and investors and it may be a bigger bail out than it was thought to be as there is another two trillion or so involved as it were but who can keep track. But that's the whole point the conservatives and their greedy friends want the money but they don't believe they should give an accounting of how it is used whether to stave of bankruptcy or to pay big bonuses to CEO's or helpful Lobbyists and Politicians.

Bush Regime's Pillaging and Plundering of the US Treasury goes up another 2 trillion dollars.The Bush supporters and big businesses are laughing all the way to the bank. Is this now the biggest rip-off in American history. Will they clean out the Treasury altogether before Bush leaves office. One wonders what lies Bush & Co. told Obama on his chit-chat with Bush. How could anyone trust anything out-going President Bush has to say after all that has taken place and given the viciousness of the Republican campaign . Bush has been lying to the American people and to the world from the moment he took office in 2000 why would he change now. One has to remember that Bush's Regime has infiltrated every government department choosing personnel not on their capabilities but based on their loyalty to Bush and his ideology and his agenda . Whether its the Pentagon or Homeland Security or the Environmental Protection Agency they have become propaganda mills for the Bush Regime. How is Obama going to sort out the false findings and cooked intel of any of these various agencies from what is actually the case.

Fed Refuses to Identify Recipients of $ 2 Trillion In Emergency Taxpayer Loans, Bloomberg Sues for Info. Huffington Post Nov. 10, 2008/ Bloomberg.com

The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.

and:

...The Fed made the loans under terms of 11 programs, eight of them created in the past 15 months, in the midst of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

``It's your money; it's not the Fed's money,'' said billionaire Ted Forstmann, senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co. in New York. ``Of course there should be transparency.''


...Federal Reserve spokeswoman Michelle Smith declined to comment on the loans or the Bloomberg lawsuit. Treasury spokeswoman Michele Davis didn't respond to a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment.

President-elect Barack Obama's economic adviser, Jason Furman, also didn't respond to an e-mail and a phone call seeking comment from Obama. In a Sept. 22 campaign speech, Obama promised to ``make our government open and transparent so that anyone can ensure that our business is the people's business.''


And Americans shocked to discover much of the Bailout money will be used to reward CEOs of failed investment frims , banks and corporations. No one would want these CEO's and others to suffer the consequences of their actions that is not the way conservatives and Republicans view the relationship between business and government. Government is to stand out of the way of business when things are going fine but when things go wrong then government they believe has a duty to bail-out big business & banks etc. while many Americans lose their homes , their jobs , their savings and investments but conservatives don't believe these average Americans should expect any help from government . Anyway so who are the real re-distriputionists.

Americans Discover That Bailout Will Be used to Pay Wall Street Bonuses By Henry Blodget Nov. 11, 2008

U.S. taxpayers have suddenly noticed where much of the first tranche of the Wall Street bailout is going. Bloomberg's Christine Harper talks to the people:
``I may not understand everything, but I do understand common sense, and when you lend money to someone, you don't want to see them at a new-car dealer the next day,'' said Ken Karlson, a 61-year-old Vietnam veteran and freelance marketer in Wheaton, Illinois...

``Even really sober people are saying this is the worst financial crisis since the Depression, and they're saying bonuses are just going to be reduced?'' said Patrick Amo, a 53-year-old retired merchant marine in Seattle. ``Oh my God, you read that and your jaw drops


DEREGULATION & THE BUSH REGIME's Ongoing War against Clean Air And Clean Water etc.What matters to the Bush Regime is that businesses continue to prosper and that government not interfer in the market place. So as a citizen and a consumer it is a matter of buyer beware. The water you drink , the car you drive , the plane or train you travel on, the food you purchase may not be safe because there was no one responsible for making it as safe as possible because since the beginning of the Reagan Revolution through to last eight years of the Bush Regime the conservatives have been on a deregulation binge.

Global Warming, for instance, is still being disregarded as merely a crackpot left-wing environmental conspiracy to attack Big Business , Big Oil and Big Coal. So how can Obama expect to have a bi-partisan deal to be struck when it comes to Global Warming and other environmental issues when the Republicans see these issues as mere left-wing propaganda. The true believing conservative is no more going to buy into doing something tangible on these issues any more than they are going to admit that it was wrong to invade Iraq or that the occupation of Iraq has been a disaster or that deregulation combined with outrageous tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are foremost among the main causes in this present financial crisis in America.

A new frenzy of Deregulation - Businesses should not be answerable to the government or to the people. If you buy a bottle of water and it makes you ill too bad, if an oil company spills a few hundred thousand barrels of oil into the sea or on the ground so what too bad eh , as long as the Lobbyists can get to or influence through bribes or threats those politicians who are for sale to the highest bidder the health and safety of you or your family is not the concern of big business or those politicians who are in the game for the Big Pay-Off.

So even now the Bush Regime is working overtime on behalf of their chief clients that is Big Business and the wealthy and their own circle of loyal friends .

As this next article points out:

The Midnight Deregulation Express
Tuesday 11 November 2008 by: Matthew Blake, The Washington Independent


In his last days in power, George W. Bush wants to change some rules.
It's something of a tradition - administrations using their final weeks in power to ram through a slew of federal regulations. With the election grabbing the headlines, outgoing federal bureaucrats quietly propose and finalize rules that can affect the health and safety of millions.

The Bush administration has followed this tradition and expanded it. Up to 90 proposed regulations could be finalized before President George W. Bush leaves office January 20. If adopted, these rules could weaken workplace safety protections, allow local police to spy in the "war on terror" and make it easier for federal agencies to ignore the Endangered Species Act.


And more misdeeds are being investigated:


Probe Sought of Bush Handling of Alaska Oil-Spill Case
Monday 10 November 2008 by: Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers


Washington - An environmental watchdog group asked the Department of Justice's inspector general on Monday to investigate whether the department had prematurely halted a criminal prosecution of BP for a 2006 oil spill in Alaska.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed the complaint on behalf of Scott West, who as the special agent in charge for the Environmental Protection Agency participated in the federal and state investigation of the spill.

West, who retired last week after 19 years as an EPA criminal investigator to take a job with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said he'd argued for more time last year because he and his team were looking for evidence to prove felonies. The Justice Department, however, said the evidence had been fully investigated and charged BP with a misdemeanor.

BP, one of the world's largest energy companies, agreed in October 2007 to plead guilty to the federal misdemeanor and pay $20 million in criminal penalties for two Prudhoe Bay spills. One was the largest spill on the North Slope; about 201,000 gallons of oil leaked onto the tundra and a frozen pond
.


White House Suffers Loss in Email Case Monday 10 November 2008 by: The Associated Press


Washington - A federal judge on Monday ruled against the Bush administration in a court battle over the White House's problem-plagued e-mail system.

With two-and-a-half months remaining before the Bush administration leaves office, U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy ruled that two private groups may pursue their case as they press the government to recover millions of possibly missing electronic messages.

Kennedy rejected the government's request to throw out the lawsuits filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive.

The government had argued that the courts did not have the authority to order the White House to retrieve any missing e-mails.

Kennedy, an appointee of President Clinton, said the two private groups seek precisely the relief outlined in the Federal Records Act and upheld in a previous case by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

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