DID HE REALLY SAY THAT?

YES. YES HE DID


President Bush has always been quotable....for all the wrong reasons.

When Bush makes up words, twists meanings, mangles definitions, says something incredibly insensitive, or simply has trouble getting his thoughts to come out of his mouth in a way that makes sense, he has uttered a "Bushism".

For example, "I know how hard it is to put food on your children."

You know what he's trying to say, you kinda get what he means, but it's all wrong.

He's had a rich history of producing these kinds of classic quotes, literally hundreds of them, and 2006 has delivered a bumper crop.

Part One of the Best Of Bush, 2006 :

He got 2006 off to a remarkable, David Brent-like start, with this utterance of mind-numbing insensitivity to a group of young Iraq War veterans, many of whom were double amputees, on New Year's Day :

"As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself -- not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar (tree). I eventually won. The cedar gave me a little scratch. As a matter of fact, the Colonel asked if I needed first aid when she first saw me. I was able to avoid any major surgical operations here, but thanks for your compassion, Colonel."

Just for the record, Bush was obviously trying to lighten the mood at the hospital. It didn't work. Even the White House official photographer couldn't get a photo of Bush with the veterans and doctors that didn't show them all looking stunned, annoyed or extremely pissed off at the president.

"The United States of America is engaged in a war against an extremist group of folks," (August 15, 2006)

"I was not pleased that Hamas has refused to announce its desire to destroy Israel."
(May 4, 2006 )

"We shouldn't fear a world that is more interacted."
(June 27, 2006)

"I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember -- I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy to see a tide turn -- did I say those words?"
(June 14, 2006)

"You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you're gone."
(May 5, 2006)

"The point now is how do we work together to achieve important goals. And one such goal is a democracy in Germany."
(May 5, 2006)

"That's called, A Charge To Keep, based upon a religious hymn. The hymn talks about serving God. The president's job is never to promote a religion."
(May 5, 2006)

"You took an oath to defend our flag and our freedom, and you kept that oath underseas and under fire."
(in a speech to war veterans, January 10, 2006).

"I like my buddies from west Texas. I liked them when I was young, I liked them then I was middle-age, I liked them before I was president, and I like them during president, and I like them after president."
(Feb. 1, 2006)

"I can look you in the eye and tell you I feel I've tried to solve the problem diplomatically to the max, and would have committed troops both in Afghanistan and Iraq knowing what I know today."
(April 24, 2006)

Not enough world leaders use Bill & Ted/Wayne's World-era phrases like "To The Max".

Go here for a more comprehensive list of Bushisms from About.com

GOT FEAR? NO? NEITHER DO MOST AMERICANS

BUSH FEAR MONGERING ON IRAQ WAR HAS LOST ITS POWER THROUGH OVERPLAY

Interesting column here by Philip Gaitley on why Bush Co can't rely on the War On Iraq to unite the country anymore.

Here's the gist of it :

With the fifth anniversary of 9/11 and a midterm election coming up, the Bush gang is still trafficking in fear, which is about all they have left. But polls show that a majority of Americans are on to their game. The public no longer believes the invasion of Iraq has made us safer or that it was related to the fight against terrorism.

The war is going miserably in Iraq. And it's not going that well on the home front, either. Public support for the war is collapsing, and even some Republican hawks are beginning to distance themselves from the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld quagmire in Iraq.

Bush said we would be fighting terrorists "in the streets of our own cities" if we withdrew from Iraq without victory...the president suggested they fail to see the war as part of the larger struggle against terrorists he called the "successors to fascists, to Nazis, to communists and other totalitarians of the 20th century."

"The war we fight today is more than a military conflict," Bush said. "It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century."

If Bush really believes the stakes in Iraq are as high as they were in World War II, he should mobilize the nation and call for sacrifice. He should institute a military draft and repeal tax cuts to pay for the long and costly struggle against Islamic terrorists. And he should replace Rumsfeld with a defense secretary who is competent in the business of waging war.

Read the whole column here.

"GIVE BUSH A BREAK!"

Jonah Goldberg pops up in a Pittsburgh newspaper claiming he really isn't that much of a fan of Bush, but things could be much worse.

Really?

Interesting delusion.

The tens of thousands of civilian casualties resulting from the catastrophic War On Iraq and the pre-emptive philosophy of the War On Terror might argue differently. If they weren't dead, of course.

Goldberg argues that Americans, and the world, have all been far too harsh on the President of the United States. Here's some highlights :

Lord knows I have my problems with President Bush. He taps the federal coffers like a monkey smacking the bar for another cocaine pellet in an addiction study. And, yes, the Iraq invasion has gone badly. To deny this is to suggest that Bush meant for things to turn out this way, which is even crueler than saying he failed to get it right.

That said, it's time to cut the guy some slack.

...the Bush-bashers have lost credibility.

The anti-Bush chorus sees (Hurricane) Katrina as nothing more than a good stick for beating on Pinata Bush's "competence." The hypocrisy is astounding because the media did such an abysmal job covering the reality of New Orleans.

The Mississippi coast was hit harder by Katrina than New Orleans was.

Mississippi has the same federal government as Louisiana and reconstruction there is going gangbusters.

Then there's the war on terror. Democrats love to note that Bush hasn't caught Osama bin Laden yet.... But even nicer than catching bin Laden is not having thousands of dead Americans in New York, Washington and L.A.

Political dissatisfaction with the president rests entirely on Iraq and overall Bush fatigue. The rest amounts to little more than Iraq-motivated brickbats gussied up to look like freestanding complaints. That's how hate works: It looks for more excuses to hate in the same way that fire looks for more stuff to burn.

Look, things could obviously be a lot better. But they could be a lot worse too.

John Kerry could be president.

Go here to read the whole thing.

CONTROVERSY SWIRLS OVER BUSH QOUTES FROM NEW BOOK

SAID THE JEWS "WERE ALL GOING TO HELL"

A new book claims that in 1998, George W. Bush gave reporters from a Dallas newspaper an interview where he claimed Jews "were all going ot hell" because his Christian beliefs told him so :

"You know what I'm gonna tell those Jews when I get to Israel, don't you Herman?" a then Governor George W. Bush allegedly asked a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman.

When the journalist, Ken Herman, replied that he did not know, Bush reportedly delivered the punch line: "I'm telling 'em they're all going to hell."

Bush's thoughts on the fate of non-Christian souls became a minor source of controversy after he told the Houston Post in 1993 that only those who "accept Jesus Christ" go to Heaven.

It will be interesting to see just how controversial these quotes prove to be now, as they were widely ignored by the media in 1998, and were rarely raised during the 2000 presidential campaign.

The trip to Israel Bush was referring to was the one he now regularly claims opened his eyes to what was happening in the Middle East. Ariel Sharon took Bush on helicopter tour of Israel cities and Palestinian refugee camps.

There has been enormous amount of publicity in 2000 claiming that President Bush scored the White House thanks to the work of Christian groups and his hardcore campaigning efforts to win their votes.

Every group of anybody wants to claim responsibility for holding the key to a politician getting elected to office through the power of their numbers. If marketing savvy Christian groups saw an opportunity to stake their claim to getting Bush elected in 2000, why wouldn't they do so?

The fact is that George W. Bush spent dozens of days through late 1999 courting Muslims and Muslim community groups across the US, particularly in Florida. It paid off bigtime. Some estimates claim that President Bush captured 90% of the Muslim vote in the 2000 presidential elections.

Considering he only beat Al Gore to the White House by less than 600 votes, it was the vastly then-untapped Muslim vote that ultimately proved far more important to Bush becoming president than expanding his Christian supporter base.

Interestig to note that in his campaigning during late 1999, Bush won over millions of American Muslims with his resistance to introducing any kind of racial profiling, or singling out of Muslims at airports for extra security attention.

A POSSIBLE FUTURE IF PRESIDENT BUSH WERE ASSASSINATED

The Daily Mail in the UK has followed up its stories yesterday on the new movie, Death Of A President, with this 'What If?' piece by an historian on how the future may unfold if the events in the movie - Bush being assassinated in 2007 - actually did occur.

I think we'll move off this story for a bit after this. Just writing headlines like the above is way too creepy.

I have no wish for President Bush to be assassinated. I want him to grow old and spend the rest of his life thinking about the things he did and the choices he made, and living with the knowledge that he helped create the conditions that resulted in the untimely deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

Maybe Bush at 80 years old will not care an iota about the carnage he helped to unleash, maybe he will never believe he did anything wrong, but a quick death like this movie portrays is a far too easy out for one of the most vicious (and thus far) untried war criminals of the 21st century.

You can hate President Bush's sometimes demented policies, his schitzoid behaviour, his knife-edge temper and his total disconnection with the realities of our world today, but if you think the War On Terror would change, or the War On Iraq would be over, with the death of Bush, you're living in the same kind of deluded fantasy realm in which he dwells.

The War On Iraq will last for years to come, and the War On Terror will roll on until the majority of the world's people vote out the government's who keep it alive and thriving.

Okay, here's some excerpts from the 'What If? piece in today's Daily Mail :

The murder of George W. Bush set off a global crisis with which we still live today, ten years after he was killed.

George W. Bush's hopes of bringing 'peace through democracy' to the Middle East after his invasion of Iraq had already worn thin by autumn 2006. Anti-war demonstrations had become more numerous and security tightened everywhere.

The new President, speaking from a 'secure location' soon nicknamed Bunker One, announced that 'those who celebrate death will learn to taste it soon enough'. Dick Cheney appeared unfazed by the day's gruesome events.

Despite Britain's own experience of Islamic terrorism, the public response to the murder of the American president here was muted, at best — and in some quarters, not all Muslim, it was joyful.

At home and abroad, the gloating over Bush's death soon gave way to a sober realisation that he had actually been a check on Dick Cheney's ruthless way of defending America from enemies at home or abroad.

Executive orders authorising detention without trial of citizens as well as aliens suspected of 'terrorist affiliations' and closing America's borders were signed off with astonishing alacrity, as were military plans to strike regimes that had celebrated Bush's death.

Syria was attacked, but Iran bore the brunt. Mass strikes by bombers and cruise missiles knocked out any capacity Iran had for making modern weapons, let alone nuclear bombs, but at a huge price. A country of 70million cowered under the shadow of burning oil wells and the pollution from devastated petro-chemical plants.

A grim war went on year after year in the lunar landscape which was much of Iran. As America struggled to find a replacement for the Ayatollahs' regime, even the willing support of Iranian émigrés from America wanting to wipe away the stain of the assassin's crime could not build a stable pro-U.S. government in Tehran.

Even as U.S. planes and cruise missiles struck at targets across Iran, American naval power went into action against Iran's ally Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela. A wave of protests swept Latin America. Chaos engulfed much of Mexico, sending waves of refugees north to the American border.

The backlash from these attempts to resolve America's foreign problems with decisive military strikes overshadowed the domestic impact of Bush's death. Iranian and Arab Americans weathered the wave of revenge pogroms set off by the assassination, but the bureaucracy of Homeland Security extended its surveillance over them, and pretty well anyone else.

Cheney's re-election campaign in 2008 was conducted in a virtual state of emergency, with him addressing the Republican convention by 3D video link from a secure location. The mood of ongoing crisis, combined with the choice of Jeb Bush as his Vice President, widely seen in America as a tribute to the slain President, ensured him a landslide.

For a man with a history of heart problems, Cheney's survival for almost ten years as president during what the New York Times called 'Our Time of Troubles' was remarkable.

'I thrive on crisis,' Cheney explained, 'it was peace that got me tense.' Occasionally he was short of breath, but Cheney even turned this to his advantage. Images of President Cheney in a wheelchair at Thanksgiving 2010 were carefully choreographed to recall Franklin Roosevelt in charge of the war effort 70 years earlier.

Despite the mayhem since Bush's murder, most Americans had preferred to stick by Dick Cheney. His no-nonsense manner reassured, even as crises kept recurring.

Read the whole story here.

PRESIDENT BUSH ASSASSINATED



IN NEW MOVIE

That's pretty well how the main headline on Drudge Report read a few minutes ago. Except with my screen type size settings the first full line on the screen read : 'Shock: President Bush Assassinated In New...'

York? Bush Assassinated In New York????

Good Christ, oh fuck, shit enough bricks to build a house, it's on, on Christ oh God oh no, no, no, it's on, it's over, this is it, legs weak, stomach knots instantly, and then....pity.

Pity for Bush, for his wife, his kids, his friends, pity for the United States, for the world, for those who will probably get nuked in response.

Bush Assassinated In New York.

Scroll down.

Oh.

Bush Assassinated In New MOVIE.

Okay, well, that's something else entirely.

Three seconds of outright shock and a hot, electric adrenalin hit like nothing I've felt since I lost my footing on the edge of an unfenced lookout high over a gorge in the Northern Territory.

Why does it seem like such a movie was so inevitable?

And is this the first time a movie has been made that actually discusses the assassination of a real, sitting president, or a national leader? Can't think of another movie that actually discusses the murder of a living, serving president.

The movie is called - D.O.A.P, 'Death Of A President'. Of course, it's a British movie, made for television, in a docudrama style, where fictitious events are presented as documentary-real.

Surprisingly, 'D.O.A.P' is being screened at the Toronot Film Festival in September, before it screens in the UK in October.

With Bush being one of the most ouright despised world leaders since Hitler, expect this movie to do roaring business and pull huge audiences.

But will it screen in Australia?

Will it screen in the US?

I'll need to check, but I'm pretty sure it's illegal right now in the US to portray an act of violence against the President of the United States, or to call for his assassination, not that this movie appears to be doing that.

Regardless, it is bound to cause much discussion and encourage foolish people to post comments saying things like "Great Idea!", which will get their computer's IP number/address databased somewhere where they definitely don't want it to be.

Here's an early review of D.O.A.P. :

"An unknown gunman assassinates George W. Bush. A couple of years later, an investigative documentary is made. It features all the people involved that fateful day: the protestors outside a Chicago hotel; the suspects in the shooting and their families; the Secret Service men who failed to protect their charge; the press; and an array of experts, desperately seeking meaning in this horrible act of violence. We learn, agonizingly, what happened to America after the death of a president.

This is easily the most dangerous and breathtakingly original film I have encountered this year.

....collaborating with some of the finest special effects wizards in the world, (the director) inserts his characters seamlessly into existing footage. His narrative is also airtight. Cautionary tales are too often flights of fancy; as they push the envelope of credibility, the lessons gleaned from dark speculation become somehow tarnished. Not here. Every moment is completely believable, every comment is somehow appropriate, to the point of chilling, horrifying certainty.

Xenophobia, the hidden costs of war and the nature of civil liberties in a hyper-media age all come under the microscope. The film is never a personal attack on Bush; Range simply seeks to explore the potential consequences that might follow from the President's policies and actions.

CHENEY CLAIMS PRESIDENT BUSH HAS SHIELDED AMERICANS FROM FURTHER TERROR ATTACKS

Vice President Dick Cheney sure is devoted, if somewhat deluded. He has no doubt that it has been the offensive actions of President Bush that has saved the US from being hit again by terrorist attacks, after September 11, 2001.

As far as Cheney is concerned, the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against potential future enemies has already paid dividends of peace and security in the homeland.

But then, Cheney was damn sure that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was a key figure of responsibility for the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. So....

As harsh as it is, I've always preferred the unproven legend that after September 11, 2001, Bush made contact with key Saudis, Pakistanis, Iranians, etc, and laid down the new law :

"If the US gets hit again by any Islamists, any terror attack whatsoever, Mecca gets nuked. You get me? Mecca gets nuked. Regardless of who is responsible for the attacks and damn the consequences."

It sounds like something out of a bad terrorist-thriller from the 1970s, and maybe it is.

Anyway, here's the story on Cheney Thinks Bush Has Saved The US From Being Attacked Again :

Speaking at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention here as the fifth anniversary of the attacks approached, Cheney said that terrorists had mounted successful attacks on targets overseas, including Madrid; London; and Jakarta, Indonesia — but not in the United States.

"No one can guarantee that we won't be struck again. But to have come this far without another attack is no accident," Cheney said, crediting "sound" decisions by President Bush and vigilance by U.S. agencies and the military.

Cheney's claim of credit for the absence of attacks, a frequent theme in his recent speeches, contrasts sharply with criticism by Democrats and others who charge the administration has left the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism by focusing on the war in Iraq.

In his address, Cheney said that Iraq was a key part of the administration's anti-terrorism effort and that pulling out would be a mistake.

"A precipitous withdrawal from Iraq would be a victory for the terrorists, an invitation to further violence against free nations, and a ruinous blow to the future security of the United States," he said. "We have only two options in Iraq — victory or defeat."

Go here for the full story, and quotes from Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the same issues.

THE BUSH DOCTRINE, FOUR YEARS ON - SUCCESS OR FAILURE?



The CSMonitor has a round up of think pieces on whether or not the Bush Doctrine of June, 2002 , has failed to bring peace and order to the world, following the turmoil of post-September 11 and the beginning of the War On Iraq.

Go here for the CSMonitor round up.

Here's an interesting piece from the San Francisco Chronicle on the same subject :

Analysts across the political spectrum say the Bush Doctrine -- preventive war, choking the roots of terrorism by planting democracy, and brandishing power to force others into line -- has failed. Bush's lofty goals, shared even by his critics, have been set back, perhaps decades, by the Iraq occupation.

Yet for all the criticism, neither the Democratic Party nor the foreign policy elite has devised an alternative for the post-Sept. 11 world, leaving U.S. foreign policy adrift.

No one has an endgame for Iraq. No one offers any magic bullets against stateless terrorists undeterred by conventional military power, or the dangerous regimes in Iran and North Korea that many believe to be bent on nuclear arms. The United States now faces a set of bad options -- or, at best, a deeply chastened view of the limits of American power.

By many measures, the United States is weaker and its enemies stronger than before the 2003 Iraq invasion, the experts say.

The United States may find it hard, if not impossible, the analysts say, to again try in the near future to topple a hostile regime. Its military is stretched, its moral standing diminished. Even democracy itself is tarnished, often equated now with car bombs and chaos, rather than peace and prosperity.

Here's the key points from the original Bush Doctrine, of June, 2002, delivered as a graduation speech to the West Point Academy :

"This war will take many turns we cannot predict. Our nation's cause has always been larger than our nation's defense. We fight, as we always fight, for a just peace -- a peace that favors human liberty. We will defend the peace against threats from terrorists and tyrants. We will preserve the peace by building good relations among the great powers. And we will extend the peace by encouraging free and open societies on every continent.

"America has no empire to extend or utopia to establish. We wish for others only what we wish for ourselves -- safety from violence, the rewards of liberty, and the hope for a better life.

"For much of the last century, America's defense relied on the Cold War doctrines of deterrence and containment. In some cases, those strategies still apply. But new threats also require new thinking. Deterrence -- the promise of massive retaliation against nations -- means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend. Containment is not possible when unbalanced dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies.

"Homeland defense and missile defense are part of stronger security, and they're essential priorities for America. Yet the war on terror will not be won on the defensive. We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge. In the world we have entered, the only path to safety is the path of action. And this nation will act.

"The work ahead is difficult. The choices we will face are complex. We must uncover terror cells in 60 or more countries, using every tool of finance, intelligence and law enforcement. Along with our friends and allies, we must oppose proliferation and confront regimes that sponsor terror, as each case requires. Some nations need military training to fight terror, and we'll provide it. Other nations oppose terror, but tolerate the hatred that leads to terror -- and that must change. We will send diplomats where they are needed, and we will send you, our soldiers, where you're needed.

"All nations that decide for aggression and terror will pay a price. We will not leave the safety of America and the peace of the planet at the mercy of a few mad terrorists and tyrants. We will lift this dark threat from our country and from the world.

"Because the war on terror will require resolve and patience, it will also require firm moral purpose. In this way our struggle is similar to the Cold War. Now, as then, our enemies are totalitarians, holding a creed of power with no place for human dignity. Now, as then, they seek to impose a joyless conformity, to control every life and all of life.

"Some worry that it is somehow undiplomatic or impolite to speak the language of right and wrong. I disagree. Different circumstances require different methods, but not different moralities.

"We are in a conflict between good and evil, and America will call evil by its name. By confronting evil and lawless regimes, we do not create a problem, we reveal a problem. And we will lead the world in opposing it.

"The 20th century ended with a single surviving model of human progress, based on non-negotiable demands of human dignity, the rule of law, limits on the power of the state, respect for women and private property and free speech and equal justice and religious tolerance. America cannot impose this vision -- yet we can support and reward governments that make the right choices for their own people. In our development aid, in our diplomatic efforts, in our international broadcasting, and in our educational assistance, the United States will promote moderation and tolerance and human rights. And we will defend the peace that makes all progress possible.

"A truly strong nation will permit legal avenues of dissent for all groups that pursue their aspirations without violence. An advancing nation will pursue economic reform, to unleash the great entrepreneurial energy of its people. A thriving nation will respect the rights of women, because no society can prosper while denying opportunity to half its citizens. Mothers and fathers and children across the Islamic world, and all the world, share the same fears and aspirations. In poverty, they struggle. In tyranny, they suffer. And as we saw in Afghanistan, in liberation they celebrate.

"America has a greater objective than controlling threats and containing resentment. We will work for a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror."

Read the whole June 1 speech to the West Point Academy here.

BUSH SUBPOENAED OVER ELECTRONIC SPYING LAWSUITS

From Raw Story :

Two attorneys representing claimants in a lawsuit over wiretapping by the National Security Agency claim that they have sent subpoenas to the White House today...

Bruce Afran and Carl Mayer, who say they represent hundreds of plaintiffs in lawsuits against Verizon, AT&T, and the US Government, will announnce today that they are serving both the Bush administration and Verizon with subpoenas.

...the subpoenaes, directed to President George Bush, the Office of Legal Counsel, the Department of Justice, and the Chief Legal Counsel for Verizon, have already been sent, and should reach their targets tomorrow.

The subpoenas come on the heels of two federal court decisions that were seen as blows to the Bush Administration warrantless spying program.

THESE STUPID THINGS I SAID TODAY

The mid-term elections are now only weeks away in the US, and President Bush is out stumping for his fellow Republican senators. Here he delivers a speech at a fund-raising dinner for Tennesee Republican senator hopeful Bob Corker.

During the speech, Bush returned to talking about American citizens as "souls" not "people".

He dropped the use of the world "terrorist" to describe the militias and insurgencies of Iraq.

He ramped up what is bound to quickly become the foundation stone of the Republican campaign to hold onto its Senate majority - The War On Terror as a War On New Fascism - and then Bush ranted incoherently about God and converting the entire world.

So, nothing too unusual for Bush.

Here's a selection of key curious, bizarre, weird and downright ugly quotes from the speech (in italics), with our added commentary :

"We face an enemy that has an ideology; they believe things....they think the opposite of the way we think."

"The enemy we face doesn't believe in dissent. They don't believe in the freedom to worship. They got a narrow view of freedom. But this enemy is particularly lethal because they're willing to use whatever tactic is necessary to achieve their objective."

"...the natural tendency for our country would be to hope that the lessons of September the 11th would be faded memory. "

The lessons may or may not be "faded memory", but a recent poll claimed that more than 30% of Americans can't even remember what year September 11th occured.

"The United States of America must understand that freedom is universal, that there is an Almighty, and the great gift of that Almighty to each man and woman in this world is the desire to be free."

"You know, amazing things have happened in Iraq, when you think about it. Oh, I know the news is full with terrible suiciders, and it shakes our will."

"(In Iraq) There are Saddamists, al Qaeda, extremists, militia -- all attempting to stop the advance of democracy. "

But no terrorists? The key new word is "extremists".

"If we leave (Iraq) before the job is done, it will shred the credibility of the United States of
America."

Unlike the whole WMD thing, which only splashed a few specks of mud on the credibility of President Bush and the the US.

"If we leave before the job is done, it will have meant incredibly brave souls will have given their lives for nothing."

Given their lives for NOTHING? Nice. That should make the families of 2600+ dead Americans feel real good. Even if the US left Iraq today, all those dead soldiers would not have given their lives for NOTHING. Saddam is gone, Iraqis had free elections. But Bush won't allow them to even take credit for those achievements. It's all or nothing.

The US went into Iraq to disarm Saddam. Then the war became about deposing Saddam and finding WMDs. Then it became about free elections.

Now Saddam is gone, there are no WMDs and free elections have been held, the US still can't leave Iraq until "the job is done." But like the Australian prime Minister Howard and British PM Blair, Bush can't clearly spell out what "the job" actually is, or how it will be achieved. This vagueness, of course, is essential to keeping the War On Iraq going for as long as possible.

"Here's what we know: We know that when a soul has more of his own money to spend, save, or invest, the economy grows. "

70% of the American economy is now based on what Americans spend on consumer goods, not what they produce. Which is fine, for a while. But Americans, on average, now spend more than they actually earn, and they're using the equity of homes they haven't paid off (brought with mortgages when interest rates were barely 1%) to go on the biggest spending spree in US history.

The more Americans spend, the more shit they buy, the more the economy grows, the more Bush can say, "Hey, look, our economy is still growing." But someone has to pay. A lot of someones. And they're going to start paying real soon. Interests rates in the US, and Australia, are rising, and the value of homes across both countries is plunging.

"You see, the real challenge facing this country is to make sure we're the economic leader of the world. I'm not interested in being second place."

The US will be lucky to be in fifth place by the end of the Bush Co. reign. Russia and China are now already far more cash and asset rich than the US.

"...America's souls are saved one person at a time."

"America can change one heart and one soul and one conscience at a time. Government should not fear faith..."

That's downright creepy.

According to Bush, the government should not fear faith, but the people should fear a government that sees no need to amplify the seperation between church and state.

Go here for the full Bush speech.

HURRICANE KATRINA - ONE YEAR ON

Hurricane Katrina is now regarded as the worst natural disaster in US history.

One year on, most of the city's poor suburbs lie rotting. It's not a huge city, it's not even a large city by American standards. And yet, thousands of destroyed homes, tens of thousands of tons of rubbish and wreckage have still not been cleared away, and more than 80% of the money set aside for rebuilding has still not been allocated to those people who need it the most.

Bush gave a speech on Tuesday, in New Orleans, where he basically said "The check's in the mail...."

A selection of incoherent Bush babble from his current visit to the disaster zones :

"...I'm amazed by the opportunity, I'm amazed by the hope that I feel down here. Anyway, thought you would be interested."

"...you can't have hope unless there's a reason to be hopeful..."

"...this storm was so big it requires all aspects of American life to help the people. "

"...momentum will be gathered. Houses will begat jobs, jobs will begat houses. "

"People say, how can we rebuild with debris? Now it's gone."

The debris isn't gone, but Bush was carefully framed in most of his media appearances so no rubble was shown behind him.

The above quotes from this Bush press conference.

"To make sure that we keep our promises and to make sure this good area recovers, we have got to give assurance to the citizens that if there is another natural disaster, we'll respond in better fashion."

How could Bush Co's response been any worse than it was?

"A more hopeful New Orleans means we got to get rid of the broken furniture and old refrigerators, and get rid of the wreckage. You can't rebuild until you remove the rubble."

"The debris is getting cleaned."

There's still plenty of debris in New Orleans, but hey, at least it's "clean debris".

--------------------

President Bush lost one of the most famous cities in the world one year ago this week. Infamously, he later claimed he was not aware of just how bad the devastation was, or just how horribly the people of New Orleans were suffering. Nobody told him. He wasn't watching the news.

Bush was too busy giving speeches, celebrating friends' birthdays and....playing guitar.

Two days after Hurricane Katrina smashed its way through three states, killing more than a thousand people, and plunging millions of Americans into a reality devoid of electricity, food, fresh water and organised federal government help, Bush found time to hang out with a country music star.

This will be long remembered as a key image of the Bush presidency. Millions of Americans were desperate for help and their president was too busy having a good time to even know what was going on.