Weekend BushWorld Wrap-up

Homework time again, boys and girls!

Time to hunker down, read between the pundits, and try to separate the truthiness from the falsiness permeating Bush World.

Remember. Ignorance is no excuse for supporting war.

On your marks ... get set ... READ!

• Johnny got his gun

  The United States, once known as the beacon of democracy, finds itself in a dilemma. It is faced with a President that is deaf to the people. In his address to the nation on January 10, 2007 he left little doubt that he means to rule over the people he was ‘elected’ to serve....

• Reading Bush By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich:

  "If you are afraid to speak out, you are not in America any more" - unknown
  
  "The United States, once known as the beacon of democracy, finds itself in a dilemma. It is faced with a President that is deaf to the people. In his address to the nation on January 10, 2007 he left little doubt that he means to rule over the people he was 'elected' to serve. In tune with everything else he does, he has devalued the meaning of the word democracy and eroded its ideals; which explains why he is 'dictating' democracy to other nations.... "

• The Nightmare Weaponry of Our Future

  "The Armed Forces can't adequately equip those already in uniform, but the Pentagon is committing itself to massive corporate contracts for new high-tech weapons systems slated to come on-line decades from now...."

• The Washington War Game:

  Newsweek's Eleanor Clift writes: "Early rumblings of an anti-war movement sounded in Washington this week as several progressive groups joined forces to press the Democratic Congress to use its power of the purse to stop the latest escalation of the conflict in Iraq. Unlike their predecessors in the Vietnam era, who were often scruffy and unshaven, these activists are well within the mainstream in their appearance as well as their politics."

• Murtha unveils $$ plan to stop Bush's escalation...

  ... Gitmo, Abu Ghraib -- the whole shebang.

• War on Iraq: Tax the Rich, End the War

  Congress should levy a 'Victory Over Terror' tax on the super-rich which would expire once our troops are safely home.

• Past Precedents For Blocking Escalation:

  Despite Sen. Joe Biden's contention that Congress does not have the constitutional power to block President Bush's planned escalation of the war in Iraq, an insightful new report by the Center for American Progress offers numerous examples of how past Congresses have acted to change, curtail or end US military deployments--by either refusing to fund them, capping the number of troops available or specifying that a deployment end by a date certain. Read Ari Berman's report in The Nation.

• Gary Hart: Impending Constitutional Crisis

  The endless Iraq war is decreasingly about Iraq and increasingly about the U.S. Constitution.
  
  President Bush's decision to escalate the war, and to further Americanize it, is based on his flawed and dangerous theory of the "unitary presidency," a theory under which, once war is declared, the president as commander in chief can ignore constitutional checks and balances, disregard the bill of rights, suspend accountability, and concentrate dictatorial power in his own hands.

• Surge Homeward

  In contrast to Bush who seems poised to recklessly waste more lives and resources in pursuit of his ideological mission and the salvaging of his legacy, the new Democratic Congress and peace activists across the nation are searching for the most effective ways to end the war in Iraq, as Katrina vanden Heuvel shows in the Nation.

• Iraqi Civilians Brace for a Surge

  "Successive waves of ethnic cleansing that have washed over Baghdad in recent weeks are spreading to neighborhoods that had until now been spared...."

• AlterNet: Blogs: PEEK: Fake Pundits

  Who Really Is "Out of Sync With the American Public?"

• Soldiers Doubt Troop Increase Will Benefit Iraqi Army

  "Shiite Muslim Iraqi soldiers' demonstration at a recent reconciliation meeting, a get-together to introduce the Sunni Muslim mayor and police chief of this city north of Baghdad, leads the American soldiers assigned to train Iraqi troops to believe that it will be years before Iraq's army can stand on its own...."

• Ex-Interior Deputy a Target in Abramoff Probe:

  "Federal prosecutors have notified a former deputy secretary of the interior, J. Steven Griles, that he is a target in the public corruption investigation of Jack Abramoff's lobbying activities, sources knowledgeable about the probe said."

• Cease-Fire Agreement Offers a Moment of Opportunity for Political Settlement in Worsening Darfur Crisis

  On Save Darfur Coalition trip, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson Gets Commitment For Cease-Fire and Improved Humanitarian Aid and Media Access To Darfur

• Democrats feel liberals' antiwar heat

  "Freshman and veteran lawmakers alike risk the ire of bloggers and other activists if they waver on an Iraq exit...."

• Robert Scheer: Brooding Prince's Soliloquy

  Truthdig's editor in chief writes: "To surge or not to surge, that is the question. As our prince proposes, once again, to take arms against a sea of troubles, he responds not to the disaster that he has visited upon Iraq, but rather embraces a desperate strategy for salvaging what remains of his reign."

• Ron Kovic: Surging Past the Tipping Point

  Kovic, the author of "Born on the Fourth of July," tells Truthdig's Joshua Scheer that Americans have a patriotic and generation-defining duty to speak out against Bush's proposal to escalate the war in Iraq with more U.S. troops.
  
  "If you love this country, you're going to step over that line that you've not stepped over before. You're going to find the courage to do that."

• Truthdiggers of the Week: The Military Refusers

  "We tip our hat this week to Army Lt. Ehren Watada and the dozens of uniformed military men and women like him who have publicly refused deployment to Iraq."

• Rights and Liberties: Will Bush Provoke a Constitutional Crisis?

  "The new Democratic Congress will likely subpoena documents that the White House may refuse to hand over -- if that happens, we may witness a struggle that puts our democratic republic on the brink."

• Testing the Testers

  There is by now no doubt that there are serious problems with electronic voting machines: they fail to record votes, and even flip votes from one candidate to another. Election officials like to defend the machines by noting that they have been certified by independent testing labs. But the certification process has long been deeply flawed, and last week there was even more disturbing news — that the leading testing lab has been unable to meet the federal government’s standards.

• Mission Iran:

  "Israel will not tolerate Iran going nuclear and military sources say it will use tactical strikes unless Iran abandons its programme. Is Israel bluffing or might it really push the button? - Two fast assault squadrons based in the Negev desert and in Tel Nof, south of Tel Aviv, are already training for the attack...."

• An Agenda for the Democrats' Second Hundred Hours:

  "Who wants publicly financed elections, quality health care, and a public education system that works?"

• Marie Cocco: What Lies Beneath:

  "When the Democrats begin using the power of the subpoena to probe Bush administration malfeasance, will we have the fortitude (or inclination) to pay attention?"

• Marie Cocco: An End to Reaganism:

  "Expect a battle royal as the newly empowered Democrats seek to make the economy work for those Americans who don't make more than $1 million per year."

• Rice 'loves' Fox News; CBS anchor 'decent guy':

  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice let slip her news media preferences Thursday, saying, "I love every single one" of Fox News network's correspondents and also favors CBS anchor Harry Smith.
  
  In comments overheard on an open microphone between morning television interviews, including one with Fox, the top U.S. diplomat said: "My Fox guys, I love every single one of them."

• Pentagon abandons active-duty time limit:

  "The Pentagon has abandoned its limit on the time a citizen-soldier can be required to serve on active duty, officials said Thursday, a major change that reflects an Army stretched thin by longer-than-expected combat in Iraq....

• The Washington Note - Did the President Declare "Secret War" Against Syria and Iran?

  "Washington intelligence, military and foreign policy circles are abuzz today with speculation that the President, yesterday or in recent days, sent a secret Executive Order to the Secretary of Defense and to the Director of the CIA to launch military operations against Syria and Iran...."

• Bush's Legacy Enshrined for $500 Million?

  "With an expected half-billion dollar from a handful of megadonors, George W. Bush's 'truest believers' plan the mother of all presidential libraries and conservative think tanks."

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