Author: Buckley Roberts

The buzz right now is summarized in this misleading headline “Bush Hires Tough Critic to Keep Media at Bay“.  Hiring a tough critic would seem like a good idea since Bush’s poll numbers remain at an all time low.  However, they forget to leave out that his criticism is that Bush is not conservative enough.  Does the public want a more conservative leadership?
Not likely as his rubber stamp Republican congress is enjoying a similar reaction with an 11 point approval rating drop in one month with the public leaning left.  Russert and NBC try to lay blame on Democrats by citing “fighting between parties” as a major source of discontent, while a sixteen day old ABC/WaPo poll indicates that the public prefers the Democrat’s stance on the situation in Iraq, prescription benefits for the elderly, the economy, immigration issues, handling of the campaign against terrorism, health care, and corruption in Washington.

As prices climb higher with Iraq’s oil supply effectively cut off and saber rattling Iran increasing dollars per barrel, we are paying rpughly an extra $0.30 on the gallon for every dollar increase per barrel.  Meanwhile Exxon-Mobil posted a 42% increase in profits last year with over $36 billion dollars in profits.  Somehow, I doubt that Bush’s granting waivers on air-quality requirements is going to make a difference.

To reinforce the President’s line, anonymous Republicans quoted by Fox News still claim that this crisis is the Democrats fault for implementing any environmental regulations.  Ignoring the claims that global warming is likely irreversible, Bush’s calls for “federal agencies to watch for price gouging, insisting that he will not accept price “manipulation”” is more than a little disingenuous.  (Would the President really do something like that?)  Remember that Republicans were the ones who refused to make Oil executives testify under oath back in February.  Is it any surprise to see that “Oil and gas companies overwhelmingly favored Republicans over Democrats in their campaign giving.”  With “just over 73 percent of the industry’s campaign contributions have gone to Republican candidates and organizations.”  Greg from The Talent Show has this Graph to offer:

Of course we can’t forget the other victims in this oil run.

From the WSJ:

“I don’t think the blogosphere is breeding cannibals. But it looks to me as if the world of blogs may be filling up with people who for the previous 200 millennia of human existence kept their weird thoughts more or less to themselves. Now, they don’t have to. They’ve got the Web. Now they can share.”

The irony of course is that he is sharing his weird opinion in the a place called OpinionJournal.com.  Somehow people having discussions scares this Henninger.  He thinks we should all keep our mouths shut and let them spoon feed us our opinions.  If we have such weird thoughts that don’t mean anything then why be concerned about it at all? Don’t like it? Don’t read it. Stop complaining that we aren’t joined lockstep with you. 

“But the blogosphere is also the product not of people meeting, but venting alone at a keyboard with all the uninhibited, bat-out-of-hell hyperbole of thinking, suggestion and expression that this new technology seems to release.”

His erroneous dismissal of the blogosphere hinges on the premise that no one reads blogs…after quoting the popular Huffington Post and Daily Kos.  He doesn’t mention any right wing blogs but I wouldn’t be surprised if he is a big RedState or Powerline fan – you know those heroes that uncovered the Dan Rather typo. According to him only the liberal blogs are impudent and out of line.  Putting his disdain for ordinary people writing aside, he fails to note that the some of the most popular liberal bloggers are lawyers and professionals.

“The Web site currently famous for enabling and aggregating millions of personal blogs is called MySpace.com. If you opened its “blogs” page this week, the first thing you saw was a blogger’s video of a guy swilling beer and sticking his middle finger through a car window…In our time, it has generally been thought bad and unhealthy to “repress” inhibitions. Spend a few days inside the new world of personal blogs, however, and one might want to revisit the repression issue.”

You mean like Cheney’s lack of decorum?  Or maybe Bush’s?  Or other shining moments that didn’t happen on the internet:

Cross posted at DailyKos

As the politicians slowly decide whether or not we should be in Iraq, a debate they should have had before the invasion, the number of fallen soldiers creeps towards the number of people lost to the World Trade Center bombing.  More evidence surfaces that indicates the decision was made without debate.  Still Rumsfeld and Bush refuse to admit any mistakes were made while Rice claims ‘mea culpa’…but not really.  After all how can she back down off her 2002 statement, “There simply isn’t a case that this is a peace-loving man who wants to be left alone.”   That may be, but that’s hardly a case for invasion but might be grounds for impeachment.  Especially, considering the incompitence and ineptitude that flourishes under a $94 billion per year price tag.  And we are expected to fund and volunteer for these wars while the leaders can’t lead?
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!– An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.–
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

-Wilfred Owen
8 October 1917 – March, 1918

Rove is shifting from trying to protect the president from the bitter sting of reality to focus on the politics of the party. Not that he’ll change his title or be any less influential in the White House but he sees the writing on the wall and wants to protect W’s power. In the midterm election, Democrats have a large and increasing lead over the corruption plagued Republicans. Without a rubberstamp Congress and in light of steadily declining poll numbers, the administration sees it’s tenure at the White House in jeopardy. A once united party is breaking apart under Bush’s incompetent leadership as he proves time and time again that he is out of touch with the American people in issues from Social Security, the Dubai port deal, Iraq, his administrations failure during the Katrina crisis as well as mounting legal troubles including his authorization to spy on Americans and his instigating role in the Plame affair. A fresh left leaning Congress is likely to censure and impeach the President over many of these issues and pull the purse strings getting our troops out of Iraq. Worse still, people might actually see that this was no the only route available. They might understand that there are other options besides repeated failure.
The current White House shuffle includes replacing insiders with insiders to boost rock bottom poll numbers. It is not an attempt to better understand America and give us what we want and deserve out of our leaders. Most of the shake up involves replacing senior members with other people who can more forcefully deliver the message. There is no different message and there is no changing course. All we are getting is people yelling at us louder that we are stupid for not blindly accepting failure.

Replacing Bolten with Card only served to tighten up the circle of insiders as their numbers shrink. Treasury secretary Snow is all but fired because he isn’t forceful enough in delivering the message. And who left today? The mouthpiece McClellan. There is no attempt at compromise or change in policy on the horizon. Don’t let this current faux shake up fool you.

And then there is the Rove deal. He is only giving up policy development title for the White House while keeping the title deputy chief of staff. The difference in these roles remains to be seen but I would bet my watch and warrant on his influence remaining the same. This is the man that is trying to create a one party system where he can do whatever he wants without the minimal opposition the Democrats gave the last four years. To do this he needs a strong figure head in Bush which is threatened strongly by the upcoming midterm elections. With a Democratic congress he will have to act more like a president and not an emperor. Take your pick of which roles he fails worse at.
The way he did this throughout the last four years was to paint any opposition as unpatriotic. That line has worn thin as time separates us from the events of 9/11. Rove’s traditional “with us or with the terrists” line was scaled back as early as January when he said, “At the core, we are dealing with two parties that have fundamentally different views on national security. Republicans have a post-9/11 worldview and many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview. That doesn’t make them unpatriotic — not at all. But it does make them wrong — deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong.”

The deeply, profoundly, and consistently erroneous reasoning of Rove is that Democrats are living in a pre-9/11 world. It’s true that Republicans are living in a post-9/11 world where everything in the world from the bogus Social Security crisis to the bogus Iran crisis to the corrupt Bankruptcy bill to record hurricanes and tornadoes are based on two planes flying into a building.

Let them have their post-9/11 world where they have to reassure the public instead of doing anything constructive. While they are living in the past we have to look to the future and focus on what would clumsily be called a post-post-9/11 world. A world where we have to fix all the neocons mistakes.

With the number of troops dead in Iraq slowly creeping towards the loss of life at the World Trade Center, record amounts of terrorism, sky rocketing fuel costs, as well as every other important issue that doesn’t involve the Middle East America’s bloodlust is oversatiated. It is clear that the neocon agenda did not work. We are less safe thanks to their post-9/11 world. Now it is time to move on to a post-neocon world where PNAC and PMC’s don’t decide our military strategies and Drug companies don’t write our national medical bills.

Rove is rightfully worried about the fate of the party. America is sober after being drunk on fear for so long and thoroughly rejected every single issue the neocons stand for. With assistance of Tomlinson he will have to buy some more good press because empires can only change reality so much before people start realizing that down really is down and spades really are spades. The rejection of the neocon message and corruption is a rejection of Rove himself. That is why he is planning one big push for the November elections. His announcement that he is focusing more intensely on politics is a reassurance to his corporate sponsors that he hasn’t forgotten his role. He is the leader of this revolution of the minority. And isn’t that the essence of a Napoleonic complex?

Some people call Illinois one of the most corrupt states.  That’s a contentious point that I don’t necessarily agree with considering what came out of Texas recently and everything that is going on in Ohio and Florida.  At least one crooked ex-politician from Illinois was brought down.  What started out as an investigation into the “Licenses for Bribes” scandal uncovered massive corruption under GOP governor George Ryan.  Charges including Racketeering and Tax Evasion.  This is a man who didn’t withdraw money from the bank for three years.  Sadly, the media is trying spin this as trouble for Democratic powerhouses Daley and Blago.  While neither of them are squeeky clean, they were not the ones on trial and convicted.  If they go to  trial then we can criticize them.  For now one more GOP mafioso is brought down.  Read on to see why this affects the rest of the country and national politics.
Politics as Usual

Similar to the DeLay excuse, defense attorney Daniel Webb tried to base the defense around the premise that those damn liberals are trying to hamper the government by impeding how it is normally supposed to function.  “Pay for play” politics is not how the government is supposed to function and because the corruption has gone unchecked for so many years does not make the process correct.  Ryan is notorious in Illinois as a deal maker that both Democrats and Republicans loved.  That is only because crooked politicians on both sides of the isle were allowed to dip into the kitty.  Today’s guilty verdict on all 22 counts represented the people’s disgust for what passes for “politics as usual” and our condemnation of these crooked practices.  Current Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) said, “Today’s verdict proves that no one is above the law. And just as important, it proves that government is supposed to exist for the good of the people, not the other way around, and certainly not for the personal enrichment of those who hold public office.”

This statement goes for all politicians, not just the abundant corrupt Republicans being indicted these days.  Not that it matters, but according to those who work with federal prosecutor Fitzgerald say that his politics are conservative.  He isn’t one of those concerned about toeing the political line as he is interested more in cleaning the corruption out of the government and his party.  We need to make sure our guys are clean and stay that way too.  Blago and Daley, I’m looking at you…

Years of Service

Ryan’s comments about his years of service are meant to detract from the issue of the case.  He is appealing to those people who still see the world and people as essentially good or evil.  Sometimes good people do bad things and bad people do good things.  Because you have years of service to the state does not allow you to bilk taxpayers out of money.  It does not allow you and your friend to make millions off deals for computer systems that the state is buying by telling the companies that they need grease a middle man (who was not an official member of the government as well as not being registered as a lobbyist) in order to get this deal.  Ryan did some positive things during his positions as Secretary of State and Governor but that’s not what this trial was about.  It was about deciding if what he did was wrong.  This argument can be extended to any national politician under indictment trying to guilt the public and courts into not enforcing justice equally.

No one saw him take an envelope of money…

One of the most contentious arguments Webb made during the trial was that there was no smoking gun, as if Ryan was supposed to document all the illegal transactions that took place.  A lot of records Ryan had were shredded when investigators started sniffing around about the “licenses for bribes” scandal.  Any direct evidence connecting him to the other crimes he was indicted on was lost, causing investigators and prosecutors to work extra hard – on the taxpayer’s dime no less.  This was an eight year investigation and a seven month trial.  The defense is estimated at spending over $20 million defending him.  As Collins and Fitzgerald noted, the prosecution was outgunned and outmanned but thanks to the diligent and continually work of their team (a couple who I know personally and are very conservative – not that politics should matter with the law) were able to show indirectly that Ryan was guilty of racketeering, money laundering, tax evasion, and being a general bastard.  Sadly, the last count isn’t indictable.

This style of prosecution scares many people involved in other bribing cases like the Abramoff case.  Nowadays nobody is going to hand over money in an envelope marked “Bribe for (insert politician’s name)” but they think that this technicality gets them off the hook.  Diligent investigators can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt without direct evidence.

No Money Left…

When George Ryan was in office he did not draw money out of his bank account once.  As soon as trouble looked like it was coming his way he gave massive amounts of his money and holdings to his children and wife.  The defense showed pictures of his kitchen to show that he didn’t even have money to redo the kitchen.  Now the point he is trying push is that this trial made Ryan flat broke and he will be on the streets rubbing elbows with the rest of us working slobs.  However, Daniel Webb represented Ryan pro-bono despite the Ryan family being worth millions.  Expect to see similar statements issued by indicted members of the national GOP.

Nice Guy

Conservative commentators frequently go back to the argument that Ryan was a nice guy and even notorious Democratic Chicago mayor Richard Daley has spoken highly of him.  This goes back to the “essentially good” argument that says nice guys can’t go to jail.  If he was such a nice guy, then why did he do this?

Shooting the Messenger

The last refuge of a desperate conservative is always to shoot the messenger, whether it be Bush outing a spy network, DeLay and Frist complaining about activist judges (who happen to be conservative), or Daniel Webb trying to over turn this case because of “unusual developments in the past few weeks with the jury.”  Some members of the jury had to be let go and the jury reconstituted.  It shouldn’t have happened but that doesn’t make Ryan any less guilty.  They will once again try to confuse the issue with a broad statement about the jury trying to get the public to vilify the jury members instead of focusing on the issue.  More typical GOP tactics.  Ryan also thanked those in the media who reported fairly and criticized people who didn’t dig deep enough (meaning those that didn’t report his mafia style government in a favorable light).  When there is no hope left, shoot the messenger.

Most news coverage about the recent gas hikes focuses on the effect it has on ordinary people, the middle class who need to get to commute to work everyday.  However, these prices created a different crisis that effects a different group of people, the people that sell us our gas.  At gas stations around the country there is a concern about the shortage of giant plastic movable numbers on the large signs on the corner.  As the prices climb the numbers need to reflect this new price and sadly, many stations are unprepared.

“I just stockpiled `2’s and now it looks like those will be useless until gas hits $12 a gallon,” one gas station owner who wished to remain anonymous complained.

Indeed, long time owners who are used to the slow hikes of the previous years did not expect to run through the $2 cycle so fast.  Many now have to make plans to put their number `2’s in storage as they prepare for the summer prices.  With some analysts predicting $4 – $5 gallons with impending war with Iran or economic sanctions on the country that would effectively cut off their output, owners of the giant signs are not sure which numbers to invest in.

“I prepared for the worst,” anonymous Mr. A continued.  “I now have large stacks of `3′, `4′, and `5′ in case (the price should climb that high).  I like to get the most for my money but I fear that if we shoot through the `3′ (dollar price range) too fast, I’ll have to put them in storage nearly new.”

Other owners are talking about turning the capital letter `E’ backwards to simulate a `3′.  This is referred to as a `robot 3′ or `alarm clock 3′ causing irk among competitors who claim that sloppy attitude gives all stations a bad reputation.  These are the same owners who cite the fact that not only do they have to pay for the large numbers but also for the small numbers they add to try to confuse people about the actual price.  They note, however, that this number largely remains a `9′ and hasn’t been different in over 20 years.

The large numbers are notorious for blowing off the board in strong winds by employees who improperly place the number on the sign with their giant suction wand.  These numbers are lost to kids who steal them or simply blow away into the sunset like a giant number tumbleweed.  Other problems noted is the storage dilemma.  Owners claim there is simply not enough room to store their growing stockpiles.  Originally the storage areas were designed to house `1’s and are becoming overcrowded with the larger integer brethren.  Whether it is the Funion end cap that has to go or the new addition of the Blueberry Banana Coldy iced drink, it is clear that the ordinary people will lose.  When asked to comment on this ignored crisis most people interviewed remain insensitive to the plight of the gas station owners responding like this individual.

“They’re upset about what?  You gotta be (expletive) kidding me.  I had to go to that crooked `Check Into Cash’ to get a loan to fill up today.”