Political Games - Where the fuck’s the reset button?

I would like to apologize for a mistake I had in my article.

100000 “excess” deaths is the “conservative” estimate.

Here’s the full story.

The 15000 number still stands as the lowest, but it only lists REPORTED Iraqi deaths.

Iraq Body Count

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For the past year, President Bush and his supporters have declared several times that “America and the world are safer.� They are trying to convince the world that their leadership has led to a safer, more peaceful world. Their leadership is not strictly limited to their global “War on Terror�, but includes the rest of their foreign policy actions, notably the war on Iraq. But words are cheap; it is easy to declare that we are safer, but is that really the case? Is America, and the world, safer because of the Bush Administration?
It is easy to forget that the Bush Presidency began in January, 2001, and not on September 11, 2001. The Bush Administration, in fact, made several key decisions during this time period. The first item on President Bush’s foreign agenda was the creation of the National Missile Defense shield to protect the United States from missile attack. The issue was so important to Mr. Bush that there were 101 administration statements made during the first 8 months on the topic. Despite major scientific doubts about the feasability and accuracy of such a system and public policy makers who declared there was no need for a missile defense system, the Bush Administration forged ahead with the idea, pulling out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia in order to do it. Both of these actions antagonized key American allies, and the missile shield has an estimated price tag exceeding $115 billion.
Of course, before the Bush Administration took power, there was very little need for a missile shield. The missile shield was politicians’ denial that the Cold War had ended. The major Communist power most likely to threaten us, North Korea, was without the missile technology and nuclear capacity to strike the United States, thanks in large part to the efforts of the United States and South Korea to be more diplomatic with the North. This all changed under President Bush. Instead of continuing the pursuit of the “sunshine� policy of South Korea, Bush instead antagonized North Korea by boasting he would not be “fooled� by their regime. Members of the administration also hinted at the possibility, also in early 2001, of a forced regime change in the country. By early 2002, the rhetoric was taken to the next level when President Bush named North Korea as part of the “axis of evil.� Faced with a hostile U.S. government, the North Koreans began pursuing nuclear weapons as a means to prevent the United States from attacking them. Thanks to Mr. Bush’s failure at diplomacy, North Korea now has several nuclear weapons, and is building missiles to be aimed at potential threats; namely, the United States.
After our nation was attacked by a group of anti-American extremists, the U.S. struck back by hitting one of their major centers of training and operation, Afghanistan. The military performed beautifully, and it seemed the U.S. was meting out justice. In early 2002, with the Taliban just removed and the noose tightening around the remnants of al-Qaeda, the President suddenly veered onto a tangent and towards Iraq. As we now know, there were no deadly weapons of mass destruction, no programs to obtain these weapons, or even a coherent plan to begin trying to get the equipment. There were no drone planes with the capacity to strike the United States. There were no plans to attack the United States. There were no ties to al-Qaeda, or any other terrorist groups. The only reason to invade Iraq was that it was ruled by a vicious and cruel dictator. Other nations who are ruled by cruel and vicious rulers include Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, our “allies� in the war on terrorism. Because of the invasion of Iraq, nearly 1100 Americans have died, and dozens of people of other nationalities have died. Somewhere between 15000 and 80000 Iraqi civilians, as in non-combatants, have died as a result of the invasion and occupation. The 15000 is based purely on the deaths reported in the American media, while the upper-end estimate is based on a collection of personal reports from the towns and countryside. The numbers injured and homeless are unknown, but likely run into the hundreds of thousands. None of these estimates include the insurgency or initial Iraqi military deaths.
“Mission accomplishedâ€? and an end of “major combat operationsâ€? were declared in May 2003 by President Bush. Currently, many of the provinces cannot be entered by American troops, and the only area safe from attack is the heavily-guarded “Green Zoneâ€? in central Baghdad. As the Washington Post’s Rajiv Chandrasekaran reported on September 25th, he “used to jump in [his] car and drive out… to write about attacks,â€? but he “no longerâ€? can because the “roads are too dangerous, the threat of kidnapping too great.â€? Under this backdrop of daily bloodshed and kidnappings, there is an attempt to have something resembling an election. Despite the fact that large numbers of people will be ineligible to register and others won’t be able to, this is somehow referred to as “freedom on the march.â€? The current ruler of Iraq, Iyad Allawi, not only worked as an assassin for the Hussein government, but is also reported to have “pulled a pistol and executed six suspected terroristsâ€? while they were in a prison yard. His name might not be Saddam Hussein, but using such brutal practices shows that his legacy lives on.
All of the Bush’s foreign policy actions stem from the ideas of a group called “Project for a New American Century,� or PNAC. PNAC’s leadership includes Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, among others. In September of 2000 the group wrote a paper which called for the invasion, occupation of, and creation of military bases on a list of countries, including (but not limited to) Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, and North Korea. Every major Bush foreign policy decision has aided these proposals and pushed them one step closer to “victory.� A government watchdog group has created a website (http://www.pnac.info/) to “investigate, analyze, and expose� PNAC. The only way to fully understand the Bush Administration’s foreign policy actions is to understand what PNAC stands for, and why another four years of “staying the course� will embroil the United States in even more nations, and even more wars.

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An era ended tonight. At 10:01 p.m. Eastern Time, the last of the It’s Walky comic was posted. In memory of the past seven years of laughs, tears, and touching moments, here are some of the best moments. Dave, and anyone else who has ever read the series, please feel free to add your own suggestions.

From Humble Beginnings

Squirrel Jokes

Mean Goth Jokes

Aliens and The Sound of Music

First Sad Moment

SEMME
and Sal

Aliens and Porno

Denial of Feelings

Can’t Leave Some Things Behind

WALKY!

D’oh a Deer?

Hinting and Forshadowing

People Who Think They’re Better

Just One Part

He Always Has

I’d Twitch Too

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I got spammed today. woo! maybe that means my blog is starting to get… at least 5 readers! woohoo!

btw, spam will not be tolerated.

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Who’s YOUR Daddy??

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Do you support reality?

The [senior Bush] aide said that guys like me were ‘in what we call the reality-based community,’ which he defined as people who ‘believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.’ I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ‘That’s not the way the world really works anymore,’ he continued. ‘We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.’

[emphasis and underlines mine]

Got that? The Bush White House does not stand for reality.

Are you a member of the reality-based community?

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ahhhhhh!!!! It’s largo!!

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ok, I’m actually going to rant about something personal, so if you want to ignore this post, I won’t blame you. I normally don’t do this, but I feel like unloading a bit.

Recently, a couple (er, make that a large majority) of my friends have decided they’re too busy and too stressed to so much as listen to my problems. or even listen to anyone for that matter… unless it’s someone other than me or heather. Of course, these friends then tell me “well I don’t want to tell you about my problems, they’ll only stress you out more,” or “I don’t really talk to anyone about my problems, except so-and-so.” Then they’ll say something like “I’m going insane, my life is falling apart!” Well, let’s just say that now, I’m slightly peeved.

Firstly, if your lives are so overstressed, but you’re going to get upset because I don’t know it and I dare to bother you while you’re upset, wouldn’t it make sense to, o i dont know, talk to me about it? if something ive done has upset you, maybe you could come to me in a mature, responsible way and tell me what it was I did, and we can make up, like friends are suppose to do (Donkey might have been an ass sometimes, but what he told Shrek was right: “That’s what friends do, they FORGIVE each other!”). And don’t you think it’s really low to tell someone you call a friend that you don’t tell them the important things going on in their lives, but hey, it’s ok because you tell someone else they know? That’s really upsetting, and a low blow. I’ll forgive you for it, but it’s going to hurt.

And your life is falling apart? YOUR life? ok, odds are you have a lot of shit hitting the fan in your life, I’ll give you all that. And it could be more difficult than mine. But guess what: everyone else has shit too. And this “I got mine, screw you all” is an attitude I absolutely detest, with all of my being. That’s what friends are for: we are a circular support system. We keep each other afloat when alone we’d fall beneath the waves. When a lot of the circle starts trying to show that they can face the ocean themselves, however, they only isolate themselves, remove their own support network, and jeapordize their friends in their potential time of need. But let’s get back to the world-shattering horror of your life collapsing. Like I said, the trauma of your life is important to you, and therefore it is important to me; I will be there as an ear to listen, I will be there as a shoulder to cry on, I will be there as a hand to help you back up. I will do anything I can to help, to make you feel better… anything. But you are going to dare tell me that my problems dont matter? well newsflash: they matter to me. and I cared about you with your problems; where are you now?

What problems do I have? Well, [edited: sorry, I dont trust one of the persons who read this.]. And that has been really traumatizing to me. For the past month or so, I’ve been incredibly stressed out because of college applications on top of my 5 AP classes work load. For anyone not familiar with my parents, they have been fanatic with regards to these; they might not let me have my 18th birthday party if I’m not done a certain number of essays, which btw im really stressing about because im scared im going to screw up and not get into any colleges. Speaking of that birthday, all of the friends I’ve invited either wouldn’t want to come right now (too busy with their own problems) or cant come. My girlfriend who lives 844 miles away, who I haven’t seen in 2 months, and who was going to be coming, might not be able to come through no fault of her own (dont be upset sweetie, I love you!). My grades, meanwhile, are collapsing in on themselves. I’m failing my best class right now (yes, Physics; I’m shocked too). I’m struggling with grades consistently in the eighties (yeh, that is bad for me; i need high grades, really high, to get into the schools im looking at). Because of these and other problems, I haven’t been sleeping. Partly, this is because I need to stay up late to get my work done. The main part is that I simply can’t sleep; I’m turning into an insomniac. I wake up multiple times every night. I take a long time just falling asleep, or falling back asleep. I’m exhausted all day, but I can’t sleep. I’m starting to get headaches, and once in a while minor migraines. I’m breaking down, losing it in classes, forgetting assignments, not preparing for tests and quizzes I’d forgotten we had. I dont think I’ve smiled in the last 2 weeks.

So, your life is stressed? Well so is mine. I don’t feel like playing the “my life is worse than yours!” angst game. My point is that all of us are stressed, all of us are hurting, all of us need a hand, all of us need some support and love instead of knives and hate. So, this is my apology, from my end, for having held a knife from time to time. Yes, it was me too, Caesar. And I’m sorry. But I ask you, E tu, Brute? Please, let’s help each other out, and stop retreating to a selfish corner of our own little worlds.

Taking care of your own problems does not mean turning your back on your loved ones…

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Those of you at my school will recognize this. With the domestic debate tonight, I figured I should post this. It’s my domestic op/ed on the Bush Administration, before being edited by the paper’s editors.

Staying the Course… to Armageddon
by: Stephen Mann

At the 2004 Republican National Convention, the GOP asked us, the American people, to support them and “stay the course.� This cliche has been repeated frequently over the past few years, especially in relation to the ‘War on Terror’ and the conflict in Iraq. The GOP, however, is not just asking us to accept their foreign policy; they want us to “stay the course� with their domestic plans as well. In order to better inform the public what that would entail, a record of the past four years of Republican leadership in all branches in government is needed.

President Bush’s economic policy is quite simple: cut taxes and give corporations a free reign. While cutting taxes sounds nice and provides a nice sound-bite, the reality of Bush’s tax cuts have been disastrous. For starters, the tax cuts heavily favor the rich; 39% of Bush’s tax cuts went to the upper 1% of Americans. Simultaneously, state and local governments were forced to increase their own spending due to federal mandates as the government decreased the amount of money granted to the states to pay for these programs. As a result, 49% of Americans found when they filed their taxes in April, 2004, that their taxes had risen since Bush took office.

After lowering taxes, and thereby decreasing the income of the government, President Bush did the illogical thing and increased spending. This is obviously a bad policy, and the results prove it. In Bush’s first three years, the national debt rose $1.5 trillion, more than the total increase during Clinton’s eight years. If each person in the United States, including infants and children, were to pay off the debt equally, each person would need to pay $25,000, or $100,000 for the average family. Although the national debt has been a hot issue for decades, the Bush Presidency has severely compounded the problem.

The rising debt is only one issue caused by this GOP leadership. President Bush has the worst job loss record since the Depression President, Herbert Hoover, losing approximately one million jobs. The loss of jobs is not the only problem; more and more full time jobs have been replaced with part-time, lower-paying jobs. Inflation has grown faster than incomes. Poverty levels have increased during each year of Bush’s presidency, as have the number of uninsured Americans, particularly children. Meanwhile, corporations save millions of dollars from Bush tax breaks on obscure business regulations, and companies with connections to the Bush White House receive no-bid contracts with little-to-no regulation.

Secret deals and connections have not just been disastrous in the economic sphere. Bush’s policies have also been extremely damaging in other areas, particularly the environment. George W. Bush is himself a failed former oil businessman, while Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton up until the 2000 Presidential election and still receives money from them. Bush and his father are both members of the Carlyle Group, a conglomeration of many different businesses, primarily those dealing with defense and weapons. Bush’s Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, the person in charge of protecting federal lands, was a lobbyist for mining companies. Three other Cabinet officials were formerly in the energy industry, as were other high-ranking Bush appointees.

Dozens of others in the business industry have connections to and influence over the Bush Presidency, most notoriously Enron’s Kenneth Lay. This has resulted in the rollback of more than 200 environmental protection laws. In fact, over 270 federal court decisions have found the government “negligent� in protecting the environment, but George Bush has decided to simply ignore these decisions indefinitely. The Bush Presidency has also been quite generous to energy groups over the environment. A prime example of this is Cheney’s secret Energy Task Force assembled at the very beginning of Bush’s term. Although the White House has refused to release the documentation on these meetings (citing the Nixonian concept of “executive privilege�), activist groups for open government have obtained information that shows that the task force contained at least 62 representatives of the energy companies, including Ken Lay, while no environmentalist was included. The Bush Team claims that its friends in high places do not affect national policy; their secret and closed-door actions speak for themselves.

This is by no means the full and final record on the Domestic Bush agenda. Because of restraints on the time I had to write this, as well as the restraints of space in the paper itself, I had to pick and choose which topics to cover. Furthermore, the fine editors of The Acorn have likely, out of necessity, trimmed down this article to an extent. Therefore, I urge Upper Darby’s student body to read more into these issues directly from the sources where I found this information. The facts regarding Bush’s ties to businesses can be found at the non-partisan http://www.publicintegrity.org, as well as in their book The Buying of the President 2004. Further information can be found at http://www.commondreams.org, http://www.fair.org, http://www.sharedcapitalism.org, and http://cryptome.org, and http://irregulartimes.com. The Bush domestic agenda is all about helping out the privileged and hurting the disadvantaged. He might speak of compassionate conservatism; but how can a man be compassionate towards the millions below the poverty line when he himself saves hundreds of thousands of dollars from his own tax breaks?

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I came across this the other day and… I meant to post it… but I had to stop laughing… o god *cracks up again* im sorry… sorry. ok. I’m just gonna link, throw a few notable quotes up, then go back to laughing at this poor excuse for a justice. Friends, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

He asked—rhetorically—how many individuals would have to be involved in a sex act for it to no longer qualify as “private.�

“Presumably it is some number between five and the number of people required to fill the Coliseum,� Scalia joked.

Apparently Mr. Scalia fails to understand that the word “private” doesn’t have anything to do with the number of people…

But Scalia said his personal views on social issues have no bearing on his courtroom decisions.

“I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged,� Scalia said.

*sound of jaw hitting floor* then… wha… why…. wtf is wrong with you that you would vote against repealing a law banning sodomy?!?!

“Would you rather have the president of the United States decided by the Supreme Court of Florida?�

I’d rather have it decided by the PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES!!!

In one of the more bizarre moments of the evening, Scalia mentioned—in passing—that he thought the 17th Amendment was “a bad idea.�

The 17th Amendment provides for the direct election of senators.

I don’t know how this qualifies as “most bizarre”, but it is certainly disturbing. Got that, everyone? Scalia thinks VOTING for your government is a bad thing!

oy. When will he retire? I’m looking forward to it already.

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