The Decider's Blog

Former President Bush speaks out in Fort Worth

2010-09-10T17:16:12Z

President George W. Bush spoke at a fundraiser for community college scholarships this week in downtown Fort Worth.

On avoiding talking about Obama's policies: "I don't think it's befitting the office of the presidency to go out and be criticizing my successor," he said. "I didn't like it when some of my predecessors -- a predecessor -- criticized me."
[translation: Clinton was a schmuck]

On a strange moment in Iraq: "Remember the guy who threw the shoe? It was the weirdest moment of my presidency. It was like Ted Williams, who said he could see the stitches on the baseball. It was coming at me in slow motion."
[translation: I am damn good in the heat of battle]

On choking on a pretzel: "I woke up and a few minutes later, the crawl across the TV screen says, 'Bush Passes Out Eating Pretzel -- Appears OK.' Hey, when Roosevelt was president, the nation didn't know he used a wheelchair. I couldn't even eat a pretzel."
[translation: Jokes over. Stop sending me all the bags of pretzels.]

On being able to walk his dog, Barney, again: "There I was, former President George W. Bush, with a plastic bag in my hand, picking up that which I had been dodging for eight solid years."
[translation: at least now I only have to do dog shit]

Why I Blog at TPMCafe

2010-08-29T21:45:50Z

Many of you have expressed some surprise to be a reading my blogs here at TPM. Actually, blogging here was the idea of my pastor. He thought that I needed to seek some sort of redemption for my hyper partisan political career and that forcing myself to become of member of a more **gulp** liberal community would be a good idea. The idea was, of course, full of shit, but unfortunately Laura heard him. So, here I am. At first, I went through a period of post-partisan depression. But then, something strange happened. I found that I actually liked the people on this here TPM site. Moreover, I think some of you have learned to like me, at least a little bit. Well, not the blue vegetable. He is like Mikey on the cereal commericials--he hates everyone.

So, now that the prospect of losing reader blogs is becoming a real possibility, I thought I should post a few things that I have managed to learn while here:

Don't try to be Ronald Reagan. Only he could get away with all the bull he got away with.

When kissing babies, pay attention and get the right end. It's important.

In life, don't let the turkeys get too close.

and, like me, take some chances

You just might make new friends

If I've stirred up some thought, I'm glad. If you've gotten a good laugh off at my expense, I'm even happier. In the end, we are all citizens of planet earth. We need to learn to live with more joy and more humanity every day. We are all works in progress. Some of you have told me that I myself am a piece of work. That is true.

Not all of us can do the vast amount of good in the world that I did, but what you can do is to find someone around you and do something to help them. When enough people do that, it can change the world far more than I ever did. God bless,

Josh Marshall's Evil Plans Revealed!

2010-08-28T21:21:45Z

Josh Marshall writes: (see comment from Josh about 1/3 of the way down)

Oy. Why be rational when a little conspiracy is so much more fun? As you can see, some of the functions that were supposed to work didn't. And that's led to some complications. But needless to say, the idea that this was "some sort of racket somehow designed to steer money into Talking Points Marshall's pockets" is just crazy paranoia.

Is it Josh? Is it indeed? Do you really believe what you are saying or is that just what you want us to believe? If so, then why did you raise the specter of 9/11 later in your comment?

Let me take you all back to 2002 when my good buddy and brilliant scientist, John Poindexter, was running a little outfit for me in the DOD called DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Agency came under some fire for a project titled the Total Information Awareness. The project was designed to gather all available information from phone call patterns, computer analyzed phone call content, bank records, travel records, and profile information. It was designed to integrate these into a massive data base contained at the NSA designed to use sophisticated statistical analysis (factor analysis) to locate patterns indicating likely terrorists. Moreover, TIA could use multivariate regression techniques to predict the likelihood that any identified target (or any person at all, for that matter) would be likely to commit a terrorist act.

I wasn't all gung ho on this, though I did like the idea of listening to all potential terrorist phone calls. But John showed me a little movie by Tom Cruise called "Minority Report," and I was convinced! Unfortunately, Congress got upset about the name of it and, even though we changed it to Terrorist Information Awareness, they voted to stop it. I didn't help that John was up to his old tricks of putting down bets on terrorist attacks.

While I was in office, everyone trusted me to safeguard our freedoms, but now that the democrat party is in office, they are threatening our freedom. They have brought back this TIA program and turned in onto Americans in order to impose their vision of socialist NAZI America.

Now we come to the link up between FACEBOOK, Twitter, and TPM, along with other political sites. This is a huge scheme to integrate all of the personal information that people have, including lists of all of their friends, what they read, what they think, with the political comments and information that can be gained through TPM, Red State, and other blogs.

Josh may not even realize it, but he is enabling the Obama gistapo to create lists of freedom loving Americans so he can take away our guns and our rights and make us all into Muslims or atheists.

If you don't believe me, take a look at White House political director Patrick Gaspard:

Who does he remind you of? Could it be?

The Constitutional Argument Against Mosques

2010-08-23T14:27:14Z

My friend Ripper McCord has recently blogged a blog that the 1st amendment right of free religion makes it necessary to allow a Mosque to be built at ground zero. While I respect Ripper as a great American guy, this blog will rebuttal the butt that Ripper has put out there.

As a first point of logic I would say that even if Ripper was right about free religion, the Constitution does not say where that religion must be free. It certainly doesn't make us allow it on ground zero. I would suggest that even if he is right, Muslims should be free to worship in New Jersey, or if it has to be in New York, up in Harlem by Clinton's office. Let's see how his Jewish friends like that one.

Second, the fourth amendment gives peoples the right "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers..." Building this Mosque definitly makes us less secure. Terrorists could shoot people in the streets and then run into the Mosque and claim sanctuary like in those western movies about the little Mexcan towns. They could haul fertilizer into it under those big robes and when the Mosque is completely full of fertilizer up to the ceiling, set it off like a McVay bomb and destroy all of New York city.

The 9th amendment says that rights numbered in the Constitution shall not take away any of the other rights that have not been numbered. For example, the right to not have to listen to loud speaker yelling in Arabic 5 times a day would be taken away if they let the Mosque get built. And this freedom from noise is only one right that might be lost if they build it. Likewise, the 10th amendment says that powers not given to the government are "reserved to the states respectfully, or to the people." The government was never given the power to do zoning, so that is up to the state of New York. Now, if the state says that the Mosque is OK, then there is just one last little thing THAT EVERYONE IS FORGETTING. "or to the people." That's right. The people get the last laugh and if the people don't want a mosque then they have the right to stop it. check the polls and you will see they don't want it.

But the best argument that defeats Ripper's case for the mosque is the first amendment itself. After it says that we have free religion, it goes on to say that we must protect "the right of people peaceably to assemble..." The terrorists are not assembling peaceably. Many times they preach violent actions from the pulpits of their own mosques. Therefore, the 1st amendment itself shows that a finding by the President that the assembly was not peaceable would mean that he could stop the mosque. This finding could even be kept secret, as many of my findings were (not sure why, but that's why they gave me advisors).

There you have it. Sorry, Ripper. I know you meant well but there are just too many arguments why the American thing to do is to protect our freedom by preventing evil buildings. We are OK with good buildings.

God bless America!

No Snark--This is About Abused Women

2010-07-18T16:15:20Z

We tried again to rescue my daughter yesterday. She is in an abusive relationship and has been for 8 years, on and off. She is white and he is black. I've always taught my children to be color blind, so this is not about race, except for the fact that everything that we do is interpreted by him (let's just call him the perp) as being racist. The perp's father and uncles spent most of their lives behind bars, so I have little doubt that he himself comes from an abusive background, though I don't know it for a fact. He doesn't work, except for a few months in a head shop on one occasion. When he has located work, he quits within a week because they don't treat him with sufficient respect or because he won't conform to the dress code (waist length dreds).

Early on in the relationship, I warned my daughter not to allow him to smoke pot in their apartment. This is Texas. I told her that a neighbor would smell it and tell the apartment manager and that they would tell the cops. Sure enough, the police showed up on a bogus report from child protective services (my daugher had no children at that time) and entered to check on a child that was heard crying. Turns out that they had the "wrong address" but discovered the pot. I got a call to bail her out of jail and managed to finally do so at 2 in the morning. I didn't bail the perp. I'll never forget when she walked out and told me, "I hate you!" because I left him in there.

When my daughter first informed me that she was pregnant, I asked them both to come to my house and I tried to tell the perp that I would be his best buddy and would be on his team all of the way if he would take care of my daugher and my grandchild. They were broke and I told them that they would need money to set up a household. He proceeded from that day, and every time I've met him since, to lecture me on what I am doing wrong. You can't speak to him. He doesn't listen. He talks in a nonstop stream and if you try to interrupt he just gets louder and angrier.

They kept falling to pieces and my wife kept insisting that we take her and the children (now 2 of them and they are adorable) in to rescue them. During one rescue, my daughter stole $18,000, went into hiding, and then moved to Portland where the perp had heard that pot was cool. She was there three years. We visited a couple of times because we love the grandkids. I swore I would never rescue her again until I got the call from the hospital. No denying it now--physical evidence of an attack. We flew out and brought her and the kids back. Two months later, she stole the money for a bus ticket and took the kids back to Portland. Again, we swore that was it. But this time it was really bad. The perp ran off and left and my daughter and grandkids in a fleabag hotel. I think she was into prostitution. Portland CPS told us that if the kids were allowed back into contact with the perp, or if we didn't take them home and out of that situation, that the kids would be taken away.

This time seemed different. Sure, the perp called constantly moaning about how he would be homeless and how it was all her fault but we kept blocking numbers. Somehow, he kept finding a way to get through. And the experts were telling us that she had to deal with him herself. Long story short: he convinced her that she was crazy. She went to a clinic and was diagnosed with schizo/affective disorder. I am convinced that it was post traumatic stress disorder. Then, she proceeded to call (at his direction) every agency in Portland to tell them she had lied about the whole thing because she was crazy.

The perps Mom had flown him back here. My daugher had gotten back on her feet and had an apartment, but before long it was his apartment. You see, everything of hers is his--the computer we bought for her, the furnishing we loaned her--the children--especially my daughter. She had a big enough tax refund and unemployment to last a while. Portland CPS contacted TX CPS and they "monitored" (if you can call their absent response that) the situation until the parents were given permission to keep the kids again (we kept them in the interim).

My daugher disobeyed the perp and visited us and let us see the kids. When she went back, he took it out on her and kicked her out of her own apartment. She called and asked us to come and get her. We did, intending to take her to a shelter for abused women. We told her not to leave without the children but she was in sad shape. We called every emergency number we could think of but CPS wouldn't respond (you see, it was on a weekend and it was one week after they dismissed the case). The police came out and said that the kids were OK--in the apartment with the perp and his Mom and the my daughter was ok with that. We went home. I asked my daughter if she wanted to surrender her kids to this abuser. She said no and made a couple of phone calls to emergency numbers that never respond and described a lot of the abuse in vivid detail. I'm sure that it will wind up in some report. In tremendous sorrow that the kids were in danger, we went back to the apartment. Seeing that the perp was gone, we went in to get just a few things my daughter needed.

He came back and went ballistic. He is 6/6 and works out constantly, though he is really a chicken in his heart. He went after my wife and I walked in to get her out. He slammed me against the apartment door, shattering my glasses, threw a suitcase over the second floor railing and broke everything. We called 911. The cops showed up. We asked if we could take the kids and go home. They said sure. The perps Mom went ape and demanded to speak to a supervisor. During the 20 minutes that we waited, the two of them got my daughter aside and conviced her to tell the police that it was OK with her if the kids stayed with them.

Since I told them I was OK, there was no assault.

It's classic abuse. He constantly demeans her and tells her she's worthless.
He will no longer allow her to have email or a facebook account.
He has all of her personal information and passwords.
He has cut off contact between my daughter and the entire outside world, especially us.
He has convinced her that everything is her fault and she is crazy.
He even denies things for which there is physical evidence--or concocts wild stories.
He was completely dependent on his Mom and he hates her. He is completely dependent on my daughter and he hates her.
He calls constantly and works tirelessly to find new phone numbers, defeat blocking systems, etc.
He is brilliant and charismatic and, lacking any history or evidence, can convince anyone that the sky is pink and purple.
And since my daughter is afraid of him and won't tell authorities the truth, no one will do a damn thing.
Worse than that, she has told him every bad thing she can think of about me and her Mom in the vain hope of mollifying him and redirecting his anger away from her.
His anger and his hate are unquenchable.

What to do, what to do? Your thoughts or even your prayers would be appreciated. Maybe it helped to write it down.

I found this website: You are not crazy .com

Stop Persecuting Mel Gibson!

2010-07-10T16:16:52Z

As you probably know by now, Mel Gibson was illegally tape recorded while in the privacy of his own home. I have been told that this sort of thing is against the Constitution and I would never, ever sanction it.

Now, a liberal Hollywood website has published the audio and it is creating a national stir because of the alleged racial slurs and threats of violence. I don't believe any of it. In my family, saying things like "I'll slap you up the side of the head," or "I'll whup your ass," were terms of endearment. My brothers still call me and say that stuff. I tell them that it's a federal crime now to threaten me, but I can call them and punk em anytime I want! As far as racism, Mel worked with Danny Glover in law enforcement for years and they really are best buds. Sometimes you just kid around with your friends in ways you wouldn't do in public.

I think that it is also possible that Mel has just suffered some combat damage over the years. He has been in wars, in shootings, he's had his child abducted for ransom, and he has women's voices filling up his head with their subconscious thoughts. That's why his nickname is Mad Max. We should no more persecute Mel than we should persecute our veterans who have combat fatigue. Mel has kept America and Scotland safe for decades. Now he needs us.

If Jesus was willing to work with him and show mercy, shouldn't we?

Hey, I'm Unemployed!

2010-07-03T21:05:12Z

A lot of you are writing about how bad the economy is and how terrible it is that some folks are unemployed and soon won't be able to get unemployment welfare. Well, I am here to tell you: I am unemployed too. I'm certainly not bragging about it, and I'm not moaning about it. I am saying it to make you think for a moment and to get over your pity parties.

First off, even though I lost my job, I am not drawing unemployment welfare. It's my part to help America. I do get a pension but that is kinda like you guys retirement plans. And it's not enough to live on. So, what do I do? I do something positive!

Even though I am not working, I find ways to make extra income to keep things afloat. For example, I do guest speaking tours. This is hard, hard work because I no longer get to have my staff of Whitehouse speechwriters. For example, I knocked 'em dead at the recent Dallas Natural Gas Conference. Now, I know that everyone is not a great speaker like me, but you can find something you can do to bring in some extra dough. And if you are willing to travel, there are tons of good paying jobs in Afghanistan for contracting. I helped with that too.

I have found that leisure time can be turned into opportunities. Just go down to the Country Club and play a round of golf and you'll meet lots of really nice people and (here's the thing) this is your chance to make contacts and work on that next job! Great idea, you think?

But another benefit of having some time between jobs is the chance to spruce things up. I have been able to spend much more time clearing brush out at the ranch than I ever could when I was Presidenting, and it is looking real good!

I don't mean to make anyone feel bad, but it's not just democrats who are unemployed. I know that there are a lot of excecutives in the stocks, banking, and energy industries that are between jobs right now. Times are hard on them and you should keep that in mind.

But now it's the 4th of July! Go out and shoot fireworks and sing some good Christian songs with your family and wave that flag. Fix up some barbecue or spring for a trip to Whataburger. Put on the ipod and listen to "God bless the USA." Whatever our differences may be, we can all take pride in having the greatest country on earth!

God bless you all this great Holiday!

Time for a new civil rights agenda! Corporations!

2010-06-29T00:53:30Z

As we all know by now, Corporations are people too. In fact, according to wikidpedia, "...corporations are recognized by the law to have rights and responsibilities like actual people. Corporations can exercise human rights against real individuals and the state,[3] and they may be responsible for human rights violations.[4] Just as they are "born" into existence through its members obtaining a certificate of incorporation, they can "die" when they lose money into insolvency. Corporations can even be convicted of criminal offenses, such as fraud and manslaughter.[5]"

And, as you all know, the Supremes recently affirmed corporations' rights to first amendment expression just like we all have. In fact, many open-minded Americans feel that the realization that we had discriminated against corporate people is what drove the old corporate racist John Paul Stevens to finally retire. I say it is now time to finally free from bondage the last oppressed group of Americans: corporate Americans.

The discrimination is rampant. Some people hate corporations just cause they have money. But that is stereotyping too. Many corporations don't have much money at all and wind up flying on a shoestring--take the airline industry for example. We need to stop egrigious practices of corporate racism, such as:

1) Profiling. The securities and exchange commision watches certain types of corporations and not others. Some law agencies even develop task groups to watch certain industries. The gall!

2) Boycotting. Where else can you see whole communities agreeing to discriminate? Is it legal for a whole community to decide not to sell property to blacks? It should be no more legal for a whole community to be legally able to refuse to buy from a company.

3) Forced Segregation. Believe it or not but this happens every day. They have all sorts of names for it such as "zoning laws." Companies are told where they can operate, what groups they have to advertise with, etc. This is patently discriminatory and we wouldn't allow it to happen to any other group of Americans.

To fix this problem, I am advocating a new civil rights agenda for the corporate community. That's right, corporate community! It's time for our corporate brothers and sisters to show some corporate pride and come out of the shadows.

They should no longer be forced to engage in self incrimination! No more being brought before courts and congress and told to surrender information. That's what is happening to BP at the same time that Obama is shaking them down for billions. Come on, BP, just take the fifth!

We should begin an affirmative action program to help corporations that need it the most. Some companies who, through negative government reports, media publicity, or consumer ratings, have been starved and savaged by low consumer demand should be helped first. If they are priced the same, the law should require consumers to buy the Chrysler and not the BMW.

Please get on board! We can, and should, allow the American dream to be recognized by all persons. Finally, that right needs to be extended to corporate persons! Won't you help me to help them?

Update: Avatar in Afghanistan

2010-06-19T01:44:03Z

Apparently, America's mining companies are coveting the newfound mineral wealth in Afghanistan, according to the New York Times. James Yeager, a Colorado geologist and mining consultant who has worked in Afghanistan points to a potential drawback, however: "They can take it back after you discover something," Mr. Yeager said. "That needs to be corrected." He is referring to the Afghan government's right to remove concessions after they are awarded.

I have been think a lot about how to fix this problem. Companies don't want their people getting shot up in this place and we are having a heckufa problem communicating with the strange desert dwellers who live there. And then it came to me. This is just like a movie that I saw where we can genetically engineer some Arabs who will actually have American brains and we can send them in to try to communicate. Problem fixed!

Update: the news is sayin' today that the Afghan leader Kharzi wants to give Japan primary access to their minerals before any other country. I sure havent seen Japan in there fighting them Taliban. I think we need to do something about this real quick. Maybe we can find that Colonel with the scars on his face who drives that big walking machine.

Dan Froomkin is beside himself...sounds like he wants Bush back

2010-06-16T20:57:27Z

This article by Dan Froomkin is well worth reading. His criticism of President Obama's speech is quite severe. As one of the most vociferous critics of my administration, he actually compares Obama unfavorably with the Bush Administration:

"...his disquisition on weaning the nation from fossil fuels still wasn't even as strong as George W. Bush's patently insincere but rhetorically effective assertion that "America is addicted to oil." [please note that I was sincere, just not in too big a rush. I have friends that work in oil]

and, "One of the countless lessons of the Bush era is that the American people, for better or for worse, respond very positively to a leader who acts with conviction."

Froomkin makes the argument that the President is getting ripped a new one by the Republicans no matter what he does. He asserts that the knowledge of that response should be liberating to Obama. Froomkin then poses the million dollar question, "If you're going to get savaged by your opponents, no matter what, why talk in half-measures and generalities that make even your supporters cringe?"

Look, I may disagree on many issues of policy with Obama. Heck, when I first met him I thought he was a black Irishman cause his name was O'bama. But I am so fascinated that a man who seemed so incredibly capable of managing a campaign is so tone deaf to his supporters. Rove said it best, "play to the base."

Obama won't pacify the Republicans. What is he doing? Maybe Cheney has the goods on him...

What Obama should have said

2010-06-16T14:31:52Z

Hello my fellow Americans. Tonight I am here to talk about the oil spill. It turned out to be about ten times bigger than BP told us it was. I am furious that they had high resolution pictures of the spill that they kept all to themselves for over a month now. That could well be a criminal act. We'll decide about prosecution as we observe their actions over the next few months. If they seem to be sincere in wanting to fix this and pay for everything, then maybe I can believe that this was just a screwup and not a coverup. I am also furious at myself for being too ready to believe BP in the early stages of this crises. I was gullible because my nature is to expect to find goodwill in others. I still believe that human nature is inherently good, but now I know that it's not always accessible. From this point on, I'm putting the best interests of the country first. This will not only affect my dealings with BP, but with Congress as well. I will still look for allies, but I will not compromise American interests for the ephemeral appearance of cordiality.

What I am really here tonight to talk about is how to keep this from happening again. Truth is, we can't. There are as many risks operating a mile under the ocean as there are operating in space. And oil pollutes fields on land, as well. Take a look at some of the fields in South America, and in Nigeria. Drive through Big Lake, TX and see what an oil field looks like even 40 years after it has stopped producing. Heck, even when there are no problems at all, oil pollutes when it is used as intended--burned in an internal combustion engine. We know now that the temperature of the earth is increasing at a very rapid pace. Not everywhere at the same time. Not in all places equally. But just because we have a major spring snowstorm in Washington, that doesn't mean that the clear consensus of scientists all over the world (many of them Republicans, by the way) is not true.

Now, you can say to yourself that this rapid warming is just part of the regular cycle of change that occurs over thousands of years. And perhaps that is true. But in order to believe that, you also need to convince yourself that the burning of billions and billions of gallons of oil, untold tons of coal, and the clearing of the majority of the earth's forests, have had no effect on anything. Trees keep us cool. Trees change carbon dioxide into oxygen. We've cut down most of our trees just over the past few hundred years.

But even if you dismiss everything I've said, there is one thing that you must understand. And this has found agreement among all scientists. We are running out of fossil fuels. The U.S. used to supply itself with oil. Texas was our own little middle east. We've used that up. Now, we have to keep looking in more difficult places: deep in ocean, high in the arctic. We import the vast majority of our oil. It destroyed our balance of trade long ago. It brought huge amounts of wealth to the family of one Osama bin Laden. It makes us dependent. Americans don't like to be dependent. We're going to put a stop to it.

First, I will place a $1 a gallon tax on gasoline. Some folks have no access to mass transit and cannot get to work without a car. For those who are in this situation and who are just barely getting by, we'll make some provisions through either a gas card, or a tax credit, or some other way. There will be a similar tax on the burning of coal and a small tax on the burning of natural gas (because it pollutes less). Every single dime that we generate will go directly into research and development of new energy sources or as a credit for the deployment of existing energy sources, such as wind turbines.

We face a difficult situation economically as well. Our country is in a fragile recovery, so cutting out federal spending could throw us back into a recession. Raising taxes could do that as well. At the same time, we cannot continue to spend money that we don't have. Everyone agrees with that. It's time to end our involvement in nation-building. That's the job of the United Nations. It's also time to stop spending three times more on defense than the amount of spending of all of our potential adversaries combined. Defense spending is the biggest part of the budget and dwarfs everything else except interest on the national debt. We will balance the budget next fiscal year and we will do it in a way that will not endanger the recovery.

We spend money on defense to protect the survival of our country. Our survival is now in danger. Whether America is torn apart by economic factors or a foreign enemy is irrelevant if it is torn apart. Sacred cows and the military industrial complex will have no place to live if we don't save this country.

In ten years, the United States will be primarily fueled by renewable energy. If that doesn't happen, it will not be because I did not use every resource at my command and every ounce of energy in my body to make it happen.

The deepwater horizon is a warning shot across the bow of this nation. If we keep depending on a depleting energy supply, it will happen again. And we'll get global climate change. And we'll be open to energy blackmail. And we'll keep wrecking our economy by sending billions overseas to buy oil. And we will ultimately run out. Do you know where oil comes from? In part, it comes from the dinosaurs--actually all of the biological matter that died millions of years ago in another age of this planet. The dinosaurs didn't evolve to meet changing conditions. Let's not be like the dinosaur. No more dinosaur policy. No more dinosaur rhetoric. No more dinosaur companies. No more dinosaur government. Dinosaurs are extinct.

At least, that's what I would have said if I were a democrat. Of course, I was decisive.

Cleverbulldog Outraged: Someone else is biting and attacking students!

2010-06-15T04:57:18Z

Our very own Cleverbulldog today expressed absolute outrage that Congressman Bob Etheridge, Conservative Democrat from North Carolina, would attack students with a camera who only wished to practice ambush journalism. In an eloquent column bulldog growled, "it really outraged me...I would feel...that acts this way...should be...my job."

Clearly, the dog is right. He has a long history of being the best at TPM at biting and hamstringing liberal thinkers and kookie tree hugger types. The bulldog knows what trees are for and it ain't hugging. Maintaining his own internet site designed to reveal the truth about Elen Kagan, men biting dogs, and other issues, the bulldog is a bullwark of democracy: A true American bulldog. A family bulldog: married to a lovely shih tzu with one son that the family calls bull-shihtz.

Bulldog came by his conservative credentials honestly. As a young dog, he passed by an Atlanta store and read a sign, "Help wanted: must be good with computer and bilingual. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer." He entered and picked up the sign, carrying it to the manager. The manager laughed and said, "Good boy, now if only you could type." Bulldog pushed his way up to a keyboard and proceeded to produce an html page that read, "It says you are an equal opportunity employer." The manager laughed at him and said, "we only mean racial minorities. Besides, it says you have to be bilingual, as well." Bulldog jumped to the attack! Then, standing over his mangled body, he looked into his eyes and said, "Meow." From that day forward, he was opposed to EEOC and all of the liberal bull that went with it.

In summary, I am very proud of my good friend, Cleverbulldog. He is an American bulldog and stands for, and to, the right. I only wish I had employed him in my administration. Unfortunately, Cheney had the bulldog position already by the time I met him.

Obama cracks down hard on whistleblowers

2010-06-12T04:57:29Z

The New York Times details how Barak Obama's administration has become the harshest on record for it's attempts to punish whistleblowers from talking to the press:

"In 17 months in office, President Obama has already outdone every previous president in pursuing leak prosecutions. His administration has taken actions that might have provoked sharp political criticism for his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was often in public fights with the press."

Sadly, Thomas Drake, an employee of the National Security Agency, was charged in April for talking to the Baltimore Sun about what he perceived to be a huge waste of manpower utilized in following random tidbits of information gleaned from warrantless wiretapping. His only motive appears to have been to improve the government's ability to catch terrorists; however, Obama's justice department is pursuing any and all leaks with a ferocity unmatched by any previous administration.

I believe that includes mine, guys... Truth is, I tried to differentiate between people who believed that they were doing the right thing and those that were out to hurt us. (btw, it was Cheney going after Joe Wilson. I liked him and respected his work during Dad's administration).

BP is on the hook for 75 million--AND THAT'S ALL!

2010-06-08T20:12:41Z

According to a lawyer who represented Exxon after the Valdez incident, "Louisiannans, 'to use a legal term,' are just f__ked." First is the fact that the 101st Congress, controlled by the democrat party. Let me say that again, the 1990 U.S. Congress with Democrat majorities in both Houses, passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, limiting the civil liability of oil companies to 75 million dollars. Only 5 Congressmen opposed it and the Senate passed it on a voice vote.

But wait, you say, our fearless President is going to raise that liability cap. No, he can't. Article I, Section 9, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution prevents the passage of ex post facto laws or bills of attainder. That means that you can't change the rules after the fact. A company that does business figures in the potential liability costs of their operation. If they had to figure in the chance of getting hit for 10 billion, then they wouldn't do the business. That's why Senator Landrow (or whatever), democrat of Louisianna is saying no to raising the cap. I guess her reasoning is something like, "You have to let Louisianna (people) suffer in order to save Louisianna (oil businesses)."

President Obama, our ditherer-in-chief, has already come out for the fact that the new raise in the liability limits won't include the current BP spill.
But knowing you guys, you will come up with some creative thinking to blame this oil on me. Heh, heh! (I said oil on me, not all on me, heh, heh!!).

No One Could Have Seen This Coming?

2010-05-28T04:31:26Z

* In 1988, Occidental's Piper Alpha platform blew up and 167 workers died. Costs associated with this accident were $1,270,000,000. That's one and a quarter billion dollars
* North Sea rig Alexander Kielland capsized in a North Sea storm in 1980 and 123 workers died.
* 2007, Storms winds caused a collision with a Compeche Bay platorm in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 22 and causing a tremendous blowout.
* During a typhoon in 1989, the Seacrest drillship capsized and 91 workers died. Two other storms caused the loss of the Ocean Ranger and the Glomar Java Sea with loss of all on board, 84 and 81, respectively.
*In 2005, the Mumbai High North suffered a major fire that destroyed the platform and killed over 20.
*An explosion sank the P36 production rig in the Campos Basin, Brazil. The cost for this accident was over half a billion dollars ($515,000,000).
*The 1979 IXTOC-1 blowout in the Bahia de Campeche (Mexico) flowed out of control for 9 months before it could be capped. It supposedly released three and a half million barrels of oil (that's 140 million gallons) but this is an oil company estimate.
*Blowouts are not a thing of the past: 2001 Gulf of Mexico blowout collapsed the Ensco 51's derrick. The Arabdrill 19 rig and a production platform sank after a blowout in 2002. The Adriatic IV rig and a gas plaform sank off of the Egyptian coast after a blowout and fire in 2004. The Banjar Penjii-1 blew out in 2006 causing a "mud volcano" and a major release of petrochemicals and diesel fuel.
*The Petrobas' Enchova Platform suffered a second strike of lightening when it blew out in 1988 (it blew out four years earlier, as well).
*Blowouts are not the only danger. Katrina sank multiple platforms.

I have two questions for you, dear readers:

1) No one could have seen this coming?

2) How would you have felt if this had happened on my watch, rather than Obamas, particularly if I had (like Obama) just made a major policy speech advocating expanded offshore drilling?