Presidential historian Bob Williams made an interesting discovery last week while doing some research on the 21st century, “I was reading about the 2004 election, and I discoved something shocking: George W. Bush is actually still the president,” said Williams.  Yes, apparently the grossly unpopular president is still in charge of things.  In fact, “he will be president for another four months.”

On a day where we take one step closer to the world of 1984 with the re-branding of TSA headquarters as “the Freedom Center,” no, really, I feel the need to remind the world (or the 20 people who might read this) that the essential freedom America is about, the one we fought that big ‘ol war over, is freedom from tyranny.  I’m sure most of you know what that word means, but, just for the record, tyranny means “A government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power.”  Hmmmm, so it’s not freedom from being blown up by terrorists?  No, not really.  That’s pretty hard to guarantee.  But a government in which a single ruler has absolute power…sound like any government you know?  I mean, sure, George Bush can declare anyone a terrorist for no particular reason and lock them up indefinitely without due cause, but that’s not absolute power right?  Sure he ignores the laws he doesn’t like, and makes up new ones without consulting congress, but that’s not absolute power.  I mean, he still derives his “just powers from the consent of the governed” right?  It’s not like he stole the last two elections.  Nah, tyranny is not even close to being a problem in these United States.  I mean, how could it be with fine institutions like the Freedom Center and the department of Homeland Security guaranteeing our freedom?  Nope, no one in history has ever used the guise of national securty to unjustly seize power, so one must be crazy to think that’s happening now.  I say we all just sit back and relax, I mean, we have a really humble and qualified civil servant running the show.  George Bush loves us, just like God loves George Bush.  And I’m just loving these motherfuckin’ freedom fries!

According to a (unscientific) History News Network poll, 98.2% of historians questioned think the Bush presidency has been a failure. 1.8% think it was a success. It’s not too surprising, this just means the historians are doing their job. This has been a sad week for Mr Bush, first the Pope snubs him and now this. As for the 2% who think he’s a success, well, they must be out of their minds.

As much as McCain frightens me, I have to admit he would probably be an improvement over Bush. Not that that’s a huge compliment, I think it would be hard for someone to be worse than Bush even if they tried. He has a certain way of ruining things that you can’t learn, it’s all instinct. So back to McCain, he gave a speech yesterday before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council where he:

proposed a new organization, the League of Democracies, to “harness the vast influence of more than 100 democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests.”

The League of Democracies? Is that anything like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, because that movie sucked. Seriously, though, this sounds pretty good. He actually wants to work with other countries, unlike Bushy who likes to go it alone. More from the speech:

Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed

Stop making me like you! Where’s all this reasonableness coming from? Can this be the same man who wants to bomb Iran? Who says things are going well in Iraq no matter what anybody tells him? I can’t tell if this guy is Bush v2 or some kind of relatively reasonable Republican (do those exist anymore?). Here’s another quote:

It would be an unconscionable act of betrayal, a stain on our character as a great nation, if we were to walk away from the Iraqi people and consign them to the horrendous violence, ethnic cleansing, and possibly genocide that would follow a reckless, irresponsible, and premature withdrawal

This is a half-truth in my opinion. On the one hand, horrendous violence and ethnic cleansing will probably occur when we withdrawal. And it’s our fault. And we have committed a horrible sin. On the other hand, I think the longer we stay the worse we make things. The deed has already been done, the sin already committed. We can’t fix what we’ve done with more violence, we can’t fix it with our army, and we can’t fix it by staying there and terrorizing Iraqi citizens. It’s time for us to leave. And we are going to have to make amends for what happens as best we can but not with our army. Ok, more speech:

We must fight the terrorists and at the same time defend the rights that are at the foundation of our society. We can’t torture or treat inhumanely suspected terrorists we have captured. I believe we should close Guantanamo and work with our allies to forge a new international understanding on the disposition of dangerous detainees under our control.

Again, this is reasonable and I agree with it. DAMN YOU MCCAIN! But wait a minute, didn’t you just vote against making the army field manual the standard for interrogations? And wasn’t that essentially a vote permitting the CIA to torture people? What kind of doublespeak is this? I think I can conclude that this guy is pretty scary, he’s just good at charming liberals. Which actually makes him more scary and dangerous. Any final thoughts Johnny?

Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war

Did he just call Bush a fool and a fraud? I think he did. Remember what Bush said earlier this week:

I must say, I’m a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.

It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You’re really making history, and thanks.

Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war. Whomever our next president is I know they wont be a fool, but there’s a good chance they’ll be a fraud. I guess it’s a step in the right direction.

Five years after the start of the atrocity that is the American occupation of Iraq, Dick Cheney sums up the whole situation nicely: “So?” Needless to say, I hate this man. Let’s give that quote some context:

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So?

RADDATZ So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

Ok, let’s just dispense with the fact that to a certain extent ruling by opinion polls is not always the best idea. Whatever, the fact is this a democracy, and the leaders are supposed to respect the will of the people. Bush&co think they are temporary (I hope) dictators. They don’t really understand what a president is supposed to be, or they do and they don’t care. I’ve got to give them credit for ballsiness, and audacity though. They’re certainly bold. But their intentions are sinister, and their whole secretive, violent, double-speak way of ruling is inimical to a healthy democracy.Speaking of things that are inimical to a healthy democracy, a foreign occupying army is certainly on that list. That’s why this whole Iraq situation is more than just a failure. It’s more than just a bungled plan. It’s a fundamentally flawed idea. It’s like saying let’s cool down this room by lighting a big bonfire. It’s like saying lets bring peace and happiness and freedom to people by bombing them and telling them how to live. How people can miss the fundamental contradiction in that “plan” I will never know.I could rant like this for hours, but it wont change anything. I’ll just leave you with some statistics that highlight the extreme immorality and waste of this whole misadventure:

• Almost 4000 Americans dead
• 100,000 – 1 million innocent Iraqi civilians dead (there is no definitive count of this number)
• 2 million refuges
• 2.5 million Iraqi’s displaced internally
• Over 600 billion tax dollars “spent”
• mission accomplished

So?