Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton

Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. He has an interesting article that unmasks some of the Bush-Clinton family dynasties' perversions. He concludes that Hillary and Bill's post-White House secret service detail may have "the goods" on the Clintons":

"During Clinton's presidency, I approached then-deputy White House chief of staff John Podesta and other senior officials to ask whether they had any plans to pursue important investigations that had been left undone in 1993. I was told those issues simply weren't "on the radar scopes."

However, if Clinton thought that his collaboration in keeping the Reagan-Bush secrets from the American people would earn him some bipartisan help from the Republicans, he was mistaken.

Clinton saw his prized domestic agenda, including Hillary Clinton's health care reform, defeated; his party lose control of Congress in 1994; the House vote to impeach him in 1998 for lying about an extramarital sexual relationship; and George H.W. Bush's oldest son steal the 2000 election from Clinton's Vice President, Al Gore.

Now, as Campaign 2008 begins to unfold, a similar dynamic is in place.

George W. Bush has engaged in a variety of acts that appear to be illegal, extra-legal or unconstitutional, while the Clintons are again signaling that they have no intention of holding the Bush family accountable.

"If Bill Clinton is right - that his wife's first act as President would be to ask him and George H.W. Bush to go on an around-the-world goodwill mission - Hillary Clinton is making it clear that she has no intention of holding George W. Bush accountable for any wrongdoing.

There is no way that George H.W. Bush would help the Clintons on the diplomatic front if they were taking action against his eldest son.

So, the stage seems set for another Bush-Clinton revolving door where the Bushes get a free pass as they leave in exchange for the Clintons hoping against hope that the powerful family will show them a little respect and maybe a touch of mercy.

Or, as the Clinton friend suggested to me last week, maybe their real hope is that the Bushes won't reveal what they've learned from the Secret Service records detailing where the Clintons have gone and with whom."

Then there is this article from WND:

Documents are being prepared for release by the National Archives that could reveal what Sen. Hillary Clinton already did while she was in the White House, as First Lady to President Bill Clinton, according to a public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption.

Among the issues that remain clouded is her exact relationship with Hollywood Internet mogul Peter Franklin Paul, identified as the largest contributor to her campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2000, who now is presenting compelling evidence President Clinton destroyed his entertainment company – Stan Lee Media – to get out of a $17 million deal in which he promised to promote the firm in exchange for those massive contributions to the 2000 campaign, and other considerations.

Paul contends he was directed by the Clintons and Democratic Party leaders to foot the bill for a lavish Hollywood gala and fundraiser prior to the 2000 election that eventually cost him nearly $2 million.

Officials with Judicial Watch were forced to go to court to try to obtain the White House documents, including Hillary Clinton's calendar, daily office diary, schedule, day planner, telephone log book and other files.

That's a lot of baggage for the ol' lady....

Friedman Unit

Fred Kaplan at Slate has an interesting article about the all important next six months in Iraq. The article starts with a crack on Thomas Friedman that really hits the nail on the head. He might be right this time, though:

"Thomas Friedman has been lambasted for writing way too many times (at least 14 times from late 2003 to mid-2006) that "the next six months" will determine the future of Iraq. The waggish blogger Atrios, who first cataloged this habit, coined the term "Friedman Unit," defined as six months in the future.

That said, the next six months might really be the decisive six months in the course of this war—and, as much as recent trends seem hopeful, the long-term prognosis, alas, doesn't."

Moravian Horns

oldsalem1, originally uploaded by Watts4.

The Moravian Lovefeast at Old Salem, NC, 2007
The tradition continues!

Merry Christmas!

Who is this lady?

Read The National Enquirer article to find out.

Yeah, that's right, I'm sourcing the National Enquirer. This kind of thing repulses and captivates me, especially since it's not in the mainstream media (yet)... But search Google for this lady's name....there's a whole other news world online often based on speculation and innuendo. Who can know what is true or not here....that's something the National Enquirer has excelled at exploiting, since way before Al Gore invented the internet. They paved the way for today's bloggers. NQ, I salute you!

Iraq War: Pay for Itself

An astute reader of the Star-News points out that the "war that will pay for itself" could in fact pay for itself:

"EDITOR: In the five years of war in Iraq, the media have reported on daily losses of servicemen, suicide bombers and any other mayhem.

There has been little news about rebuilding or redeveloping infrastructure. In particular there have been (few prominent) stories about the Iraqi oil fields, except for a few reports of equipment sabotage.

Now before the war, Iraq exported 2 million-plus barrels of oil per day.

What is the production status today?

The rate of 2 million barrels, at $100 per barrel yields $200,000,000 each day. That's $730 billion a year.

… That should be enough to rebuild the country and support our troops.

Why not bill Iraq for services rendered by our military to free the country from dictatorship?

The president recently asked congress for $50 billion to finance operations in Iraq. That's a small price compared to their oil revenues.

And a small price to pay for freedom.

Hank Oswald

Wilmington"

Send 'em the bill!

Ted Gup's False Alarm

It starts with a 5:23 AM hotel fire alarm, and ends with Gore Vidal in the lobby. Here's a delightfully told tale of the "false alarm" at the hotel:

"I make my way to the hotel's front entrance and into the lobby. Behind the reception desk a beleaguered woman is picking up the phone every five seconds to say "It was a false alarm... it was a false alarm... it was a false alarm." Beside me stands a man in a camel-hair overcoat and red baseball cap. He is chewing the stub of a stogie. He is familiar but the name escapes me, so I ask.

"George Tenet," he says." ....

"Ted Gup," I say, extending a hand. He smiles. He knows my work--the last chapter of the book I wrote on CIA operatives killed in service was deleted because of Tenet's appeal on national security grounds."

click through to read this story, it's an
unusual take on things...

"Bono Can Unite Us"...

...so says the Washington Post:

"Bono seems to provide for many in official Washington a form of inspiration, reaching into those corners of the soul to find whatever remained of the sense of optimism and altruism that drove them into public service in the first place. What Bono demands in return is the means to save the lives of millions.

"Why are people listening?" Bono says. "Because I actually believe in America and they know it and I'm not sure if they do sometimes. It is a little odd and eerie to have an Irish rock star recite the Declaration of Independence like it's a great poem, but it is a great poem. And that poetry is what's missing from political dialogue right now. And this country is parched, parched from the lack of such political lyrics, and I'm going in saying, 'This is who you are.' "...

..."And then he is gone, off to catch a private jet to New York, where he will greet the famous of that metropolis by their first names.

He leaves behind a city awash in its own bile. We are once again faced with our own disagreements over earmarking and vetoes and overrides and cots. What we do now is wait -- wait for Bono to return, the one person who can unite us."

End the War in Iraq

Here's a plan I found in my e-mail inbox this morning. Beats anything I've heard since "Mission Accomplished":

The Pentagon announced TODAY the formation of a new 500-man elite fighting unit called the United States Redneck Special Forces (USRSF)

These boys will be dropped off in Iraq and have been given only the following facts about terrorists :

1. The season opened today.
2. There is no limit.
3. They taste just like chicken.
4. They don't like beer, pickups, country music or Jesus.
5. They are directly responsible for the death of Dale Earnhardt .

The Pentagon expects the problem in Iraq to be over by next Friday.

Hey Big Spender

Noted commentator Bill Press takes George W. out back behind the shed for this one on Bush:

"Let the facts speak for themselves. In seven years, Bush has not once balanced the budget, nor presented a balanced budget to Congress. He took office with a $236 billion surplus, which he quickly turned into a $413 billion deficit. The projected deficit for 2008 is still $180 billion, not counting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, or the money we are borrowing from the Social Security Trust Fund.

Bush's record of fiscal profligacy continues. The federal budget in 2001 was $1.9 trillion; today, it's $2.7 trillion. Under Bush and a Republican Congress, the national debt has soared from 5.8 trillion to $9 trillion – 25 percent of which is owned by China, Japan and the UK. It took 42 presidents 224 years to build up $1 trillion of foreign-held debt. It's taken George Bush just seven years to accumulate $1.22 trillion."

Why Ron Paul

Robert Scheer has a great column about Ron Paul and what his priorities are for America:

"What has (Bush) gotten for the trillions wasted? Nothing, when it comes to capturing Osama bin Laden, bringing democracy to Iraq or preventing oil prices from tripling and enriching the ayatollahs of Iran while messing up the American economy.

That money could have paid for a lot of things we could have used here at home. As Rep. Paul points out, for what the Iraq war costs, we could present each family of four a check for $46,000 -- which exceeds the $43,000 median household income in his Texas district. He asks: "What about the impact of those costs on education, the very thing that so often helps to increase earnings? Forty-six thousand dollars would cover 90 percent of the tuition costs to attend a four-year public university in Texas for both children in that family of four. But, instead of sending kids to college, too often we're sending them to Iraq, where the best news in a long time is they [the insurgents] aren't killing our men and women as fast as they were last month."

How damning that it takes a libertarian Republican to remind the leading Democratic candidates of the opportunity costs of a war that most Democrats in Congress voted for. "

Damning indeed. Shame on the Democrats for allowing this to continue, and particularly shame on Hillary Clinton voting with Bush's team to make the Iranian Guard a terrorist organization. She's falling for it all over again, and Democrats seem to be OK with that.

We need a leader who will change the system, we need Ron Paul (or at least somebody other than Hillary Clinton).

Tacoma > Space Invader

More terriffic Tacoma ads:

Meteor: Tacoma Meteor-Proof ad

Loch Ness: Tacoma Loch Nest Monster ad (Shoot it!)

World of Warcraft: Tacoma World of Warcraft ad

Robosaurus: Tacoma Robosaurus ad

High Tide: Tacoma 2006 Super Bowl ad

Palm Centro Review by Watts

I'm usually at least 2 years behind the times with PDAs, so the new Palm Centro was the perfect choice for me (ha!). Yes, the operating system is old, but the Centro hit all my buttons. It's relatively cheap, has e-mail and internet access, and it's small enough to put in my pocket.

First, get a look at where I'm coming from: The Clie SJ-33 on the left was my first PDA, bought it on eBay back in 2003 after it had been out for a couple of years. It hooked me, and lasted about a year until I cleaned the screen with Windex (oops). I can get it working pretty much now and again, but it has become harder to reset since the up arrow no longer works. I loved the size, and the protective cover was perfect for a pocket. The design is a bit wider than the new Centro, but they do share a lot in the look and feel departments.

Not pictured is the Clie TG-50 I bought to replace the SJ-33. It had a keyboard, metal cover, tougher, smaller and more durable screen. It was longer, thinner, and much faster. Unfortunately, it was stolen out of the Volvo while we were at Chucky Cheeses's.

I replaced the TG-50 with the brick, the Sony Clie NZ-90. This mammoth PDA originally cost about $800, but I snagged it for less than $200 on eBay a couple of years ago. The screen is gigantic, 320 X 480. It runs much faster than the old Clies, even a reset takes only a couple of seconds. A wifi stick enables internet functions and e-mail, but it takes up the memory stick slot, and I found it to be too cumbersome and battery-draining to be of any real use. The NZ-90 sports a 2 MP camera with a flash. Pictures aren't half bad, better than any cameraphone I've seen including the Centro. The downside? Battery-life. You might get 2 or 3 pictures with the flash on, and that's it. Battery drained all the way. And it's not just the camera, this thing is an all-around battery-hog, not good for more than 2-3 hours doing anything. Did I mention that it's huge? No way to put the NZ-90 in a pants pocket.
And that leads to the new Palm Centro. Compared with my other PDAs, the Centro is tiny, and fits in my pocket better than my old cellphone did. That's big difference #1, the Centro is also a phone! Told ya I was always about 2 years behind the times, but there you go, that's the biggest addition to my PDA arsenal.

Along with the cellphone, the Centro comes with a Sprint unlimited data plan for e-mail and web browsing. Although we don't have high-speed cell service in my area, the internet is speedy enough to browse pretty good, and it even does streaming audio and video. My daughter was amazed when I pulled up Sponge Bob and Dora episodes. Always having access to e-mail has been a revelation. No more booting up the main computer just to see if I have any e-mails. I have my e-mail IMAPPed through gmail and it works flawlessly. That's big difference #2.

One of the coolest features is Google Maps. This function nearly eliminates my desire for GPS, since you can set up directions on the go. When you look up a contact, there is a "Map" option so you can see the contact's address. Click on aerial view and you get aerial photos. Wow.

Yes, the keyboard is rather small on the Centro, but I've found it to be just as usable as the keyboard on the NZ-90. One handed operation is possible, and the backlit keys help out in the dark. The screen is super-bright, and not as battery-draining as the larger NZ-90. I've loaded some larger fonts for the Pluckr program, and that has helped a great deal as the smaller screen means smaller fonts.

I like the small size of the Centro, it fits my rather large hands well, and it has basically become an additional appendage for me. It feels solid, and after two weeks I have no regrets about my choice. Go Centro!

W, You're no Reagan

"Mr. Reagan, like Mr. Bush, had gone through his share of second-term blues, including scandal (Iran-contra) and a hit to his job approval. But Reagan rebounded in his final year-plus in office – in part by cutting deals with Congress (and the Soviet Union) – and ended his presidency with job-approval ratings above 60 percent. Perhaps not coincidentally, he pulled off a rare feat: He was succeeded by his vice president, George H.W. Bush.

The current President Bush has shown no such inclination to compromise with the Democrats lately, instead using or threatening to use the veto pen early and often, particularly on spending bills. On Tuesday, Bush signed one, Defense appropriations, and vetoed one, the Labor-Health-Education appropriations bill, on the grounds that it was $10 billion over budget and funded 2,000 special projects.

Bush went after Congress in a speech Tuesday in Indiana: "Their majority was elected on a pledge of fiscal responsibility, but so far it is acting like a teenager with a new credit card."

Bush went 5-1/2 years before his first veto, but his apparent goal now is to reestablish his bona fides as a fiscal conservative, after spending big earlier in office."

Good luck with that 60% approval rating, George.