The Hollywood Liberal

Bush Still Not Listening on Iraq.

See Master of Disaster Pt. 1

The One year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is right around the corner. Sounding just like he does on Iraq
Bush has this to say:
Bush: Katrina recovery will take time

I mean what the hell its only been 1 Year, I mean it has taken him 5 years to try to find one man, and he still
hasn’t done that. So I’m sure in 5 years from now, if Bush were still president he would make a speech and say
Bush: Katrina recovery will take time

The administration has managed to find one guy who is happy about the way things are going down there. his name is
Rockey Vacarella. He “Wishes Bush would have another 4 years” to take care of business.

Meanwhile a new report detailing the administrations failures post 9/11 has come out. Here is an
Excerpt
“It’s a pretty bleak picture,” said Minor Sinclair, who heads the U.S. regional office of Oxfam America, a charitable organization…
Many of the reports focus on the failure of federal dollars to reach their intended targets. Oxfam’s report points out that although $17 billion has been approved by Congress to rebuild homes in Louisiana and Mississippi, not one house has been rebuilt with that money in either state.
A report from the Democratic members of the House Small Business Committee found that 80 percent of small businesses on the Gulf Coast have not yet received loans promised by the federal government. The Small Business Administration has approved loans in excess of $10 billion, but only $2 billion has found its way to business owners.
Compounding the problem is the degradation of such services as public transit, which are typically used by low-income residents. A policy paper by the Washington-based Leadership Conference on Civil Rights found that only 49 percent of the New Orleans area bus routes have resumed. Only 17 percent of the buses are operational.
“Many of the poor in New Orleans do not own cars … so they are dependent on public transportation in order to work,” the paper said.

But don’t tell that to Rockey…

Think Progress.org

For the last several days, Katrina victim Rockey Vaccarella has been on television repeatedly requesting a meeting with President Bush so he could “thank him for what he has done.” This morning, Bush met with him. Standing with Bush, Vaccarella said, “I just wish the President could have another term in office.” Watch and learn what it takes to score a meeting with President Bush:

Click Pic. to view Video

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan — whose son died in Iraq — camped outside Bush’s ranch last summer, seeking to arrange a meeting with the President. But Bush disagreed with Sheehan’s message of bringing the troops home from Iraq and declined to meet with her.

Transcript of the video segments:  read more »

News Item: Bush: Leaving Iraq now would be disaster

See The Rest Of The Comic Here.

See The Rest Of The Comic Here

Ok everyone its Dick Cheney’s favorite band, get ready to Rock with Kiss.

Say it loud, say it often, “Republicans are bad on national security.” Every Democrat running for national office — and local offices too, why not? — should say, “I’m running because Republicans are bad on national security.”

Then they should go on to say, here’s why I’m saying it:

1. 9/11 happened on their watch. Of course, we can’t say, absolutely, that it would not have happened if they had not been asleep at the wheel. But we can say that they did not do all they could have done to prevent it. We can say that Bush literally pushed away the warnings.

2. George Bush and the Republicans failed to get Osama bin Laden. We got both Hitler and Hirohito in less time than we’ve been chasing bin Laden. Every day that bin Laden’s out there, he’s proof that you can attack the United States and get away with it. That’s a bad message to send, and believe me, people in the terrorist world have heard it loud and clear. That’s very bad for national security.

3. George Bush and the Republicans gave Osama bin Laden what he wanted. Bin Laden wanted the US to get into a quagmire. He wanted our troops tied down in an Islamic country so that an insurgency could do to them what the Afghanis did to the Russians and to the British before them.

A modern, hi-tech army is very good at invasions. It’s also good for fighting back against other armies. But a modern hi-tech army is not good at occupying a country against the will of the population. Even if the army is as violent and ruthless as the Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan were.

4. George Bush and the Republicans squandered America’s power and prestige. Before 9/11 most people in the world probably thought that America’s intelligence services were able and astute, agencies to be feared. The Bush administration has made them appear bumbling and inept. They did this, first, by ignoring their warnings and then, second, by making them the fall guys for 9/11.

After 9/11 most of the world feared America’s wrath and America’s might. By failing to get bin Laden and his gang, then by attacking the wrong country, unleashing chaos, and getting our armed forces into a situation that they can’t win, the administration showed the world they have less to fear than they imagined.

5. The Bush administration empowered Hezbollah. The ‘insurgency’ in Iraq was Hezbollah’s textbook and their inspiration. If Iraqis could do that to Americans, surely they could do the same to the Israelis. And they have. It’s not yet on the record, but it’s clear from everyone’s conduct, that the administration encouraged the Israelis to ‘unleash’ their forces against Hezbollah. They probably thought Israel’s modern hi-tech armies would quickly smash their enemy.

6. The Bush administration radicalized Hamas. Hamas was elected. Sworn to the destruction of Israel or not, they should have been encouraged to become responsible players with carrots as well as sticks. Instead the administration put them up against the wall, hoping to starve the Palestinian people into voting for a different group. Would that work if someone tried to do it to us?

7. Bush and the Republicans tied down our forces in Iraq while Iran and North Korea invested in nuclear technology. That made North Korea feel secure enough to test ICBMs. If they had been successful, they would have had a delivery system for their nuclear weapons. That would be incredibly bad for national security. Iran, with American forces tied down in Iraq, feels secure enough to defy the UN as well as the US. Very bad for national security.

8. By the way, every major European nation has had successful arrests and real trials of real, dangerous terrorists. People on the level of this group that the British just took down. The most ferocious terrorist arrested in the United States since 9/11 has been the shoe bomber. Ten, twenty, forty, a hundred billion dollars, a trillion dollars, and the best we have to show for it is the shoe bomber?! Republicans are bad on national security.

9. We have trashed the bill of rights. We have trashed the Geneva conventions. We have a president and a vice president willing to go the mat to fight for the right to torture people.

We have spent a fortune on illegal wiretaps.

We have spent a fortune on collecting everyone’s telephone data.

And what have we achieved by all of this?

A quagmire in Iraq. Dishonor. Debts. An empowered al Qaeda. A new war in Lebanon. The inability to stand up to Iran and North Korea. Osama bin Laden at large, an inspiration to extremists everywhere.

Republican are unimaginably bad on national security. Say it loud. Say it often, it’s the truth, Republicans are bad on national security.

Here is the entire video of the speech it is 1 hour long, and broken up into several parts. I’m still working on it but the first two segments are done.

I did part 1 wrong the file is huge, I am going to shrink it tomorrow. The other segments are a manageable file size.

The Introductions

Chertoff Speech Part 1

Chertoff Speech Part 2

Chertoff Speech Part 3 Q&A

Part 4 in the morning.

Warning the first part of the speech is shaky. I didn’t even know this camera worked, it did but I had no tripod. Later I found a solid spot to set it down on.

H.L. reporting live from The Beverly Hilton. Were waiting Chertoff to get here, and the speech to begin, we still have about an hour here, but the press must arrive early. Ok I’m getting kinda thristy here, time to go get a drink.
See you soon.

News Hounds

George Galloway, the controversial and fiery Member of the British Parliament, who once read the riot act to Sen. Norm Coleman during Senate hearings on the Oil for Food Progam, has done it again. On August 6th at the height of the war on Lebanon, Galloway tongue-lashed Sky News, the Murdoch-owned “sister station” of FOX News, accusing the network of biased unbalanced reporting. Both Sky News and FOX News are owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

One more reason why it sucks to be in a war.

Mistaken coalition bombing kills up to 12 Afghan policemen

AP
Excerpt:
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Up to 12 policemen were killed in Afghanistan when a US-led coalition plane mistakenly bombed them, officials said, while two suicide blasts wounded eight more police and a US soldier.
The coalition plane that dropped the bomb on a police patrol in eastern Paktika province may have mistaken the convoy for a band of Taliban attackers, provincial border police regiment commander Abdul Hamid said.
“They came under US bombardment and 12 policemen where killed, including the police commander,” Hamid said.
The coalition confirmed “an event did happen”. “It is under investigation. We are scrambling to get the details,” spokesman Colonel Thomas Collins said.
President Hamid Karzai said he was “shocked and angered” and had ordered an investigation. The incident was the latest in a string of coalition bombings that have killed civilians or Afghan security forces.
“I have repeatedly asked the coalition forces to take maximum caution while carrying out operations and I want that incidents like this must not be repeated,” Karzai said in a statement that put the death toll at 10.

H.L.s Take
The U.S. Military (Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush) Can’t defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan after 5 years, they can’t defeat the “insurgents” in Iraq after almost 4 years The U.S. spends half our tax dollars on the military, which amounts to more money then the budgets of most countries on this planet combined. Why can’t they finish what they started in these places. Oh, did I mention that the commander-in-chiefs name is George W. Bush. Karzai just learned what everyone learns who gets in bed with Bush, you always get screwed.

9/11 Detainee Released After Nearly Five Years

AOL
Excerpt:
TORONTO (Aug. 13) - The date was Sept. 12, 2001, but Benemar “Ben” Benatta was clueless about the death and destruction one day earlier.
About a week before, Canadian officials had stopped Benatta as he entered the country from Buffalo to seek political asylum. On that Sept. 11, he was quietly transferred to a U.S. immigration lockup where a day passed before sullen FBI agents told him what the rest of the world already knew: terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

It slowly dawned on Benatta that his pedigree - a Muslim man with a military background - made him a target in the frenzied national dragnet that soon followed. The FBI didn’t accuse him of being a terrorist, at least not outright. But agents kept asking if he could fly an airplane.

He told them he couldn’t. It made no difference.

“They gave me a feeling that I was Suspect No. 1,” he said in a recent interview.

H.L.s Take: No Charges, no explanation, nothing. Just hey sorry about the last 5 years of your life, but we had to look like we were doing something.

If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs, and maybe your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery, isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance. Of how much you really want to do it. And you’ll do it, despite rejection in the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods. And the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.

That is the closing quote of Henry Chinaski as writer Charles Bukowski in the new movie that opens today called “Factotum.”
More and more lately I know exactly what he means. When you are going after what you really want nothing else really matters, and all the other bullshit in the world seems to go away. Of course the problem is that for most people going all the way with something they love rarely pays the bills, so people end up compromising the happiness they can find in life.

Read The Whole Review Here

I’m going to the Pacific Council of Foreign Affairs Meeting tomorrow. Special Guest Michael Chertoff. Story and pics to follow. Anyone have any questions they want me to ask him????

Republican Joe Scarboro asks the question, you be the judge. This is a video of Bush’s greatest blunders, stumbles, and gaffes. You might want to go make some Popcorn first, Its over 10 minutes long, but worth watching for some laughs if nothing else.

Hilary is for the war, so I guess that means anyone for the war is with Bin Laden. Sounds good to me.
Apparently Republican stupidty is not just an internet thing. Kieth Olbermann Reports.

Bombings kill at least 19 in Baghdad

AP
Excerpt:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Bombs killed at least 19 people in the Iraqi capital Wednesday, as British troops drove off dozens of gunmen who laid siege to the governor’s office in the southern city of Basra, apparently to avenge a tribal leader killed the day before.

In Baghdad, deputy Health Minister Adel Muhsin said about 3,500 Iraqis died last month in sectarian or political violence nationwide. Muhsin said he had no comparative figures for other months but added that the July figure was the highest monthly tally of the war.

Last week, the ministry said about 1,500 violent deaths were reported in the Baghdad area alone in July.

So I guess we have wasted hundreds of Billions of Dollars on nothing.

Bush sees terrorism war ‘for years to come’

AP
Excerpt:
The work going on here really is indicative of the challenge we face, not only this week, but this year and the years to come,” in the global war on terrorism sparked by the September 11, 2001 attacks, said Bush.

The president, suffering in the polls because of sky-high gas prices and the unpopular war in Iraq, was on the second day of a week-long push on national security and the economy, two critical issues in the November 7 vote.

Democrats, however, have charged that Bush’s decision to attack Iraq diverted precious resources from the broader global war on terrorism, and sharply criticized him for failing to capture or kill Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

“Today the president once again tried to convince Americans that he’s taken all the steps necessary to keep them safe. Unfortunately, the facts of the last five years aren’t that convincing,” said Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid.

H.L.s Take:
This AP story was originally titles “Bush Sees No End in Terror War” but once again the Bush licking media softened it up a bit for him.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. You can not fight a war against an idea. As long as there is a pissed off person with a gun, terror and violence will happen, it’s human nature. You can spend all the money you want trying to stop the people you pissed off from fighting back but it will never work. But then again the Bush family does not get rich off Peace, and Cheap gasoline do they??? They MUST have war to keep it going.

Hey, you wanna cop some cheap smack???

Afghan opium cultivation hits a record

AP

Excerpt:
The U.N. reported last year that Afghanistan produced an estimated 4,500 tons of opium — enough to make 450 tons of heroin — nearly 90 percent of world supply.

This year’s preliminary findings indicate a failure in attempts to eradicate poppy cultivation and continuing corruption among provincial officials and police — problems acknowledged by President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai told Fortune magazine in a recent interview that “lots of people” in his administration profited from the narcotics trade and that he had underestimated the difficulty of eradicating opium production.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimate that opium accounted for 52 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product in 2005.

“Now what they have is a narco-economy. If they do not get corruption sorted they can slip into being a narco-state,” the U.S. official warned.

Opium cultivation has surged since the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001. The former regime enforced an effective ban on poppy growing by threatening to jail farmers — virtually eradicating the crop in 2000.

H.L.s Take: Hmmm. Lets see, the crop was virtually eradicated in 2000, since the U.S army moved in to try to find Bin Laden 5 years ago. (update he still hasn’t been caught. Its been…hold on let me check the chart….wow its been exactly 1800 days since 9/11, and no Bin Laden, meanwhile Heroin production in Afghanistan is now at an all time high. Hmm I wonder if there is any connection. I bet one Manuel Noriega might have an opinion. He was a close ally to George Bush Sr. before he was busted by the Army in 1989.
Not for nothing did they call him “Poppy.” Most of the upper echelon of wealthy families in this country made their mega billions as a result of the industrial revolution. You know how they made the millions that they were able to invest to make the billions they did. The 2 biggest ways: Opium, and Slavery.

Here is a story of how Corporate America view the minions, trash, and scum who are unfortunate enough to have to work for them.

Employer advises Dumpster-diving for axed workers

Chron.com

Excerpt:
NEW YORK - Bankrupt Northwest Airlines Corp. advised workers to fish in the trash for things they like or take their dates for a walk in the woods in a move to help workers facing the ax to save money…
The four-page booklet, “Preparing for a Financial Setback” contained suggestions such as shopping in thrift stores, taking “a date for a walk along the beach or in the woods” and not being “shy about pulling something you like out of the trash.”
H.L.s Take:
There was a time in this country where the middle class could make a decent living because corporate regulation forced companies to make modest profits, the companies (like the one my father worked for) did very well, and the employees were happy to be a part of that company. They would stay in the same job for 30 years or more because they knew the company was taking care of them.
Of course those days are long gone. Nowadays people are happy to have whatever kind of job they can get. They hate the jobs but can’t leave because they know that finding a better one will be nearly impossible. So they keep the job with less pay, less benefits and more abuse.
This has happened because corporate regulation is a thing of the past. Now companies want to make as much money as they possibly can lay their hands on, and screw the workers. There is always someone else who will take the job for even less. This is how the upper management views its employees, we’ll lay your ass off, if you get hungry go jump in the dumpster and eat the chicken bones I threw out last night. Screw them I say, screw them. (of course many people can not do that because they have a family to feed, and a mortgage to pay)
On a side note. I got a call on Monday from a big corporation that took over one of the companies that I used to work for. They had my resume and wanted to talk to me about it and set up an interview. The call came in at 3 PM while I was out. I called back at 4:00, and was treated to the usual voicemail. (No one in big companies that I have to deal with EVER answers the phone anymore) I left a message saying I was returning the call, and to please call back, as usual no return call. I called back the next morning around 9:30 to give the lady time to get settled in and get coffee check the email etc. Again no answer left a second message. Called back around 12:30, the lady must have thought it was someone else because she picked up the phone.
I was then informed by her that the job had already been filled. (Less then 24 hours after they wanted to interview me) saying “Hey a lot of people are looking for work these days.” On previous interviews I have been on that went extremely well they would say “Well we have another 8 candidates that we have to interview then we will make a decision. I call back a week later to be told “We have decided not to hire anyone right now” In other words they are going to make the other employees continue to work much overtime to make up for the lack of personnel. I swear I have heard this more then once. The companies have the workers by the balls, and they know it, so they feel free to treat potential (and actual) employees like crap. Is it any wonder that people who can afford to do so, don’t bother working anymore?