Republicans launch sneak attacks on nonprofit advocacy (2003-08-09)
A new report from OMB Watch, a watchdog group that monitors the workings of the White House Office of Management and Budget, details recent Republican-orchestrated legislative and administrative attacks on non-profits' rights to criticize the government.

A heart? We don't need a heart! (2003-06-18)
The Democratic National Committee's Bushenstein Flash movie about Bush's judicial appointments is not subtle, but its weirdness makes up for the lack of nuance. I especially like the Supreme Court threat advisory--set at orange.

The master of low expectations... (2003-06-05)
...is apparently our president. Yesterday, Bush told reporters inquiring about whether the Middle East peace process met his expectations, he said "I am the master of low expectations." So, I assume they lived up to his standards. I bet Bush pere is proud.

Two days ago, Bush told Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, "I said you were a man of peace. I want you to know I took immense crap for that." I guess this bon mot goes along with those low expectations. But hey, he got the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers to shake hands for a photo, and that's all that matters, right?

These juicy bits provided courtesy of the Bushisms section of The Truth About George, a handy little organizing tool of the National Organization for Women.

Beyond the ABCs: Hamburgers and humvees (2002-12-12)
This just in from Al's Morning Meeting: Cash-strapped schools are hard put to stick to high ideals in the face of funding cuts or fundraising opportunities. As part of the No Child Left Behind Act, public and private schools that receive federal funds are required to turn over kid's contact information to military recruiters and must allow recruiters on campus. Forget that kids are taught to solve problems on campus nonviolently--we need more young folks to be all they can be in the army of one.

Al also brought attention to McDonalds' McTeacher's Night, which asks teachers to flip burgers for an evening in exchange for 20 percent of the profits from the night's sales. The idea, of course, is to get students and parents to go to Mickey D's for dinner and boost sales for the fundraiser. Nevermind that there's a childhood obesity epidemic.

Did I mention that nearly 240 school districts in 31 states have sold exclusive marketing rights to soda companies?

Dems Flash Bush (2002-10-07)
The Democratic National Committee Web site boasts a Flash movie,"Social Insecurity", which criticizes Bush's social security plan. The move uses a jokey little cartoon to make its point. Funny Flash movies have made their way around the Net in days, could this one be next? And, if it is, will the GOP come out with their own?

How quickly we forget (2002-03-01)
The New York Times announced this week that the Bush administration plans to foot the bill for a radio transmitter in Kurdish Northern Iraq or neighboring Iran so Iraqi opposition can whip up support for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

"There are increasing signs that the Bush administration is girding for a political - and potentially military - showdown with Iraq over Saddam Hussein's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction," reports the Times.

Hmm. This same course of action was taken by the senior Bush ten years ago -- and failed.

After the Gulf War, the CIA hired the Rendon Group to build support for Iraqi opposition. With million in covert funding, Rendon set to work producing two clandestine radio stations: Radio Hurriah and the Iraqi Broadcasting Corporation. The stations were destroyed in 1996 and 1997 in reprisals following a failed paramilitary campaign against Hussein reminiscent of the Bay of Pigs. Read the full story at ClandestineRadio.com.

The now-defunct Office of Strategic Influence recruited Rendon to join it’s overseas propaganda campaign. (See February blog Your Tax Dollars at Work'.)

The two faces of Bush (2002-02-26)
It didn’t make big headlines, but President Bush declared January 20 National Sanctity of Human Life Day. “We should join together in pursuit of a more compassionate society, rejecting the notion that some lives are less worthy of protection than others,” said Bush.

Admirable sentiments, too bad the real purpose of the day was to express Bush’s disregard for a woman’s right to decide what she does with her body. Two sentences later, Bush’s lofty proclamation reveals it’s true purpose, “We should peacefully commit ourselves to seeking a society that values life -- from its very beginnings to its natural end. Unborn children should be welcomed in life and protected in law. “


Natural end? Remember, Bush presided over the executions of more than 150 people during his two terms of governor of Texas. In fact, according to a Time magazine article, he actually mocked Karla Faye Tucker’s final plea for life.

Four days after his Sanctity of Human Life proclamation, the President remarked, “We are a society with enough compassion and wealth and love to care for both mothers and their children, and to seek the promise and potential of every single life. “ He was thanking anti-abortion activists during their annual march on the capital mall.

Despite his flowery sentiments, one wonders how much Bush values human life -- especially the lives of women and children.

Last December, the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal ruled that Japanese Emperor Showa, his wartime prime minister and eight other generals were guilty of crimes against humanity during and before World War II. Women’s Enews reports that historians believe as many as 200,000 women and girls were forced into “comfort stations” where they were systematically raped--some by as many as 60 soldiers a day. Though war criminals were tried in Germany, the U.S. did nothing to investigate these atrocities in Japan. In January, Bush said he would not support the comfort women's campaign for justice. (Though he did announce Sanctity of Human Life Day that same month.)

When employees of DynCorp, a U.S. contractor providing maintenance support to the U.S. military, spoke out that fellow workers were participating in sex trafficking--buying and selling girls as young as 14 for use as sex slaves-- the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division pursued it, but quickly turned the case over to Bosnian authorities. Though DynCorp fired seven men in relation to the charges, no one has been prosecuted for the crimes. Despite the evidence of sex trafficking and a company effort to cover it up, the U.S. still pays DynCorp for its services in Bosnia.

Christine Dolan, founder of the International Humanitarian Campaign Against the Exploitation of Children, told Insight magazine: "The U.S. says it wants to eradicate trafficking of people, has established an office in the State Department for this purpose, and yet neither State nor the government-contracting authorities have stepped in and done an investigation of this matter."

Your tax dollars at work: The Office of Strategic Influence (2002-02-19)
When the Bush administration faced the tough job of selling the war in Afghanistan to governments overseas, it created the Office of Strategic Influence. The new office promptly shelled out 7,000 for a four-month contract with The Rendon Group. Be assured that your tax dollars aren't going to shabby spinsters. The firm's list of former clients includes:

• Government of Kuwait
  During the Gulf War, the Kuwaiti government needed to convince other governments that it was worth risking the lives of service men and women to liberate the royal-family-governed country from Iraqi invasion. Rendon was up to the challenge.
  
  In a speech to Air Force members five years after the war, John Rendon commented on one of his tactics, "Did you ever stop to wonder how the people of Kuwait City after being held hostage for seven long and painful months, were able to get hand held American, and for that matter the flags of other coalition countries? Well you now know the answer. That was one of my jobs then."
  
  
• United States Central Intelligence Agency
  After the Gulf War, The Rendon Group worked with the CIA, spending nearly million in 1991 and 1992 to produce an anti-Hussein campaign with comic books, videos, a traveling photo exhibit, and two clandestine radio stations. Read the full story at Clandestine Radio.com.
  
  
• Government of Haiti: Office of the President
  According to the company's site, "TRG was hired by the Office of the President to design and implement a press strategy during the two week period preceding and during the multinational intervention in the country."

Who said what when? (2002-02-18)
Letters recently released by the Texas state archives in response to Freedom of Information requests reveal a friendly correspondence between Kenneth Lay and then-Governor George Bush. The letters run from informal birthday greetings (Bush writes, "55 years old. Wow! That is really old. Thank goodness you have such a young, beautiful wife.") to recommendations from Lay on pending Texas tort reform legislation and moves to open Texas' wholesale power market to competition. Read all the letters at The Smoking Gun.

The White House won't reveal id Bush was equally friendly with Lay after taking the presidential oath of office (fresh from Enron-financed inaugural festivities). Reporters are sniffing for corruption and finding only politics as usual. Over several briefings, reporters grilled White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer on communication between Enron and the Bush administration -- specifically asking if the White House was looking into who spoke to Enron and when they did.

In a January briefing, Fleischer answered, "But the communication, in and of itself, there is nothing wrong with it. It would not surprise me at all if there have been conversations with people at Enron throughout the government. It wouldn't surprise me if former Clinton administration officials talked to the White House. It wouldn't surprise me if people at Enron.(sic) The point is, no one but no one has made any allegation or suggestion of wrongdoing. And by asking the White House, are you chronicling something, you're suggesting that there should be something to chronicle, because there might be wrongdoing. "

Later in the briefing, a reporter piped up with "Is the President concerned that his buddies at Enron are going to jail?"

Fleischer replied, "The President thinks that it is vital for the Department of Justice to pursue this wherever it goes, to whoever it goes and to do whatever it takes to investigate any criminal wrongdoing."

So long Kenny-boy.

And you thought Enron was bad… (2002-02-13)
The U.S. Department of Interior can’t account for billions of dollars lost from the Indian Trust Fund. The fund handles million a year in royalties collected from mining, timber and grazing interests on 45 million acres of Indian land held in trust by the department. Attorneys for Indian landowners claim the U.S. government’s mismanagement (or downright fraud) adds up to more than billion owed to 300,000 Indian account holders.

Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit’s failure to produce documents related to the fund resulted in ,000 in contempt of court fines. Far from inspiring the Senatorial vitriol spewed at Enron, the Interior Department got a get-out-of-jail free card in the form of court fines paid from taxpayer pockets.

Current Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton told the judge, “We have tried to use appropriate standards and aspire to a high level of accounting responsibility…I'm not sure if in every instance we have met that standard.'' Sound familiar? Read the AP story.

Lowdown on Enron (2002-02-11)
"I keep reminding myself of the scene in 'The Godfather' movie where Tom Hogan, who is the attorney for the godfather has a meeting with the godfather, and the godfather tells him, 'Just remember, you can always steal more with a briefcase than with a gun.'" - Opening remarks of Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL) during the House Subcommittee hearings on the Enron collapse.

With revelations of past Enron donations and elections in November, the committee members are frothing at the mouth. Read the full transcript at truthout.com