In the same speech before the American Legion which I referenced earlier, the GOPresident used the term “freedom agenda” to describe his policies in the misnomered War on Terror.
Orwellian in its irony, the phrase returns me to a number of items I’ve recently posted here, because even — or especially — on the White House’s own terms, the nation’s national security policy fails miserably, since its point seems to be to capitulate to the terrorists (or, to use Secretary of Pretense Rumsfeld’s terminology, appease them) by methodically working to rid the U.S. of the freedom which allegedly motivates the enemy to kill us.
The agenda of GOPresident Bush, Viceroy Cheney, Secretary of Pretense Rumsfeld, and Generalissimo Alberto — an agenda consisting of surveillance of American citizens, “free speech zones” at political and public events, use of secret evidence in the courts, sham trials or no trials at all for terror suspects, torture and rendition, indefinite imprisonment, overly-broad “no fly” lists, undermining both the legislative and judicial branches, tampering with elections, deceiving the nation into war, using terror alerts to obscure bad political news, and condemning critics (a group which include the 60% of the American public who want U.S. troops redeployed out of Iraq) as being at best confused and at worst traitors — hardly can be considered a “freedom agenda”.
Rather, we perhaps should begin calling the policies of the GOPresidency the Ben Tre Agenda: “It became necessary to destroy our freedom to save it.”
“U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media.” reports The Washington Post, “in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.”
This is necessary, I can only presume, because of the $318 billion the U.S. has spent to produce all of the bad news from Iraq in the first place.
As reported on Boston Dirt Dogs, the Red Sox are 8-21 since the August 2 game at Fenway which featured a lone crow which refused to leave the infield, often camping out on second base.
I’m going to buy a little piece of wall
and attach it to a hat.
So wherever I am
I can bang my head against it.
Part of me doubts this story is true. But if it is, I appreciate the irony of an evangelical preacher offering himself up as a nomination for the Darwin Awards.
“Governments accountable to the voters focus on building roads and schools,” the GOPresident said today, “not weapons of mass destruction.”
Anyone know the comparative budgets of the Departments of Transportation and Education versus the Department of Defense?
Ok, I get that all four tables outside Floyd’s are full up. But this woman and her kid and her baby in the stroller really can’t just grab a couple of chairs and take up residence on the sidewalk, blocking all pedestrian traffic and forcing it into the street.
For those following along with the re-development of Portland Stories, beneath each story on its entry page you now will find a list of other stories by the same author. Or, rather, if there are any other stories by the same author, such a list will display. And, of course, it depends entirely upon any given author using the same name for all of their stories. But if so, you can now browse from any story by one author directly to their other stories.
I have tried, vainly, for the past two days to write something, anything, about the attacks of Secretary of Pretense Donald Rumsfeld upon his own fellow citizens. In the end, better that I failed to do so, because I would have been hard pressed to top the relentless and unapologetic counter-attack levied by Keith Olbermann on Countdown tonight.
Don’t merely read the transcript at the linked Crooks and Liars item. Watch the captured video in its entirety, because the tone of Olbermann’s delivery is part of the message.
Addendum: Two other comments. First, this piece clocks in at an astonishing 6 minutes and 41 seconds of flat-out news commentary. In this day and age, that’s simply unheard of. Second, while he may think it “presumptuous” to invoke Murrow as he does, Keith Olberman likely is the only person in television news today with the right to do so.