Everyone Hates Bush

I never thought that Arnold would be anything remotely like a good politician, but he constantly proves me wrong. Plus, it looks like he hates Bush as much as the rest of us, so he can't be all bad.


From meignorant.com.

Everyone Hates Bush

From Spiegel Online.

Thinking Outside of the Box

Not Even Children Trust Dubya

This was taken on MLK Day, no less.

From The Daily Dish.

Dear George,

Wow, you have less than a year left in office. That's not a lot, is it? I've never lived in one place for that long in my entire life-- it must be difficult making plans on where to move to next. Are you and Laura going to rent an apartment? Since your daughters are adults now, you really only need a three bedroom apartment, just in case they are both staying over at once. If you need help finding a place, give me a call. I've lived in six or seven apartments over the last decade, and I'm used to scouting the joints out. I can give you some tips (for instance, turn on the shower! See if the place gets good water pressure!).

You might want to start being more honest, now that you won't have executive privilege to cover your butt. It looks like you and your friends lied 935 times to the public in the lead-up to the war! I mean, that's less than a thousand, which is good, I guess, but if you are always lying to your new neighbors, they probably won't respect you enough to turn down the music when it's past midnight on a Tuesday, or loan you that cup of sugar you need.

Less than a year! What are your plans? I think you should get a job right away. If you take a few months of to "find yourself," you might miss some great opportunities. I mean, you could probably go work for Halliburton! You've helped them out tremendously in the past, and I bet Dick will put in a good word for you.

I'm always here to help. Let me know if you need help finding a new place!

Your Pal,

The Idea of Progress

Happy Halloween, everyone!

(no, I didn't make that)

You Say Potato, I Say Genocide

What constitutes genocide? Would you consider the mass deportation and murder of 1.5 million people of a specific ethnic group by the government genocide? How could you not?

The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a measure that will be sent to the full House on Friday condemning the action that occurred decades ago. It’s not a binding measure, it’s a symbolic one that finally allows the US to formally acknowledge the atrocities that took place as ‘genocide.’

So what’s the problem? Well, for one, Turkey is pissed.

"Yesterday some in Congress wanted to play hardball," said Egemen Bagis, foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "I can assure you Turkey knows how to play hardball."

He said the response to the U.S. might not be the same, but warned if the full House passes it, "We will do something and I can promise you it won't be pleasant."

The administration is pissed, too. You see, Turkey is where we send supplies into Iraq from. If Turkey doesn’t want us there, it makes it harder to supply the troops (bad for the troops) and to wage war in Iraq (bad for the Iraqis, the residents of the Middle East, and pretty much everyone else, too). France formally declared the events genocide last year, and haven’t flown any planes in Turkish airspace since.

Some thoughts:

We do business with Germany on a regular basis. They are an ally of the US, and a country that is friendly to our citizens. We fought them in two major wars, and they murdered nearly 12 million people (I’m including the Poles, the Gypsies, the homosexuals, etc in that count in addition to the Jews). But here we are, friends and allies. Why?

Because Germany said that they fucked up in a major way. Not all wounds can be healed, but Germany has tried very hard to acknowledge the atrocities of the past and make amends. They’ll never be fully forgiven for that (not for a long, long time at least), but it is a starting place.

Turkey refuses to do that. They claim that the deaths were only around 150,000 people, and that Turks died as well, so that’s okay.

I’m proud of the House for forcing through a measure so unpopular with the administration, because it is the right thing to do. We’re not asking Turkey for anything. We are just deciding to acknowledge something horrible that happened.

By the way, what is Armenia’s take on this? No one seems to be asking them.

Edit: They are thrilled that people are finally noticing after all this time

Notable Persons of the Week

Here at the Idea of Progress, we like to salute excellence, bravery, and daring. In that spirit, I present you with The Idea Of Progress's Notable Persons of the Week!

Star Simpson: Arrested in Boston for walking into an airport with a circuit board and wiring strapped to her chest, carrying Play-Doh. After avoiding being shot by airport police by following orders, Ms. Simpson stated that she was wearing art, and wanted to display it. For bravery and dedication to her craft, Ms. Simpson is hearby declared: NOTABLE!

The Dedicated Traveler: A 15 yea old Russian boy fell out of a wheel well of a plan that flew from Perm to Moscow, a two hour trip. He was so frozen that authorities had difficulty removing his coat. He is being treated for severe frostbite in a Moscow hospital. Early reports had stated that he had ridden on the wing of the plane. No word if John Lithgow was watching him from the inside. For perseverance to cheap airfare, The Dedicated Traveler is declared NOTABLE!

He Who Doesn't Check His Work: The White House slipped up (again) this week by accidently releasing Dubya's speech to the UN in the original format. That is, the format he read it, viewed on a teleprompter. Apparently Dubya can't pronounce certain things.

Pronunciations for President Bush's friend French President Sarkozy "[sar-KOzee]" appeared in draft #20 on the UN website. Other pronunciations included the Mugabe "[moo-GAHbee] regime" and pronunciations for countries "Kyrgyzstan [KEYRgeez-stan]" and "Mauritania [moor-EH-tain-ee-a]." Someone didn't look before submitting it to the public.

For his fearless efforts in not checking twice, He Who Doesn't Check His Work is declared NOTABLE!

You always think Bush is the worst president ever...and then something new comes along.

You go, Pope!

Pope Benedict has declined a request from Condie Rice to have a meeting, the BBC reported today. Apparently she wanted to discuss (what else?)Iraq and the Middle East. The Pope's people told her that he never took calls, as he is on vacation in August, and had her speak to his number two guy.

See, when he wanted to talk to the White house about the treatment of civilians in Iraq, he was given a cold shoulder. I'm sure he was happy to return the favor.

The Idea of Progress: All Bono, All of the Time

Someone hates Bono as much as me. Some artist has created a wacky statue of Bono that's worth checking out. The pic of the Jackass with President Jackass was just an extra added bonus.

Thanks, Katarose!

Karl Rove Quits...And I'm Not As Happy As I Should Be

It's official, Karl Rove will be leaving the White House at the end of September, according to an interview he gave with the Wall Street Journal (why the Wall Street Journal? How come not the Washington Journal or Fox News?) This is something that a lot of us have wanted for some time...say seven years or so. I would have hoped he would be exiting the White House for federal prison, but we can all dream, can't we?

Here's the thing, though. Rove is leaving at a strange time. I don't mean strange like the country is mired in an unpopular and ultimately doomed war (that he was an architect of), or that he has been under public scrutiny for his lies and illegal use of executive power. I mean strange like...why now? Why not at the end of 2007? There's some story that the White House Chief of staff told all of Bush's aides that if they stayed past Labor Day, they should expect to stay through the end of the term. Who tells Karl Rove what to do? Maybe Cheney, but that's about it.

So that leads me to fear for the worst. Does Rove know something, and doesn't want to be there when the shit goes down? If Rove is bailing, you know it has to be bad.

Historical Bush Approval Ratings

Click on image for clearer view.

Now That's Thinking Outside of the Box

Cool!

That's a real billboard in New Zealand. Oddly, it's an ad for a pizza chain. Really.

This Is Too Good

I'm just going to quote from the AP:

"FBI Chief Contradicts Gonzales Testimony

by LAURIE KELLMAN and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON - The head of the FBI contradicted Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' sworn testimony and Senate Democrats requested a perjury investigation Thursday in a fresh barrage against President Bush's embattled longtime friend and aide.

In a third blow to the Bush administration, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas to compel the testimony of Karl Rove, Bush's chief political adviser, in connection with its investigation of the firings of federal prosecutors."

The likelihood that Rove will ever testify? Not bloody likely.

Full story at the AP.

And it begins...

The House Judiciary Committee has voted to hold Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolton, President Bush's former chief counsel and head of staff, respectively, in contempt for their (non) testimony into the investigation into the firings of all of those prosecutors who apparently weren't looking into voter fraud hard enough.

What does this mean? For starters, this is the first real ruling that I can remember that is a rebuke to so-called 'executive privilage,' in this administration. It means that someone in the government is finally saying, "NO."

What is the reality of the situation? Will this lead to impeachment? Doubtful. But it made my day, I'll tell you that. And how often has a Supreme Court nominee been held in contempt? Not often, I'd wager.

Full story in the New York Times.

Something Is Wrong With George W. Bush

No, really. Why has his inability to speak properly become more and more pronounced over the last 12 years?

Mad TV, actually funny and topical.

White House Rewriting History--Double Plus Good!