Forty-third president of the United States
George Walker Bush (born 6 July 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.
Born
6 Jul 1946, George Walker Bush, in New Haven, Connecticut
Articles
The 9/11 Servility Reflex, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Dec 2007
Discusses how the general American public reacted after the 9/11 attacks and how the 9/11 Commission and the mainstream media helped reinforce that reaction
Discusses how the general American public reacted after the 9/11 attacks and how the 9/11 Commission and the mainstream media helped reinforce that reaction
The 9/11 Commission became the Bush administration's most famous faith-based initiative. The commission appeared far more concerned with restoring trust than in revealing truth. Bush and Cheney were allowed to testify without a transcript and not under oath. Americans never heard what they said ... Amherst professor Benjamin DeMott ... was especially appalled that the commission accepted without challenge Bush's assertion that the August 6, 2001, President's Daily Brief was "historical in nature." DeMott observed, "There's little mystery about why the Commission is tongue-tied. It can't call a liar a liar."
Related Topics: Attacks of 11 September 2001, Government
The Abominations of War: From My Lai to Haditha, by Cindy Sheehan, 6 Jun 2006
Responds to those who demand to "support our troops" and the President by listing various immoral and illegal actions, suggesting instead that George W. Bush be prosecuted as a war criminal and offering support to those who disobey unlawful orders
Responds to those who demand to "support our troops" and the President by listing various immoral and illegal actions, suggesting instead that George W. Bush be prosecuted as a war criminal and offering support to those who disobey unlawful orders
Can we all assume that little Georgie was never told that cold-blooded murder is wrong seeing that his family has supported wars ... for at least three generations? ... George Bush is correct. A "full and complete" investigation needs to be made ... and if justice prevails, this would in turn lead to the trial and conviction of George ... Bush says our troops have been trained in "core values" when he as a so-called born again Christian can claim that God told him to invade Iraq and it's okay to spy on American citizens like he is some kind of sick voyeur with a penchant for death and destruction.
America, meet your leaders, by Harry Browne, WorldNetDaily, 19 Sep 2002
Written six months before the Iraq invasion, discusses the attitudes of George W. Bush and the pundits who agitated for the invasion and the lies that were told to start previous wars
Written six months before the Iraq invasion, discusses the attitudes of George W. Bush and the pundits who agitated for the invasion and the lies that were told to start previous wars
Poor President Bush. He apparently wants to invade Iraq more than anything else in the world. And just when he thought he had sufficient support to do so, foreign leaders started backing out. So he went to the U.N. and gave a stirring speech–saying Saddam Hussein must allow weapons inspections ... [U]ntil George Bush lays out specific, credible, verifiable, understandable evidence that Saddam Hussein poses an immediate threat to the security of the United States ... (not just to the "interests" of the U.S., as defined by power-hungry politicians), I prefer to ... oppose any thought of going to war.
Related Topic: War
Americans Have Lost Their Country, by Paul Craig Roberts, 1 Mar 2007
Discusses (and lists) the neoconservatives in the George W. Bush administration and the rationale for their actions furthering wars in the Middle East
Discusses (and lists) the neoconservatives in the George W. Bush administration and the rationale for their actions furthering wars in the Middle East
President Bush began blaming Iran for America's embarrassing defeat by a few thousand lightly armed insurgents in Iraq. Bush accuses Iran of arming the Iraqi insurgents, a charge that experts regard as improbable. The Iraqi insurgents are Sunni ... Bush's accusation requires us to believe that Iran is arming the enemies of its allies. On the basis of this absurd accusation–a pure invention–Bush has ordered a heavy concentration of aircraft carrier attack forces off Iran's coast, and he has moved US attack planes to Turkish bases and other US bases in countries contingent to Iran.
Related Topics: Afghanistan, Attacks of 11 September 2001, Democratic Party, Iraq War, Israel, United States
Arianna Huffington, Racial Profiler, by Justin Raimondo, 24 Feb 2006
Criticizes Huffington on her 22 Feb 2006 post titled "Dubious About Dubai: Cutting to the Heart of Bush's National Security Hypocrisy" about the Dubai Ports World debate
Criticizes Huffington on her 22 Feb 2006 post titled "Dubious About Dubai: Cutting to the Heart of Bush's National Security Hypocrisy" about the Dubai Ports World debate
Here she [Huffington] is jumping on the Arab-bashing bandwagon, denouncing the Bush administration's "jaw-droppingly bad decision" ... The HuffPuff and her gaggle of wild-eyed Democratic Party bloggers have no interest in this issue, or any other issue, except as a bludgeon with which to bash George W. Bush. They aren't antiwar – they're anti-Bush. ... In her better moments, Arianna probably does remember why she hates the president so much: the war, a foreign policy based on pure aggression, his all-out assault on civil liberties, etc. But the problem is that she has allowed that hatred to narrow her perspective ...
Assault Weapons and Assaults on the Constitution, by Ron Paul, Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk, 22 Apr 2003
Comments on the Bush administration support for reauthorization of the 1994 assault weapons ban
Comments on the Bush administration support for reauthorization of the 1994 assault weapons ban
The Bush administration recently surprised and angered many pro-gun conservatives by announcing its support for an assault weapons ban passed in 1994. ... A spokesman for the administration stated flatly that the President 'supports the current law, and he supports reauthorization of the current law.' Perhaps this should have surprised no one. President Bush already stated his support for the ban during the 2000 campaign. The irony is that he did so even as the Democratic Party was abandoning gun control as a losing issue.
Related Topic: Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Bad Medicine, by Sheldon Richman, Freedom Daily, Nov 2003
Discusses the potential effects of passing the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, signed into law in Dec 2003
Discusses the potential effects of passing the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, signed into law in Dec 2003
It's a good thing that President Bush is a conservative advocate of small government. Can you imagine what his Medicare-expansion proposal would be like if he favored big government? At this writing and despite roadblocks, it appears Congress will pass a bill to enact a monumental expansion of Medicare, the government's health-care program for retired people, and that President Bush will sign it ... Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D–Mass.), ... says, "We'll expand it over a period of time." In Kennedy's eyes, Bush and his fellow Republicans must be, in Lenin's famously apt phrase, "useful idiots."
Beginning of the end of America: Olbermann addresses the Military Commissions Act in a special comment, by Keith Olbermann, 18 Oct 2006
Transcript and video of the Countdown with Keith Olbermann show segment criticizing Bush's signing of the Military Commissions Act
Transcript and video of the Countdown with Keith Olbermann show segment criticizing Bush's signing of the Military Commissions Act
'With the distance of history, the questions will be narrowed and few: Did this generation of Americans take the threat seriously, and did we do what it takes to defeat that threat?' Wise words. And ironic ones, Mr. Bush. Your own, of course, yesterday, in signing the Military Commissions Act. ... We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who has insisted again that 'the United States does not torture. It's against our laws and it's against our values' and who has said it with a straight face while the pictures from Abu Ghraib Prison and the stories of Waterboarding figuratively fade in and out, around him.
Big-Spending Republicans Can Learn from Ireland's Reforms, by Benjamin Powell, 17 Sep 2003
Contrasts U.S. government spending in the 1990's (under Bill Clinton) and early 2000's (under George W. Bush) with the approach taken in Ireland from the late 1980's
Contrasts U.S. government spending in the 1990's (under Bill Clinton) and early 2000's (under George W. Bush) with the approach taken in Ireland from the late 1980's
Despite some tax cuts, the size of the U.S. government has increased rapidly under President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress ... Spending has actually increased more rapidly under Bush than it did under Clinton. Total real discretionary outlays during Bush's first three years have increased 23.8 percent ... Two departments that were on the original 1995 list of "unnecessary federal agencies," the Department of Education and the Department of Commerce, have seen their budgets increase by 60.8 percent and 9.6 percent respectively during Bush's first three years.
Bill Kauffman: American Anarchist, by Laurence M. Vance, 4 Dec 2006
Review of Kauffman's Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists (2006)
Review of Kauffman's Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists (2006)
[Wendell] Berry is "out of sympathy with Bush's neo-Wilsonian plan to rescue the world for democratic global capitalism–whether the world wants rescue or not." Bush and Cheney have no constitutional scruples "when it comes to honoring Article I, Section 8 ... which reserves to Congress the right to declare war ..." ... Kauffman on Bush himself: "Facile contemners of President Bush deride him as a 'Texas cowboy.' If only he were. Alas, President of the World Bush is a deracinated preppie, an Andover yell leader who blamed his first defeat for public office ... on 'provincialism.'"
Related Topics: Lyndon B. Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, The State, Vietnam War, War, George Washington, World War II
Blueprint for Dictatorship, by Justin Raimondo, 30 Apr 2007
Describes how the Defense Authorization Act, the Military Commissions Act and changes to the Insurrection Act could be used to impose martial law in the United States
Describes how the Defense Authorization Act, the Military Commissions Act and changes to the Insurrection Act could be used to impose martial law in the United States
George W. Bush and his hard-core neoconservative henchmen ... have won a virtually uncontested victory at home: the conquest of the old republic by an emerging imperial order ... Under the terms of this legislation, who defines a terrorist "incident"? The president. Who defines an "unlawful combination"? The president. Who determines that a "conspiracy" is in progress, one that threatens national security and domestic order? The president of these United States ... it may be too late. Bush will surely veto the Leahy-Bond measure – and, if necessary, declare America's governors ... an "unlawful combination" ...
Bush as Fake Free-Trader, by Sheldon Richman, 28 Nov 2003
Comments on George W. Bush's claim to being a free-trader while at the same time imposing quotas and tariffs on products from China
Comments on George W. Bush's claim to being a free-trader while at the same time imposing quotas and tariffs on products from China
President Bush is the most protectionist president since Ronald Reagan. And that's saying something ... Bush, with a straight face, can announce to the world, as he just did in London, that he is a free-trader—while wooing electoral constituencies by slapping Chinese fabrics with quotas (which had been previously removed) and foreign steel with high tariffs. If that's being a free-trader, I'd hate to see him as a protectionist. Why should those whom Bush urges to lower trade barriers take him seriously? The president is a "free-trader ... but." And the list of buts is endless.
Bush Broke the Law, by Charley Reese, 31 Jan 2006
Comments on the response by the Bush administration to the revelation of warrantless surveillance, including the claim by Michael Hayden that the Fourth Amendment does not require "probable cause"
Comments on the response by the Bush administration to the revelation of warrantless surveillance, including the claim by Michael Hayden that the Fourth Amendment does not require "probable cause"
When The New York Times revealed that President George Bush had authorized warrantless surveillance of Americans, the Bush administration reacted in its usual manner: attack and then stage a public-relations campaign. ... The reason it is important for the American people to know is because the president appears to have violated both the law and the Constitution. A recent Zogby poll revealed that 52 percent of Americans think that if this is proven to be true, then the president should be impeached. This is a most serious issue. It goes to the question, Is the president above the law?
Bush Is About To Attack Iran, by Paul Craig Roberts, 27 Jan 2007
Expresses dismay at the American lack of awareness of the Bush administration's intent of starting a war with Iran on the pretext that Iran, rather than al-Qaeda, is responsible for the Iraqi insurgency
Expresses dismay at the American lack of awareness of the Bush administration's intent of starting a war with Iran on the pretext that Iran, rather than al-Qaeda, is responsible for the Iraqi insurgency
The American public and the US Congress are getting their backs up about the Bush Regime's determination to escalate the war in Iraq. ... Congress is expressing its disagreement with Bush's decision to intensify the war in Iraq. ... the real issue – the Bush Regime's looming attack on Iran. Rather than winding down one war, Bush is starting another. ... Iran, Bush has declared, is killing US troops in Iraq. Thus, Iran is covered under the authorization for the war in Iraq. ... According to the Associated Press, Bush dismissed congressional disapproval with his statement, 'I'm the decision-maker.'
Related Topics: Iran, Middle East
Bush's Doublethink, by Sheldon Richman, 19 Jan 2007
Analyzes President Bush's most salient statement and possible implications, of a speech made on 10 Jan 2007 announcing a troop "surge" plan
Analyzes President Bush's most salient statement and possible implications, of a speech made on 10 Jan 2007 announcing a troop "surge" plan
Bush says what he needs to say in order to justify whatever it is he wants to do. The standard isn't truth and logic but appearance ... So may we assume that if al-Maliki and his government don't fulfill certain conditions, Bush is ready to withdraw American forces and bring them home? ... except he can't really mean that. He has spent too much time lecturing us that Iraq is the central front in his "war on terror" ... and that failure would be catastrophic for America ... Bush may practice Orwellian doublethink, the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at once, never letting himself see that both can't be true.
Bush's Learning Problem, by Joseph Sobran, The Reactionary Utopian, 12 Oct 2006
Discusses George W. Bush's behavior with regard to his enemies, pondering he may have never learned one of the fundamental concepts of chess strategy
Discusses George W. Bush's behavior with regard to his enemies, pondering he may have never learned one of the fundamental concepts of chess strategy
When you move a [chess] piece, you have to think about how your opponent may respond to it. I guess President Bush never learned that lesson. A few years ago, he was using expressions like regime change, axis of evil, global democratic revolution, and ridding the earth of tyranny without stopping to think how his opponents might react. He apparently thought they would realize he meant business and fold. ... Bush's actions and policies get increasingly hard to defend. ... he can’t imagine how the world looks to his enemies, whom he can describe only in rigidly moralistic terms, as if they must know how evil they are.
Related Topic: North Korea
Bush's Opium Boom, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Apr 2003
Describes attempts by the Taliban (from July 2000 to October 2001—the U.S. invasion), the U.S., the United Nations and the Karzai government to control opium poppy production in Afghanistan
Describes attempts by the Taliban (from July 2000 to October 2001—the U.S. invasion), the U.S., the United Nations and the Karzai government to control opium poppy production in Afghanistan
Is it fair to hold George W. Bush personally responsible for the biggest annual increase in opium output in history? Probably not. Unless one chooses to reason like Bush's own drug warriors. The TV ad campaign run by Bush's drug czar continually preaches that anyone who uses drugs is a de facto terrorist financier. If anyone who buys any drug in the United States is automatically liable for any attack by terrorists anywhere, why shouldn't the president be held responsible for deposing perhaps the most successful drug warriors in modern world history?
Bush's Place in History, by Joseph Sobran, The Reactionary Utopian, 6 May 2006
Considers the Bush presidency from his candidacy description of himself as a "uniter" to Bush saying he is "the decider" (18 Apr 2006), from his popularity after the 11 Sep 2001 attacks to his "abysmal" poll ratings in 2006
Considers the Bush presidency from his candidacy description of himself as a "uniter" to Bush saying he is "the decider" (18 Apr 2006), from his popularity after the 11 Sep 2001 attacks to his "abysmal" poll ratings in 2006
Back in 2000, candidate George W. Bush described himself as 'a uniter, not a divider.' ... Today the country is so bitterly divided, and Bush's poll ratings are so abysmal, that it takes an effort to recall how successfully he did, at times, unite the voters. After the 9/11 attacks his popularity approached unanimity. He had a lock on patriotism. Support for his War on Terror, wherever he might choose to take it, was so impressive that ... liberal ... Michael Kinsley, pronounced him 'a great leader.' ... Bush's policies have in fact been so confusingly miscellaneous that it’s hard to know just what to call them.
Related Topic: Conservatism
Bush's Secret Surveillance State, by Anthony Gregory, 26 Dec 2005
Discusses the actions of the Bush administration before and after the New York Times disclosed that secret, warrantless wiretaps were and are being conducted, on both domestic and international calls and emails
Discusses the actions of the Bush administration before and after the New York Times disclosed that secret, warrantless wiretaps were and are being conducted, on both domestic and international calls and emails
Asked repeatedly about the controversy during an interview with Jim Lehrer ... Bush evaded the questions. He responded, "We don't talk about sources and methods. Don't talk about ongoing intelligence operations. I know there's speculation. But it's important for the American people to understand that we will do—or I will use my powers to protect us, and I will do so under the law, and that's important for our citizens to understand." ... On December 17 Bush conceded that he had in fact ordered the secret spying ... By December 19 ... he called the disclosure of the program a "shameful act" ...
Related Topics: Government, Right Against Unreasonable Searches and Seizures
Bush's Signing Statement Dictatorship, by James Bovard, 9 Oct 2006
Details some of Bush's (more than 800) signing statements and his "unitary executive" doctrine (invoked almost 100 times since he took office)
Details some of Bush's (more than 800) signing statements and his "unitary executive" doctrine (invoked almost 100 times since he took office)
Bush's postsigning statement ... In plain English, this means that many of the limits that Congress imposed on Bush's power — and that he accepted when he took the money Congress appropriated — are null and void. Why? Because the president says so. ... Bush is apparently convinced that he is entitled to govern in secrecy, and any provision of a law to the contrary violates his imperial prerogatives. George W. Bush has added more than 800 "signing statements" to new laws since he took office. ... Bush is the first to use signing statements routinely to nullify key provisions of new laws.
Related Topic: Rule of Law
Bush's Wartime Dictatorship, by Justin Raimondo, 21 Dec 2005
Examines Bush's claims regarding secret surveillance, the militarism and fascism underlying his regime and the lack of an effecive opposition
Examines Bush's claims regarding secret surveillance, the militarism and fascism underlying his regime and the lack of an effecive opposition
In defending his edict authorizing surveillance of phone calls and e-mails originating in the United States, President Bush reiterated legal arguments ... that imbue the White House with wartime powers no different from those exercised by a Roman emperor. As Barton Gellman and Dafna Linzer pointed out ...: "Bush's constitutional argument ... relies on extraordinary claims of presidential war-making power. Bush said yesterday that the lawfulness of his directives was affirmed by the attorney general and White House counsel, a list that omitted the legislative and judicial branches of government ..."
The Case for Impeachment: Why we can no longer afford George W. Bush, by Lewis H. Lapham, Harper's Magazine, 27 Feb 2006
Editorial discussing John Conyer's Dec 2005 resolution seeking establishment of a congressional committee to, among other things, "make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment" of George W. Bush, and the bases for taking such action
Editorial discussing John Conyer's Dec 2005 resolution seeking establishment of a congressional committee to, among other things, "make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment" of George W. Bush, and the bases for taking such action
I don't know why we would run the risk of not impeaching the man. We have before us in the White House a thief who steals the country's good name and reputation for his private interest and personal use; a liar who seeks to instill in the American people a state of fear; a televangelist who engages the United States in a never-ending crusade against all the world's evil, a wastrel who squanders a vast sum of the nation's wealth on what turns out to be a recruiting drive certain to multiply the host of our enemies. In a word, a criminal—known to be armed and shown to be dangerous.
The Case for the Barbarous Relic, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., 26 Jul 2006
Argues for a return to the gold stndard by reviewing U.S. political, economic and monetary history; from talk presented in New York City on 21 March 2006
Argues for a return to the gold stndard by reviewing U.S. political, economic and monetary history; from talk presented in New York City on 21 March 2006
When Mr. Bush went to war, he put little thought into financing it, which signifies fiscal irresponsibility ... When Mr. Bush created a new prescription drug benefit, there was no national debate on the cost. People who have met with him on the matter report that he dismisses any talk of such things ... When Bush visited Ottawa, members of parliament were refused entry into their own legislature by the massed power of the Secret Service, in violation of Canadian law. When Bush visited London, 5,000 additional police were assigned to protect him. Parks and streets and neighborhoods were closed.
China: From Brutal Oppressor to Terrorist Victim, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Dec 2003
Describes how both the U.S. and Chinese governments changed their policies with respect to certain "terrorist" groups, in particular, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) in China, to suit their own ends
Describes how both the U.S. and Chinese governments changed their policies with respect to certain "terrorist" groups, in particular, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) in China, to suit their own ends
Since 9/11, President Bush has endlessly reminded the world that he is leading a "freedom-loving coalition" to vanquish terrorists anywhere and everywhere. However, the more closely one examines the details of the Bush coalition, the more difficult it becomes to detect any love of freedom ... Bush, commenting in Shanghai ..., hailed the government for China's effort to fight terrorism:
We have a common understanding of the magnitude of the threat posed by international terrorism.... President Jiang and the government stand side by side with the American people as we fight this evil force.
A Collapsing Presidency, by Paul Craig Roberts, 20 Mar 2006
Discusses the state of the George W. Bush administration, believing they are all neocons, who don't believe in debate, diplomacy or the U.S. Constitution
Discusses the state of the George W. Bush administration, believing they are all neocons, who don't believe in debate, diplomacy or the U.S. Constitution
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that President Bush's support among the American people has fallen to 33%. Even more devastatingly, the survey finds that people's most frequently used one-word description of President Bush is "incompetent." ... One can imagine the thoughts in Bush's mind: "Thank goodness I didn't capture bin Laden. Maybe he will strike again and bail me out." What is going to rescue Bush? Not the Republican Party ... According to published reports, President Bush described the Constitution as "a scrap of paper."
Related Topics: United States Constitution, Republican Party
The Coming War With Iran, by Justin Raimondo, 26 Mar 2007
Discusses the 23 March 2007 incident when 15 Royal Navy sailors were detained by Iranian boats claiming the British were in Iran's territorial waters and speculates on further developments on a potential conflict with Iran
Discusses the 23 March 2007 incident when 15 Royal Navy sailors were detained by Iranian boats claiming the British were in Iran's territorial waters and speculates on further developments on a potential conflict with Iran
Speaker Nancy Pelosi's ... legislation – funding the conflict while giving the president plenty of room to evade a conditional withdrawal ... is being hailed as a great achievement ... but [doesn't mention] the stripping out of a provision that would have forced Bush to go to Congress before launching an attack on Iran ... Statist liberals have been complaining ever since 9/11 that George W. Bush has never really asked us to make "sacrifices" ... bemoaning the lack of a tax hike and disdaining the president's call for the nation to "go shopping" in response to the biggest terrorist attack in our history.
Related Topics: Democratic Party, Iran
Democracy: The God That Failed, by Justin Raimondo, 12 Oct 2005
Discusses the actual results from the so-called Bush Doctrine involving "democratizing" the Middle East as well as several other countries which have a "democracy deficit"
Discusses the actual results from the so-called Bush Doctrine involving "democratizing" the Middle East as well as several other countries which have a "democracy deficit"
The Bush Doctrine, as enunciated in the president's "fire in the mind" inaugural address, takes this democratist dogma and applies it on a global scale. The "ultimate goal" of U.S. foreign policy, as George W. Bush put it, is nothing less than "ending tyranny in our world." ... The invasion and conquest of Iraq, and the imposition of a "democratic" regime at gunpoint, is intended to be a model of the Bush Doctrine in practice. But it doesn't look like the experiment is working. In fact, it shows every sign of boomeranging, as the Los Angeles Times reports ...
Democracy Versus Liberty, by James Bovard, The Freeman, Aug 2006
Discusses the dangers of equating liberty with "self-government" as majority rule
Discusses the dangers of equating liberty with "self-government" as majority rule
President George W. Bush uses freedom and democracy interchangeably, as if they were two sides of the same wooden nickel ...
Q. How do you define freedom?
The President. Freedom, democracy?
Q. Freedom as such.
The President. Well, I view freedom as where government doesn't dictate. Government is responsive to the needs of people ... That's what freedom—government is of the people. We say "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And a free society is one if the people don't like what is going on, they can get new leaders ... That's free society, society responsive to people.
Q. How do you define freedom?
The President. Freedom, democracy?
Q. Freedom as such.
The President. Well, I view freedom as where government doesn't dictate. Government is responsive to the needs of people ... That's what freedom—government is of the people. We say "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And a free society is one if the people don't like what is going on, they can get new leaders ... That's free society, society responsive to people.
A Democratic Dictatorship, by Jacob G. Hornberger, Freedom Daily, May 2006
Posits that "ever since 9/11 Americans have been living under dictatorial rule", examining the justifications given by Bush for exercising dictatorial powers
Posits that "ever since 9/11 Americans have been living under dictatorial rule", examining the justifications given by Bush for exercising dictatorial powers
The president cites two primary justifications for exercising omnipotent power ... Bush's first justification involves the congressional resolution that was enacted in the wake of the 9/11 attacks ... Bush is effectively interpreting it to mean that Congress granted him what the German Enabling Act granted Hitler —t he power to override constitutional protections of civil liberties. ... Bush's other justification ... is his role as commander in chief of the armed forces during a time of war. What war? The "war on terrorism," which, again ironically, was the same type of war that Hitler declared ...
Do Elections Guarantee Freedom?, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Nov 2007
Discusses whether democratic elections achieve the purported objective of "will of the people" controlling the government
Discusses whether democratic elections achieve the purported objective of "will of the people" controlling the government
Two days after his 2004 reelection victory, President George W. Bush declared, "When you win, there is a feeling that the people have spoken and embraced your point of view ... and the people made it clear what they wanted." But did voters on November 2 "consent" to the destruction of Fallujah in the following weeks? Did they consent to the nomination of a Homeland Security czar who was openly hostile to any criticism of politicians? ... If Bush had made ending tyranny everywhere via preemptive U.S. military attacks the theme for his fall 2004 campaign, he very likely would have lost the election.
Related Topics: Bill Clinton, United States Constitution, Government, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Voting
Don't Fund Religious Groups, by Sheldon Richman, Jun 2001
Argues against George W. Bush's proposal to give taxpayers' money to religious organizations, rather than ending similar subsidies to secular groups
Argues against George W. Bush's proposal to give taxpayers' money to religious organizations, rather than ending similar subsidies to secular groups
President Bush just doesn't get it. He may say, repeatedly, that the surplus belongs to the people and push for a modest tax cut, but if he really believed his own words, he wouldn't be proposing to spend the taxpayers' money on social-welfare activities performed by religious organizations. Mr. Bush makes a spurious appeal to fairness ... He heaps high praise on those groups. But has it occurred to him that their success may have something to do to with their distance from government? Yet he proposes to close that distance ... the Bush program has not been embraced with the enthusiasm he must have anticipated.
Related Topics: Mutualism, Freedom of Religion
Dubya and Dubai, by J. Neil Schulman, Rational Review, 22 Feb 2006
Commentary on the Dubai Ports World deal and related maneuvers by the Bush administration
Commentary on the Dubai Ports World deal and related maneuvers by the Bush administration
On January 24th, it was announced that Dave Sanborn, a senior executive of Dubai World Ports, was nominated by President Bush to serve as Maritime Administrator, a key transportation appointment reporting directly to Norman Mineta the Secretary of Transportation and a Bush Administration Cabinet Member. ... Bush is a moron when it comes to PR, and apparently his advisors are no better. ... It is likely that Congress, with both leadership and rank-and-file of both parties opposed to the deal, has the votes to override President Bush's threatened veto.
Related Topics: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Elizabeth de la Vega, Bringing Bush to Court, by Elizabeth de la Vega, Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch, 27 Nov 2006
Foreword by Engelhardt, followed by excerpt from the introduction of de la Vega's United States v. George W. Bush et al, where she compares the Enron scandal to Bush's words and actions in bringing about the invasion of Iraq
Foreword by Engelhardt, followed by excerpt from the introduction of de la Vega's United States v. George W. Bush et al, where she compares the Enron scandal to Bush's words and actions in bringing about the invasion of Iraq
'I'd like to draft an indictment of President Bush and his senior aides, and present the case for prewar intelligence fraud to a grand jury, just as if it were an actual case ... using the evidence we already have in the public record ...' ... De la Vega has drawn up that indictment ... convened that grand jury, and held seven days of testimony. Yes, it's ... out of her fertile brain and the federal agents who testify are fictional, but all the facts are true. She understands the case against the Bush administration down to the last detail; and she's produced, to my mind, the book of the post-election, investigative season ...
Ellsberg's Lessons for Our Time, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, May 2008
Reviews Daniel Ellsberg's Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (2003) and points out how its commentary applies to the then current conflict in Iraq
Reviews Daniel Ellsberg's Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (2003) and points out how its commentary applies to the then current conflict in Iraq
[Ellsberg's] book hit the streets ... when Americans were still inclined to see Bush through a 9/11 holy haze. His lies on Iraq were not widely recognized until after Baghdad had fallen and the WMDs failed to materialize ... [T]he media sometimes refuse to publish [leaked information]—or they bury it until after an election—as the New York Times did with its information on Bush's illegal warrantless wiretapping of Americans' phone calls. Who knows how many other leaks have never seen the light of day because of a media that kowtowed to ... Bush and ... Cheney as if they were gods?
The Endless War on Terrorism, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 1 Sep 2004
Reflects on President George W. Bush response ("I don't think we can win it") when asked about the War on Terror
Reflects on President George W. Bush response ("I don't think we can win it") when asked about the War on Terror
It feels good when a public official, especially the president of the United States, speaks the truth, which is what happened on Monday when President George W. Bush uttered words that The Future of Freedom Foundation has been publishing ever since 9/11 — "I don't think you can win [the war on terror]." Well, duh! Of course, the president is absolutely right, even if he did backtrack a bit the following day with his claim, "We are winning and we will win [the war on terror]." The president was right the first time ... Unfortunately, while speaking a partial truth, President Bush failed to tell the whole truth ...
"Every Day is 1956": The Hungarian Revolution Today, by James Bovard, 27 Oct 2006
Describes events in Hungary in 1956, 1986 (when Bovard visited), 1989 (when the Iron Curtain fell) and in 2006 (when government lying was in the news) and ties it back to lying by U.S. officials
Describes events in Hungary in 1956, 1986 (when Bovard visited), 1989 (when the Iron Curtain fell) and in 2006 (when government lying was in the news) and ties it back to lying by U.S. officials
For decades, Americans have been far too docile to the lies of their leaders. Whether it is Nixon lying about Vietnam, or George H.W. Bush lying about Panama, or Clinton lying about Kosovo, or George W. Bush lying about Iraq and Afghanistan—many Americans have responded as if they were born to be cannon fodder for the ruling class. George Bush openly proclaimed last year, "In my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." The vast majority of Americans ignored the comment, if they even noticed it.
Evidence of a Stolen Election, by Paul Craig Roberts, 19 Jan 2006
Discusses Mark Crispin Miller's Fooled Again (2005) and the evidence about electronic voting machines supposedly used to "steal" the 2004 presidential election
Discusses Mark Crispin Miller's Fooled Again (2005) and the evidence about electronic voting machines supposedly used to "steal" the 2004 presidential election
Although Kerry was a poor candidate and evaded the issue most on the public's mind, by November of 2004 a majority of Americans were aware that Bush had led the country into a gratuitous war on the basis either of incompetence or deception. By November 2004 it was completely clear that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and that Bush had rushed to war. People were concerned by the changing rationales that Bush was offering for going to war. Moreover, the needless war was going badly and the results bore no relationship to the rosy scenario painted at the time of the invasion.
Related Topics: Republican Party, Voting
Flat Tax Folly, by Laurence M. Vance, Mises Daily, 14 Apr 2006
A review of Flat Tax Revolution (2005) by Steve Forbes, also presenting five problems with the flat tax proposal
A review of Flat Tax Revolution (2005) by Steve Forbes, also presenting five problems with the flat tax proposal
Forbes is a typical Republican. Reagan is praised as a great tax cutter ... The most laughable statements in the book are about President Bush. He is said to be "a genuine tax-cutter" who "is fully committed to a major overhaul of the tax code." The truth, however, is that Bush has presided over an increase in spending that Lyndon Johnson and his Democratic congresses only dreamed about.
Free Mark Cuban and Abolish the SEC, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 19 Nov 2008
Discusses Securities and Exchange Commission v. Mark Cuban (17 Nov 2008) insider trading case, concerning the latter's sale in June 2004 of shares in Mamma.com
Discusses Securities and Exchange Commission v. Mark Cuban (17 Nov 2008) insider trading case, concerning the latter's sale in June 2004 of shares in Mamma.com
A good example of this process took place in the case of Joseph Nacchio, the head of Qwest Communications, who refused to go along with President Bush's illegal telecommunications spying scheme, even as other telecoms were going along with it. So what happened to Nacchio? Surprise, surprise! He got indicted by the feds and convicted for — you guessed it — insider trading. He received a 6-year sentence in the federal penitentiary. The feds say that their persecution of Nacchio had nothing to do with his opposition to the president's illegal monitoring scheme. It was all just a coincidence, they say.
Free Speech on the Ropes, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Jan 2006
Constrasts President Bush's "we love our freedom" rhetoric with actions to suppress dissent by establishing "free speech zones"; tells the story of a protester arrested and released but then prosecuted in non-jury trial by the Justice Department
Constrasts President Bush's "we love our freedom" rhetoric with actions to suppress dissent by establishing "free speech zones"; tells the story of a protester arrested and released but then prosecuted in non-jury trial by the Justice Department
... President Bush flew to Columbia, South Carolina ... He told an adoring crowd, "There's an enemy out there that hates America because of what we love. We love freedom. We love the fact that people can worship freely in America. We love our free press. We love every aspect of our freedom, and we're not changing." The Secret Service made the airport area safe for freedom-loving rhetoric by vigorously suppressing dissent before Bush arrived ... Bursey later commented, "... here I am handcuffed in the back of a paddy wagon, thinking, 'No, Mr. Bush, they don’t hate us because we're free. They hate us because we're hypocrites.'"
Related Topics: Ron Paul, Freedom of Speech
"Free-Speech Zone", by James Bovard, The American Conservative, 15 Dec 2003
Provides various examples of "free speech zone" incidents as well as reactions in the U.S. and overseas
Provides various examples of "free speech zone" incidents as well as reactions in the U.S. and overseas
Such unprecedented restrictions did not inhibit Bush from portraying himself as a champion of freedom during his visit [to London]. In a speech at Whitehall on Nov. 19, Bush hyped the "forward strategy of freedom" and declared, "We seek the advance of freedom and the peace that freedom brings." Regarding the protesters, Bush sought to turn the issue into a joke: "I've been here only a short time, but I've noticed that the tradition of free speech—exercised with enthusiasm—is alive and well here in London. We have that at home, too. They now have that right in Baghdad, as well."
Funding Leviathan, Part 1, by Laurence M. Vance, Freedom Daily, Mar 2007
Reviews the latest tax reform proposals from the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform and Steve Forbes' flat-tax plan, quoting Murray Rothbard on the flat-tax movement
Reviews the latest tax reform proposals from the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform and Steve Forbes' flat-tax plan, quoting Murray Rothbard on the flat-tax movement
By Executive Order 13369, President Bush created, in January 2005, the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. This advisory panel was composed of nine members appointed by the president ... One underlying problem with both ... plans [released by the Panel] is that they are revenue-neutral; that is, the federal leviathan and all of its agencies and programs would be funded at the same obscene levels ... The president's executive order ... stated that it wanted "revenue neutral policy options for reforming the Federal Internal Revenue Code."
Related Topics: Murray N. Rothbard, Taxation
George W. Bush's Nixonomics, by Gregory Bresiger, Mises Daily, 22 May 2006
Describes the various fiscal, monetary and economic policies during the Nixon presidency and compares them to those under George W. Bush
Describes the various fiscal, monetary and economic policies during the Nixon presidency and compares them to those under George W. Bush
President George W. Bush's statist policies should not be viewed as a departure from the Republican traditions. Bush's economic policies are a continuation of Nixonomics. We should also understand that Bush, like Nixon, cannot resist the political temptation of public-sector spending and various price controls to achieve short-term political goals ... It makes sense that Bush recently launched an investigation into "gas price gouging" at the same time that the actions of his administration cause destructive inflation, just as Nixon blamed "speculators" for the economic problems of his time.
Related Topics: Federal Reserve System, Gold Standard, Inflation, Richard Nixon, Prices, Republican Party, Social Security Tax, Taxation
The George W. Bush 'What Me Worry?' Quiz, by Jim Cox, 2 Apr 2007
Twenty questions on what was George W. Bush's response to various situations; the answers provide links to supporting information
Twenty questions on what was George W. Bush's response to various situations; the answers provide links to supporting information
During the summer of 2001 when repeated urgent warnings of impending terrorist attacks reached the White House, the response from George W. Bush was to: a. instruct all defense and security agencies to be on high alert to protect the American people. b. do a 'What Me Worry?' and let things ride while taking the precaution of sleeping on a U.S. aircraft carrier at the G-8 Summit off Genoa, Italy in July and then taking a one-month retreat to his ranch in Crawford, Texas in August while his Cabinet avoided commercial flights in favor of private jet travel.
Glorious War!, by Joseph Sobran, The Reactionary Utopian, 31 Aug 2006
Discusses how, after the Bush father and son presidencies, the Republican Party and conservatism became associated with militarism and war
Discusses how, after the Bush father and son presidencies, the Republican Party and conservatism became associated with militarism and war
[Republicans] do have a principle ...: war. Two Bush administrations have proved that. War on Panama, war on Iraq, war on "terror," war on Afghanistan, war on Iraq again, and war on Iran, comin' up. And ... the recent Israeli war on Lebanon was waged with George W. Bush's complicity ... This Bush administration has managed to pervert the meaning of conservatism ... The presidency of George W. Bush has been one long object lesson in unintended consequences. It's amusing to recall that his father was kidded for using the phrase wouldn't be prudent, an expression the son could profitably adopt.
The GOP, RIP, by Justin Raimondo, 8 Sep 2006
Ponders the status of the Republican Party prior to the 2006 mid-term elections and after nearly six years of the George W. Bush presidency
Ponders the status of the Republican Party prior to the 2006 mid-term elections and after nearly six years of the George W. Bush presidency
George W. campaigned on a platform that old-time conservatives found at least recognizable: he opined that Americans ought to be able to keep a larger proportion of their income than the Clinton regime found permissible, and even on foreign affairs he sounded like a Taft Republican of the old school, promising a more "humble" foreign policy ... Under George W. Bush, today's GOP is in the vanguard of the biggest expansion of governmental power since 27 B.C. ... Government spending has not only increased, it has engulfed us in a veritable tidal wave of unsustainable debt and force-marched us to the brink of bankruptcy.
Related Topics: Militarism, Republican Party
Gore Is Right, by Paul Craig Roberts, 18 Jan 2006
Ponders the lack of coverage of news coverage given to Al Gore's speech at Constitution Hall in which he challenged the Bush administration's lack of respect for the Constitution and the doctrine of separation of powers
Ponders the lack of coverage of news coverage given to Al Gore's speech at Constitution Hall in which he challenged the Bush administration's lack of respect for the Constitution and the doctrine of separation of powers
Had the New York Times not ... suppressed the story, Bush may have gone down in defeat as the new Richard M. Nixon ... Bush is angry at the New York Times and at the government officials who leaked the story that Bush illegally spied on American citizens. Both may be prosecuted for making Bush's illegal behavior public ... Once Bush places Sam Alito on the Supreme Court, he will have a high court majority friendly to his claims that his executive powers are not constrained by congressional statutes ... How can any conservative fail to realize that Bush's attack on these rights is the ultimate attack on property?
Related Topics: Conservatism, Democratic Party
The Great Writ Then and Now, by Wendy McElroy, The Freeman, Nov 2009
Chronicles the history of the writ of habeas corpus from the Magna Carta through the American Civil War to Guantanamo Bay and "enemy combatants"
Chronicles the history of the writ of habeas corpus from the Magna Carta through the American Civil War to Guantanamo Bay and "enemy combatants"
In November 2001 President Bush had asserted the authority of military commissions to try prisoners taken in Afghanistan or Iraq as "enemy combatants." In early 2002 he established Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo and claimed that since the camp is not on American soil, the prisoners had no rights under the Constitution or the American legal system ... In 2004 the Supreme Court heard the first of these cases—Rasul v. Bush ... To quell growing criticism over the Guantanamo detainees, Bush signed the U.S. Military Commissions Act (MCA) in October 2006 ... The MCA explicitly abolished habeas corpus rights for noncitizens.
Hell-Bent on War, by Justin Raimondo, 14 Feb 2007
Discusses propaganda and other efforts by the George W. Bush administration and neoconservatives to launch military action against Iran, and relevant commentary from a professor of international relations as well as Russian President Putin
Discusses propaganda and other efforts by the George W. Bush administration and neoconservatives to launch military action against Iran, and relevant commentary from a professor of international relations as well as Russian President Putin
The endgame ... is the complete "transformation," at gunpoint, of the Middle East into a bastion of liberal democracy. This ... is the ostensible rationale, according to the most ideological proponents of the Bush Doctrine ... [P]rofessor Norton's trenchant comment: "Surveying U.S. history, one is hard-pressed to find presidential decisions as monumentally ill-informed and counterproductive as the decision to invade and occupy Iraq; however, a decision to go to war against Iran would arguably surpass the Iraq war as the worst foreign policy decision ever made by an American president."
Hidden Government, by Sheldon Richman, 1 Sep 2006
Discusses the July 2006 Israeli attack on Lebanon, which resulted in 800 dead and which, according to Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker, was carried out with assistance and approval of the Bush administration
Discusses the July 2006 Israeli attack on Lebanon, which resulted in 800 dead and which, according to Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker, was carried out with assistance and approval of the Bush administration
Reporting by Seymour Hersh ... indicates that the Bush administration actively helped the Israeli government plan an attack on Lebanon ... President Bush's motive ... apparently stemmed from his belief that, as Hersh reported, "the relationship between Hezbollah and its supporters in Iran and Syria [is] one of the 'root causes of instability' [Bush's words]" in the Middle East ... I don't recall the 2004 ... candidates debating whether the government should have the power to help other governments, funded and armed by American taxpayers, make war against civilian populations. Where did ... Bush find this blank check?
If the State Falls, Does Society Crumble?, by Lew Rockwell, Mises Daily, 25 Jan 2007
Discusses the situation in Iraq four years after the 2003 invasion and evaluates the question of "just how integral is the state to society?"
Discusses the situation in Iraq four years after the 2003 invasion and evaluates the question of "just how integral is the state to society?"
[T]he Bush administration's original theory ... was that the Iraqi government would be "decapitated," and that once Saddam and his few henchmen were crushed, the country could breathe free and get on with the business of building a great society. He surely believed it, otherwise he and his team would have put something in place for what followed ... and ... he would not have held his victory dance in full flight gear after the invasion. No, he had a model in his mind of an oppressive dictator who ruled all mercilessly and by force alone. Bush figured that he could use more force than Saddam and that would be the end of it.
Impeach the American People!, by Butler Shaffer, 17 Nov 2006
Comments on proposals to impeach (or otherwise bring to justice) George W. Bush and others in his administration, countering that most Americans didn't do their part under the alleged "social contract"
Comments on proposals to impeach (or otherwise bring to justice) George W. Bush and others in his administration, countering that most Americans didn't do their part under the alleged "social contract"
Now that George Bush's marbled columns of support have turned to sand, there is talk of impeachment and, perhaps, even his criminal prosecution, along with that of his coterie of unprincipled administration thugs and advisors ... If Bill Clinton was to be impeached for lying about his oval office peccadilloes, the bill of particulars against Mr. Bush and his fellow barbarians rises to exponential levels of insistence. I refuse to take part in this whooping and hollering ... This is not to suggest that Mr. Bush and his fellow butchers and plug-uglies are not deserving of punishment.
Interview with Jim Bovard, by James Bovard, Sunni Maravillosa, Apr 2006
Extensive dialogue (13 web pages), from Jim's first paid writing to an upcoming book, the publishing industry, the Future of Freedom Foundation, his books, radio hosts and much more
Extensive dialogue (13 web pages), from Jim's first paid writing to an upcoming book, the publishing industry, the Future of Freedom Foundation, his books, radio hosts and much more
I have been surprised to see how many conservatives applaud the Bush team's bizarre argument that the president is above the Constitution any time the president says the word "war". Many Washington conservatives would probably applaud Bush if he announced that God had crowned him king ... this is the official Bush view of history, canonizing the doggerel about the end of history that Francis Fukuyama uncorked in 1989. This is drivel when Bush says it and it is no better when libertarians repeat the same notion. I suppose some libertarians hear Bush praising freedom and assume that freedom is safe.
Iraq Exit Strategy: America's Path Forward [PDF], by Libertarian Party, 29 Jun 2005
Proposal by the Libertarian National Committee for the U.S. to remove its troops from Iraq and a direct-aid program to allow Iraq to reconstruct its infrastructure (Note: the occupation officially lasted another six and a half years)
Proposal by the Libertarian National Committee for the U.S. to remove its troops from Iraq and a direct-aid program to allow Iraq to reconstruct its infrastructure (Note: the occupation officially lasted another six and a half years)
In the final days before the invasion, President George W. Bush declared that Iraq was in violation of United Nations disarmament resolutions. President Bush set a deadline for Saddam Hussein to surrender his weapons of mass destruction and subsequently disarm. It was made clear that if Saddam did not comply with all of the U.N. resolutions, the U.S. would invade Iraq and remove him from power ... The active campaign lasted forty-four days, with an end to major combat operations announced by President Bush on May 1, 2003, aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.
Iraqi Death by Political Abstraction, by Sheldon Richman, 5 Jun 2006
Examines the causes of the 2005 Haditha killings, reflecting on Leonard Read's notable essay "Conscience in the Battlefield"
Examines the causes of the 2005 Haditha killings, reflecting on Leonard Read's notable essay "Conscience in the Battlefield"
[A]pologists ... won't be convincing when they insist that ... the Haditha "incident" ... was the unfortunate work of a few bad Marines ... So who is ultimately responsible for the massacre of the 24 unarmed Iraqis ...? The one who put the Marines there: President George W. Bush. Many things about war are uncertain, but one thing we know for sure: men of the 3rd Battalion ... would not be under investigation for cold-blooded murder had they never left Camp Pendleton in southern California. Why did they leave? Because President Bush decreed a policy that led to their being ordered to Iraq.
Iraqi Sanctions and American Intentions: Blameless Carnage? Part 1, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Jan 2004
Examines the effects of the destruction of Iraqi infrastucture during the 1990-91 Gulf War, the subsequent UN sanctions and the "oil for food" program
Examines the effects of the destruction of Iraqi infrastucture during the 1990-91 Gulf War, the subsequent UN sanctions and the "oil for food" program
President Bush's advisors assured Americans that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators — with flowers and hugs — when the United States invaded Iraq ... Bush, in the months before attacking Iraq, portrayed the sufferings and deprivation of the Iraqi people as resulting from the evil of Saddam Hussein. Bush's comments were intended as an antidote to the charge by Osama bin Laden a month after 9/11 that "a million innocent children are dying at this time as we speak, killed in Iraq without any guilt." Bin Laden listed the economic sanctions against Iraq as one of the three main reasons for his holy war against the United States.
Related Topics: Iraq, Militarism
Iraqi Sanctions and American Intentions: Blameless Carnage? Part 2, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Feb 2004
Further examination of the effects of the Iraqi sanctions and the hypocritical comments from the administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, after the 2003 invasion
Further examination of the effects of the Iraqi sanctions and the hypocritical comments from the administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, after the 2003 invasion
President Bush sought to blame all the suffering of the Iraqi people on Saddam's lust for weapons. In an October 7, 2002, speech Bush declared, "The world has also tried economic sanctions and watched Iraq use billions of dollars in illegal oil revenues to fund more weapons purchases, rather than providing for the needs of the Iraqi people." ... In the lead-up to the [2003 Iraq] war, he frequently relished recounting the details of Saddam's brutality, especially the alleged gas attacks against Kurdish villages that, according to Bush, "killed or injured at least 20,000 people ..."
Iraq: The Hidden Horror, by Justin Raimondo, 13 Oct 2006
Discusses the responses to a study by John Hopkins University professors estimating, as of July 2006, 654,965 "excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the [Iraq] war"
Discusses the responses to a study by John Hopkins University professors estimating, as of July 2006, 654,965 "excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the [Iraq] war"
My favorite comment came from the president, who announced: "The methodology is pretty well discredited." Yes, our genius of a chief executive is an expert on the subject of methodology: the methods he and his confreres utilized to project we'd be greeted by Iraqis throwing rose petals in our path are a monument to his expertise. Asked about his previous estimate of 30,000 dead Iraqis, Bush replied: "I stand by the figure. Six hundred thousand or whatever they guessed at ... it's not credible." That Bush has the gall to challenge anyone's credibility is a testament to his complete cluelessness.
I Resign From the Mont Pelerin Society, by Paul Craig Roberts, 21 Aug 2008
Explains Roberts' rationale for resigning from the Mont Pelerin Society, prompted in particular by events in South Ossetia
Explains Roberts' rationale for resigning from the Mont Pelerin Society, prompted in particular by events in South Ossetia
As far as I am aware, the [Mont Pelerin Society] has not addressed the Bush administration's assault on US civil liberties or the disrespect the Bush administration has shown for the US Constitution and international law, particularly the Geneva Conventions. Nor has the society taken exception to US wars of aggression in behalf of undeclared agendas ... The alacrity with which the Heritage Foundation jumped on the Bush administration's propaganda bandwagon about "the Russian invasion of Georgia" epitomizes the new association of "freedom" with American hegemony.
Is Any War Civil?, by Sheldon Richman, 4 Dec 2006
Considers the controversy over whether Iraq was engaged in a civil war in 2006, and Tony Snow's comment contrasting the situation with the American 1861-1865 conflict
Considers the controversy over whether Iraq was engaged in a civil war in 2006, and Tony Snow's comment contrasting the situation with the American 1861-1865 conflict
Of course, [George W. Bush] agrees with Rice. He has two good reasons for doing so. If [he] admits we have a civil war on our hands, the American people will (1) know that the Bush doctrine is a big flop, and (2) wonder why we should stay in Iraq ... Bush is so deeply invested in his mistake that he can't even hint that something is gravely wrong. He doggedly insists, against all evidence, that al-Qaeda is the cause of the violence. In public he praises Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as the "right guy for Iraq" while his national security advisor writes memos calling Maliki ignorant, dishonest, or incompetent.
Related Topics: American War Between the States, Iraq
Is the Foreign-Policy Elite Clueless?, by Sheldon Richman, 17 Sep 2014
Examines the policies of the Bush and Obama administrations in Iraq and Syria that led to the rise of the Islamic State
Examines the policies of the Bush and Obama administrations in Iraq and Syria that led to the rise of the Islamic State
Let's begin with March 2003. President George W. Bush, citing imaginary weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein's fictitious connection to al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks, sent the military to invade Iraq, overthrow the government, and occupy the country. Saddam's regime was secular, but he was a Sunni Muslim and the majority Shi'ites were especially oppressed under his dictatorship ... the CIA paid the local Sunni tribal leaders to turn on al-Qaeda, whom they disliked anyway. Thus Bush alienated the Sunnis and created a Shi'ite ally for Iran ... What was the Bush brain trust thinking when it did its favor for Iran?
Is This Really War?, by Sheldon Richman, 16 Jun 2006
Discusses the Haditha killings and argues that U.S. troops in Iraq were acting more as a police force for the new Iraqi regime, which was incompatible with their military training
Discusses the Haditha killings and argues that U.S. troops in Iraq were acting more as a police force for the new Iraqi regime, which was incompatible with their military training
In 1985, Wilson Goode became the first U.S. mayor to bomb his own city ... Goode came in for universal condemnation and ridicule ... At least ... he could claim he was ... using the police to suppress a dangerous group that ... engaged in violence [and] lived in an unsanitary way that affected its neighbors. President George W. Bush cannot make the same kind of claims in Iraq ... Bush invaded Iraq, a country that represented no threat to the American people or the territory of the United States. In other words, the U.S. forces that bomb and shoot Iraqis don't have to be there.
It's Not War, by Sheldon Richman, 9 Oct 2006
Counters George W. Bush's contention about a the "war on terror" being a "decisive ideological struggle" by contrasting it to how Americans behaved during World War II
Counters George W. Bush's contention about a the "war on terror" being a "decisive ideological struggle" by contrasting it to how Americans behaved during World War II
President Bush tells us that in the "war on terror" our very civilization is at stake. "The war on terror is more than a military conflict — it is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century. And we're only in its opening stages," Bush said in his September 7 speech in Atlanta ... The president has tried hard to sell this theme since 9/11. Consistent with this, he calls himself a "war president" and has claimed extraordinary powers, such as the power to declare anyone an "unlawful enemy combatant," hold such a person indefinitely, torture him, and suspend habeas corpus for noncitizens.
Related Topics: Terrorism, World War II
It Usually Begins With... Michael Badnarik?, by Jerome Tuccille, 3 Jun 2004
Comments on the selection of Badnarik as the LP presidential nominee over the "rich and crazy" Aaron Russo
Comments on the selection of Badnarik as the LP presidential nominee over the "rich and crazy" Aaron Russo
But rich and crazy isn't bad when the society you live in is populated by obese, brain-dead couch potatoes who believe war crimes are perfectly fine as long as they're committed by red-blooded American "heroes," when the president of the country can barely string a sentence together without the aid of his speechwriters, when the same gentleman can scarcely make a policy decision without the imprimatur of his own vice president ... Ralph Nader continues to give the Democrats fits that he could cost them the election. George Bush and Company have no such worries about an LP threat to their own constituency.
Related Topics: Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Party
Kerry's Entangling Alliances, by Michael Badnarik, 28 Oct 2004
Cautions antiwar voters (particularly Iraq War opponents) on voting against Bush and for John Kerry, considering the possibilities of the latter waging a more "successful" (and "more efficient") war
Cautions antiwar voters (particularly Iraq War opponents) on voting against Bush and for John Kerry, considering the possibilities of the latter waging a more "successful" (and "more efficient") war
Americans who oppose the war in Iraq find it easy to hold President Bush in contempt – as they should, considering his deceptive and disastrous wars that have killed thousands ... Kerry never tires of pointing out that Bush didn't wage his "colossal error" of a war on Iraq correctly, and that Bush is all too unilateral in general ... Sept. 11 engendered more good will toward America than it had seen in 60 years. Bush didn't just squander that good will, he turned it into fear and hatred. Not just with the war in Iraq ... but with his arrogant attitude toward the world in general.
Related Topics: Foreign entanglements, Iraq War
Killing in the Name of Democracy, by James Bovard, Attention Deficit Democracy, 27 Jan 2006
Excerpt from the chapter 4 "Messianic Democracy" of Bovard's Attention Deficit Democracy (2006), details various U.S. presidents' policies and actions from McKinley to Eisenhower
Excerpt from the chapter 4 "Messianic Democracy" of Bovard's Attention Deficit Democracy (2006), details various U.S. presidents' policies and actions from McKinley to Eisenhower
Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos died as the United States struggled to crush resistance to its rule in a conflict that dragged on for a decade and cost 4,000 American troops' lives. Despite the brutal U.S. suppression of the Filipino independence movement, President George W. Bush, in a 2003 speech in Manila, claimed credit for the United States bringing democracy to the Philippines: "America is proud of its part in the great story of the Filipino people. Together our soldiers liberated the Philippines from colonial rule."
Related Topics: Democracy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Guatemala, William McKinley, Mexico, Philippines, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, World War I
Killing in the Name of Democracy, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Jun 2006
Revised text of the "Messianic Democracy" chapter of Attention Deficit Democracy (2006) with additional parallels to George W. Bush
Revised text of the "Messianic Democracy" chapter of Attention Deficit Democracy (2006) with additional parallels to George W. Bush
President George W. Bush perpetually invokes the goal of spreading democracy to sanctify his foreign policy ... Perhaps Bush believes that subservience to the U.S. government is the highest freedom that any foreign people can attain. His comments illustrated the continual "1984"-style rewriting of American history ... many of the same intellectuals who currently praise Wilson for his abuses in the name of idealism also heap accolades on Bush's head ... Thomas Carothers, the director of the Carnegie Endowment’s Democracy and Rule of Law Project, warns that Bush policies are creating a "democracy backlash" around the globe.
Related Topic: Democracy
The Latest Defamation of Jefferson, by Thomas DiLorenzo, 31 Mar 2006
Criticizes a conference titled "Mr. Jefferson Goes to the Middle East" and implying that George W. Bush is somehow Jeffersonian, by contrasting Jefferson and Lincoln's (and by extension Bush's) policies and actions
Criticizes a conference titled "Mr. Jefferson Goes to the Middle East" and implying that George W. Bush is somehow Jeffersonian, by contrasting Jefferson and Lincoln's (and by extension Bush's) policies and actions
It is not Mr. Jefferson who has "gone to the Middle East," of course, but George W. Bush. The clear implication of the title of the conference is that George W. Bush's unprovoked invasion of Iraq is somehow "Jeffersonian." The neocons at Grove City apparently believe that our mumbling, tongue-tied president is no less than Thomas Jefferson personified. ... A brief survey of some of Jefferson's opinions on the subject of foreign wars proves how farcical it is to assert that the Bush administration's invasion of the Middle East is "Jeffersonian."
Law as 'Reason' or as 'Violence'?, by Butler Shaffer, 17 Nov 2001
Compares modern "law" to ancient "law merchant" and describes various rationalizations used to justify the violence in the modern system, highlighting the USA PATRIOT Act and similar legislation
Compares modern "law" to ancient "law merchant" and describes various rationalizations used to justify the violence in the modern system, highlighting the USA PATRIOT Act and similar legislation
My experience in analyzing institutional behavior for many years has convinced me that, when those in power speak incessantly of one thing, they invariably mean its opposite. ... the current President Bush is in the process of putting together a Draconian police-state, the elements of which comprise his 'Operation Enduring Freedom.' Apparently what Mr. Bush has in mind is that the United States government has been 'enduring freedom' long enough, and intends to bring it to an end! ... Does anyone doubt that Osama bin Laden and George Bush have articulated 'reasons' for the violence each seeks to impose upon the world?
The Lawless State, by Joseph Sobran, The Reactionary Utopian, 11 Jul 2006
Explains how the United States changed from being a decentralized republic to a centralized democracy and how most of the power has moved from the legislative branch to the "imperial presidency"
Explains how the United States changed from being a decentralized republic to a centralized democracy and how most of the power has moved from the legislative branch to the "imperial presidency"
Liberals are now rightly accusing Bush of grabbing power, but unfortunately nobody is listening ... Today, alleged conservatives favor the current Bush's "big-government conservatism," together with all the unprecedented warmaking and national security powers he asserts ... Instead of vetoing laws he doesn't like, he issues "signing statements" explaining how he will interpret them, thus substituting his own loopholes for proper vetoes ... Bush's acquiescence [on the Guantanamo prisoners] was as arbitrary as his former rigor had been. He must have decided that the political cost and worldwide notoriety were just too much ...
Lebanon, Again, by Justin Raimondo, 9 Feb 2007
Discusses the possible aftermath of the 7 Feb 2007 border incident between Lebanon and Israel and the likelyhood of the 2007 Iraq War "surge" leading to a confrontation between the United States and Iran
Discusses the possible aftermath of the 7 Feb 2007 border incident between Lebanon and Israel and the likelyhood of the 2007 Iraq War "surge" leading to a confrontation between the United States and Iran
This is what the ... "surge" in Iraq is all about: the White House is preparing for a confrontation with the Iranians ... The President has authorized U.S. troops to go after the Iranians supposedly infiltrating Iraq, and the storming of that Iranian consulate in Irbil was not just a random incident ... The rumblings in Lebanon are the premonitory tremors of a regional earthquake that will shake most of the nations of the Middle East. George W. Bush is far from finished with the long-suffering peoples of the Middle East. The great tragedy is that political resistance to the administration's war moves are too little, too late.
Lest We Forget, by Paul Craig Roberts, 25 Feb 2006
Recounts Khrushchev's denouncing of Stalin 50 years earlier, and warns Americans that they do not need to give up civil liberties, constitutional safeguards or international conventions in order to defend themselves against terrorism
Recounts Khrushchev's denouncing of Stalin 50 years earlier, and warns Americans that they do not need to give up civil liberties, constitutional safeguards or international conventions in order to defend themselves against terrorism
When Khrushchev denounced Stalin, he released the truth. We need to remember this in our own days, faced as we are with a regime that brooks no dissent, seeks no expert advice, and deceitfully pursues agendas inimical to the U.S. Constitution and to the rights and safety of citizens. ... Bush says 'you are with me or against me.' ... It is a great lie that America needs to give up its civil liberties, the separation of powers, the Geneva Conventions, and humane treatment of prisoners in order to defend itself against terrorism. If these are the Bush regime's terms for protection, Americans need quickly to find another government.
Related Topic: Communism
Lies and Leviathan, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Aug 2006
Describes the deceit used to institute and expand the U.S. Social Security program, as well as various other programs such as job training and placement, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Office of Strategic Influence, and various duplicitous officials
Describes the deceit used to institute and expand the U.S. Social Security program, as well as various other programs such as job training and placement, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Office of Strategic Influence, and various duplicitous officials
President Bush declared in July 2003 that the [No Child Left Behind] act "essentially says ... there is [sic] going to be high standards and strong accountability measures to every State in the Union." ... The [Office of Strategic Influence] proposal was widely derided as a 1984-style Ministry of Truth. When Bush was asked about the new endeavor, he denied any intent to deceive ... Bush put John Poindexter in charge of the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness surveillance network, notwithstanding Poindexter's five felony convictions, including two perjury counts ...
Machiavelli and U.S. Politics, Part 3: Lies and Appearances, by Lawrence M. Ludlow, 19 Aug 2005
Continues examination of Machiavelli's teachings and comparison to recent U.S. presidential promises and actions
Continues examination of Machiavelli's teachings and comparison to recent U.S. presidential promises and actions
Didn't candidate George W. Bush specifically condemn nation-building and government overspending while promising a more humble foreign policy? ... the excuse mongers are busy portraying George W. Bush as a verbally bumbling but nonetheless sincere president who fought valiantly to rein in domestic spending. ... The president has a bad habit of approving bailouts for failed airlines, throwing money into the bottomless pit of medical-benefit entitlements, signing lard-filled highway bills, and stuffing the coffers of public schools that regularly churn out bumper crops of criminals and nitwits in roughly equal proportion.
Machiavelli and U.S. Politics, Part 4: War, by Lawrence M. Ludlow, 22 Aug 2005
Part of a six-segment series examining The Prince vis-à-vis contemporary U.S. politics; this article covers Machiavelli's simple advice on war and contrasts it with that of James Madison and Robert Higgs in Crisis and Leviathan
Part of a six-segment series examining The Prince vis-à-vis contemporary U.S. politics; this article covers Machiavelli's simple advice on war and contrasts it with that of James Madison and Robert Higgs in Crisis and Leviathan
When it turned out that there were no WMDs and no links between Iraq and the attack on the World Trade Center, the deception was exposed for all to see. Even Bush could not bear the charge of being called a liar—not to mention a hypocrite—since he frequently voiced his faith in God and warned of evil-doers lurking in every nook and cranny. Consequently, the president concocted a plausible half-truth to cover his tracks. He claimed he had been misinformed by intelligence experts. The half-truth, of course, is that U.S. intelligence agencies are notoriously inaccurate, and the president knew it.
Related Topics: Compulsory Education, Robert Higgs, James Madison, Freedom of the Press, Prices, Terrorism, Travel, War
Marry and Let Marry, by Sheldon Richman, 3 Mar 2004
Comments on George W. Bush's proposed constitutional amendment to forbid same-sex marriage licenses
Comments on George W. Bush's proposed constitutional amendment to forbid same-sex marriage licenses
President Bush's remarks on this subject were a subtle form of fear-mongering. "If we are to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America." It's a phrase he would repeat: "Our government should ... protect the institution of marriage." ... The president says he fears that states that don't countenance same-sex marriages could be forced to recognize them under the Constitution's "full faith and credit" clause, which requires states to accept "the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state."
Meet the press, with David Letterman: The talk-show host proves to be twice as tough on George W. Bush as many reporters on the campaign trail., by Jake Tapper, Salon, 20 Oct 2000
Recounts the visit of Gov. Bush to Late Show with David Letterman, also contrasting it with an earlier appearance on CNBC
Recounts the visit of Gov. Bush to Late Show with David Letterman, also contrasting it with an earlier appearance on CNBC
Letterman asked Bush repeatedly about the death penalty, Texas' abysmal environmental record and foreign affairs. ... Bush strode out smiling. Letterman thanked him for coming on, Bush jokingly tapped the microphone, a reference to the time a microphone caught him calling a New York Times reporter 'a major league asshole.' ... By point of contrast, on CNBC earlier in the day, Bush was allowed to yet again make misleading comments about his role in securing the Texas Patients' Bill of Rights, legislation that, among other provisions, allows patients to sue their HMOs or insurance companies.
More Bush Insults, by Sheldon Richman, 12 Oct 2005
Comments on George W. Bush's nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court and on his speech asking for support on the "war on terror"
Comments on George W. Bush's nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court and on his speech asking for support on the "war on terror"
Everybody is good at something, and George Bush is good at insulting our intelligence ... "I know her heart. I know her character," the president said of his one-time personal attorney. But what does "heart" mean in this context? She's a good person? What's that got to do with ruling on big constitutional questions? ... This is the same man who gave us No Child Left Behind ... and who claims the power to imprison American citizens indefinitely without charge just by branding them, without appeal, enemy combatants ... To be fair, we can't be sure if Bush presumes we are morons or if he is sincerely ignorant.
Related Topics: Attacks of 11 September 2001, United States Constitution
Mr. Bush, Meet Walter Jones, by Patrick J. Buchanan, 16 Jan 2007
Discusses the Iraq War, the announcement of a potential strikes against Iran, and the Joint Resolution introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R, NC) to prevent such action
Discusses the Iraq War, the announcement of a potential strikes against Iran, and the Joint Resolution introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R, NC) to prevent such action
And now George Bush has another war in mind. In his Jan. 11 address, Bush said that to defend the 'territorial integrity' of Iraq, the United States must address 'Iran and Syria.' ... If tomorrow Bush took out Iran's nuclear facilities, would a Senate that lacks the courage to cut funds for an unpopular war really impeach him for denying a nuclear capability to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? ... Bush's contempt for Congress is manifest and, frankly, justified. Asked if Congress could stop him from surging 21,500 troops into Iraq, Bush on 60 Minutes brushed aside Congress as irrelevant.
Mr. Bush, Mind Your Own Business, by Sheldon Richman, 21 Oct 2005
Criticizes George W. Bush's unsolicited advice to Americans that they should drive less in order to conserve gasoline
Criticizes George W. Bush's unsolicited advice to Americans that they should drive less in order to conserve gasoline
So President Bush wants us to conserve gasoline ... Cut out the nonessential car trips, he says ... You see, ... (why doesn't he know this?) each of us is supposed to be free to decide for himself what's essential ... Bush likes to portray himself as a fan of the free market, but talk and pandering are cheap ... The phony ... [or] the genuine marketeer ... Now which is President Bush? Here's a clue: he condemned "price gougers" and hectored us about our driving ... Presidential exhortations to consumers may seem harmless, but they are not. They are noxious. Mr. Bush, mind your own business.
My Election Prediction, by Steven LaTulippe, 29 Sep 2006
Discusses the possible outcome of the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections, predicting a "crushing defeat" for the Republicans due to the electorate demanding accountability for the wars, the advantages of divided government and the apparent threat of another war
Discusses the possible outcome of the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections, predicting a "crushing defeat" for the Republicans due to the electorate demanding accountability for the wars, the advantages of divided government and the apparent threat of another war
As unimaginable as it might sound, it's looking more and more like the neocons are planning to attack Iran sometime after the next election ... Yes, we were cynically manipulated into the last war. And yes, public opinion has turned decisively against the Iraq occupation. But President Bush is, by all accounts, in the grips of a messianic dream in which he stars as the new Winston Churchill. He is the savior who will one day be proven right. He is willing to endure vilification (or, given his messiah complex, even enjoy it) as the personal price of saving the world from a nuclear Iran.
My Time in the Tower of London, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Dec 2006
Relates a visit to the Tower of London and then compares the torture of centuries past in the Tower, as described in particular in Shakespeare's Richard III, with the 2006 legalization of similar practices in the United States
Relates a visit to the Tower of London and then compares the torture of centuries past in the Tower, as described in particular in Shakespeare's Richard III, with the 2006 legalization of similar practices in the United States
[On] December 30, 2005, ... President Bush signed the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. Bush appended a Signing Statement to the bill in which he proclaimed his right to ignore the key provision of the law. But no matter ... As Juan Cole, a University of Michigan history professor and an expert on the war on terrorism ... explains, "Bush needs torture ... to generate false information that exaggerates the threat to his regime, so as to justify repression. He needs the ritual of confession and naming others, to have it down on paper so he can show it to Congress behind closed doors."
The Neoconservative Obsession with Iran, by Sheldon Richman, 14 May 2014
Discusses how Bush, Cheney and their advisors exacerbated the U.S.-Iran crisis, as documented in Gareth Porter's Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare
Discusses how Bush, Cheney and their advisors exacerbated the U.S.-Iran crisis, as documented in Gareth Porter's Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare
President George W. Bush appeared to follow in his predecessors' footsteps, Gareth Porter writes ... But Bush added his own twist: the neoconservative zeal for regime change in the Middle East, a blind fanaticism about the magic of American military power that overwhelmed all sense of realism about the world ... On the surface, Bush's anti-Iran policy, signified by his listing the country in the "axis of evil," looked like those that came before. "But," Porter writes, "... that public posture was a cover for a rather different policy ... that ambition for regime change distorted the Bush policy toward the nuclear issue ..."
Related Topics: Iran, Middle East
A Nightmare in Iraq, by Sheldon Richman, 24 Sep 2003
Examines the situation in Iraq six months after the March 2003 invasion, including the Bush administration reportedly "considering using Israel as a model for managing an occupied people"
Examines the situation in Iraq six months after the March 2003 invasion, including the Bush administration reportedly "considering using Israel as a model for managing an occupied people"
The situation is all the more pathetic now that the administration is begging UN members to help fund and man the occupation. (Didn't Bush predict UN irrelevancy if it didn't authorize war?) ... Although the high-sounding term "internationalize" is invoked, it is clear that [his] efforts are mainly designed to take domestic pressure off himself and his reelection campaign. Perhaps if someone other than Americans is being killed and wounded by the resentful populace, and if someone other than the American taxpayers is being hit up for the bill, things won't look so bad for the president. I doubt that the Bush gambit will succeed.
None Dare Call It Hypothetical, by Joseph Sobran, The Reactionary Utopian, 20 Dec 2005
Discusses a talk-radio question about whether a plot for a "Super 9/11" (or an even more incredible possibility imagined by Sobran) would justify President Bush ordering wiretaps and surveillance to uncover and prevent the plot
Discusses a talk-radio question about whether a plot for a "Super 9/11" (or an even more incredible possibility imagined by Sobran) would justify President Bush ordering wiretaps and surveillance to uncover and prevent the plot
In the unhappy event that our Mother Earth were violently sundered because President Bush didn't have time to get court authorization to rough up a few hippies ... a few of the survivors, stranded on the wrong chunk, would still have to live under a Republican administration ... no doubt the president would continue to insist that it was still quite feasible to bring democracy to the Muslim world, even if this now required an interplanetary mission. He might also point out ... that withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, as the cut-and-run Democrats want to do, had just become an even greater logistical difficulty than before.
Nonsense on the Inevitability of Democracy, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, May 2006
Examines Francis Fukuyama's assertion about the "universalization of Western liberal democracy" and related pronouncements by George W. Bush
Examines Francis Fukuyama's assertion about the "universalization of Western liberal democracy" and related pronouncements by George W. Bush
Bush practically canonized Fukuyama's view:
The great struggles of the twentieth century between liberty and totalitarianism ended with a decisive victory for the forces of freedom—and a single sustainable model for national success ...... George W. Bush uses God instead of G.W.F. Hegel to sanctify his foreign policy. Bush proclaimed at a 2004 fundraiser that "the Almighty has—believes that every person should be free. It's a gift from the Almighty, regardless of their religion or the color of their skin. I believe that as the torchbearer of freedom, the United States must lead and must never shirk our duty to lead."
Obama's Iraqi Fairy Tale, by Sheldon Richman, The Goal Is Freedom, 28 Mar 2014
Examines, in detail, Obama's 26 March 2014 remarks about the 2003 Iraqi invasion compared to Russia's annexation of Crimea
Examines, in detail, Obama's 26 March 2014 remarks about the 2003 Iraqi invasion compared to Russia's annexation of Crimea
In terms of international law, Bush was not allowed to launch a war against Iraq, which had threatened no one, until he secured another resolution from the Security Council ... That resolution was proposed but then withdrawn when Bush realized it would be vetoed. So he ignored the UN rules, which prohibit launching a war unless it's in self-defense or authorized by the Security Council, and invaded on his own say-so, after Congress rubberstamped his discretionary "authorization for the use of military force." Yes, he dragged some other governments' forces along for cover ...
Outsourcing Torture, by Sheldon Richman, 29 Sep 2006
Discusses the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian and Syrian citizen sent by the Bush administration to Syria for interrogation and torture, due to erroneous information from Canadian law enforcement that he had (unproven) terrorist ties
Discusses the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian and Syrian citizen sent by the Bush administration to Syria for interrogation and torture, due to erroneous information from Canadian law enforcement that he had (unproven) terrorist ties
If you want to see the bare essence of the Bush administration, behold its policy of "rendition." The innocuous-sounding word signifies a policy under which American officials send terrorist suspects—detainees never convicted of crimes—to countries where they will be tortured, keeping the U.S. government's hands clean of the monstrous treatment ... Bush will outsource torture to Syrian President Bashar Assad, but that is the extent of the diplomatic relationship ... This is America under George W. Bush. It's not the America we learned about growing up. Something has gone badly wrong.
Political Plundering of Property Owners, by James Bovard, Nov 2002
Details the effects of local government land and property seizures allegedly for urban renewal purposes, for improving "blighted" neighborhoods or for the benefit of sports team owners
Details the effects of local government land and property seizures allegedly for urban renewal purposes, for improving "blighted" neighborhoods or for the benefit of sports team owners
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently lacerated President George W. Bush for his role in "grabbing land for a new baseball stadium in Arlington, Texas, for his Texas Rangers baseball team." The story of how Bush and his co-owners seized the land for the new stadium is "a sordid tale of cronyism, of misuse of power, of cozy backroom money-grubbing — a more pressing threat ... than outright criminality." The team owners had a sweetheart deal with the local government ... The plundered profits from the land grab helped finance Bush's first political campaign — and thus helped propel him into the presidency.
Related Topics: California, Eminent Domain Protections, Illinois, Michigan, New York City, Private Property, Washington, D.C.
The President Seems Out of Touch With Events on the Ground in Iraq, by Robert Higgs, 31 May 2006
Contrasts a George W. Bush speech given at West Point with nearly concurrent news reports about the Haditha massacre
Contrasts a George W. Bush speech given at West Point with nearly concurrent news reports about the Haditha massacre
Drawing an analogy between the Cold War and 'the long war with Islamic radicalism' that, he promised the cadets, 'will be the focus of much of your military careers,' the president used the occasion to review the actions he and his subordinates have taken during the past five years and to vow that 'we will not rest until the promise of liberty reaches every people and every nation.' ... The president’s speech employed, as such speeches usually do, an abstract, high-flown rhetoric intended to stir the listeners’ patriotic juices and to place U.S. actions in the purest possible light.
Related Topics: Haditha Massacre, Iraq War
The Price of Bush, by Joseph Sobran, 11 Oct 2005
Examines the George W. Bush presidency a year after his re-election and argues that conservatives should have known better than supporting him earlier on
Examines the George W. Bush presidency a year after his re-election and argues that conservatives should have known better than supporting him earlier on
Bush is on the verge of losing his conservative base ... We have only Bush's word that Miers would be a reliable defender of the Constitution. And why should anyone trust his judgment about that? The same conservatives are beginning to notice, belatedly, that Bush himself shows no great awareness of, or respect for, constitutional principle. He has yet to veto an act of Congress, has violently expanded Federal power, and takes a Buzz Lightyear approach to government spending: "To infinity and beyond!" The list could easily be lengthened, and it makes a grim joke of Bush's claim to be a "strict constructionist."
Related Topics: Conservatism, Republican Party
Q & A with Karen Kwiatkowski, by Karen Kwiatkowski, Brian Lamb, Q&A, 2 Apr 2006Video and transcript of the C-SPAN program; Lamb interviews Kwiatkowski about the 2003 invasion of Iraq and her participation in the 2005 film Why We Fight
Didn't think much of it until I saw the president's national security strategy, his very first one that George Bush put out. Of course, we do read that, and it's on the ... White House Web site. And when I read it, not just me but lots of people saw almost word-for-word lifting of phrases and ideas and concepts from the Project for a New American Century's previous document, "Rebuilding America's Defenses," which is – sounds a very benign name ... But, what it calls for is very much what George Bush has more overtly called for, which is America at the top of the world, a unilateral approach and that kind of thing.
The Reagan Roadmap for Antiterrorism Disaster, by James Bovard, CounterPunch, 8 Oct 2003
Details events before and after the 23 Oct 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut
Details events before and after the 23 Oct 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut
In his televised speech to the nation on September 7, President Bush declared, "In the past, the terrorists have cited the examples of Beirut and Somalia, claiming that if you inflict harm on Americans, we will run from a challenge. In this, they are mistaken." There are many parallels between the 1982-84 U.S. deployment and decimation of U.S. troops in Beirut and the current Iraqi situation. ... Now, two decades later, the only "lesson" that seems to be recalled is to stick resolutely to floundering policies – at least until the number of dead soldiers threatens to become politically toxic.
The Repudiation of Bush, by Sheldon Richman, 10 Nov 2006
Comments on the results of the November 2006 U.S. mid-term elections and on replacement of Donald Rumsfeld by Robert Gates, formerly in the George H. W. Bush administration
Comments on the results of the November 2006 U.S. mid-term elections and on replacement of Donald Rumsfeld by Robert Gates, formerly in the George H. W. Bush administration
The hopeless war in Iraq, the culture of corruption and incompetence, the spending binge (which includes the war), the grating social conservatism, and the autocratic arrogance approaching the dictatorial all culminated in a thunderous repudiation of President Bush and the Republican Party ... Bush wasted no time in throwing a bone to the voters by dumping Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and naming former CIA chief Robert Gates to replace him ... The voters might have thrown Bush out of office if they had the chance. Maybe that knowledge will motivate the president to begin undoing his many mistakes.
Revisiting a Libertarian Classic: Nock's Our Enemy, the State, by Sheldon Richman, Freedom Daily, Mar 2006
Examines some of the major themes of Nock's Our Enemy, the State (1935)
Examines some of the major themes of Nock's Our Enemy, the State (1935)
The government has gathered information on anti-war groups and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The president is angry that ordinary people have found out about this. He is planning not to stop these obnoxious activities, but rather to find out who gave him away. In his view, the Constitution and the Congress's blank check after 9/11 bestow on him the power to do virtually anything if he can rationalize it as necessary to prosecute the "war on terror." This is quite a claim, considering that there is no reason why the "war on terror" shouldn't go on forever.
Related Topics: Henry George, Government, Land, Albert Jay Nock, Franz Oppenheimer, The State, Taxation, United States
Rings of War, by Charley Reese, 1 Jan 2007
Reflects on war as concentric rings with soldiers in the center and the general public in the outer circle, criticizing George W. Bush and Congress for not ending the 2003 Iraq War and suggesting a general tax for future wars as incentive to end them
Reflects on war as concentric rings with soldiers in the center and the general public in the outer circle, criticizing George W. Bush and Congress for not ending the 2003 Iraq War and suggesting a general tax for future wars as incentive to end them
Think of a war as a violent center of a circle with concentric rings of people surrounding it. At the center are the soldiers who have to fight the war. In the next ring are the people whose loved ones are doing the fighting. In the third ring, at a safe distance, are the politicians who started the war ... President Bush has no interest in ending the war. Before the terrorist attack in 2001, he was at odds and ends and didn't seem to know what he wanted to do. But now he enjoys being a war president. It's given him a role to play. He's not going to give that up.
Ron Versus the Huckster, by Justin Raimondo, 7 Sep 2007
Analyzes Ron Paul's response to Chris Wallace's questions on the Iraq invasion and Paul's exchange with Gov. Huckabee, at the 5 Sep 2007 Republican presidential debate
Analyzes Ron Paul's response to Chris Wallace's questions on the Iraq invasion and Paul's exchange with Gov. Huckabee, at the 5 Sep 2007 Republican presidential debate
Who lost Iraq? ... The neocons blame Bush: he didn't follow their instructions to the letter, you see, by putting their sock puppet, Ahmed Chalabi, in charge from the beginning. The Israelis, too, blame Bush: now they're saying that they always wanted him to go after Iran ... McCain also blames Bush, claiming that the war has been "mismanaged" ... And we haven't even gotten to the Democrats, who, naturally, blame the Great Decider for practically everything – an inadequate explanation for the disastrous course of the past six years that they nonetheless think is sufficient for their purposes.
Sic Semper Tyrannis, by Lew Rockwell, The American Conservative, 23 Apr 2007
Analyzes how the U.S. Presidency has been transmogrified from the role proposed by the Federalists
Analyzes how the U.S. Presidency has been transmogrified from the role proposed by the Federalists
In secret, perhaps, [the Federalists] were plotting a Leviathan state with a president who can do all that the Bush administration claims he can, which pretty much amounts to whatever Bush wants to do ... Hamilton was absolutely reassuring in Federalist 69 ... Yes, ... the president is commander in chief of the military. But ... He has no power to declare war or to raise and regulate armies ... How does this contrast with the view of the Bush administration? It is opposite in every respect. Consider the claim of John Yoo, author of ... the bible of the Bush administration's claim of totalitarian powers in war ...
Related Topics: Conservatism, United States Constitution, Founding Fathers, Patrick Henry, United States Presidents
Slipped His Moorings, by Charley Reese, 9 Sep 2006
Discusses George W. Bush's distorted view of reality based on his comparison of bin Laden with Hitler, Stalin and Lenin
Discusses George W. Bush's distorted view of reality based on his comparison of bin Laden with Hitler, Stalin and Lenin
The two most dangerous leaders in the world are George W. Bush and North Korea's Kim Jong Il. ... Neither man can see the world as it really exists. ... For the president to compare Osama bin Laden, a crank with maybe a thousand followers scattered around the globe, with Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin is preposterous, absurd and even laughable. ... The president, I believe, is desperate to be what he knows he is not – a great man. He has fantasized that he is a second Winston Churchill leading the forces of democracy in a great crusade against the forces of darkness. The only trouble is, there is nobody out there in the dark.
Related Topic: Terrorism
The State in the Dock, by Lew Rockwell, 26 May 2006
Reflects on the then ongoing trial of Saddam Hussein (2004-2006) and wonders what would happen if other heads of state, including George W. Bush, were put on trial
Reflects on the then ongoing trial of Saddam Hussein (2004-2006) and wonders what would happen if other heads of state, including George W. Bush, were put on trial
The trial is being administered and run and decided by the government of a conquering nation, one led by a man who clearly had a personal vendetta against Saddam, and who used the most duplicitous methods to drag his country into an imperial venture ... As an American, it sickens me to see George Bush using this trial as a way of morally whitewashing his conquest. He is a deeply unpopular president, the most hated man since the last US president. Many people think Bush is the worse president ever. Even by the murky standards of US law today, he has stretched all bounds of propriety in his spying, lying, and abuse of power.
Stay Out of Haiti, by Sheldon Richman, 5 Mar 2004
Comments on the U.S. intervention in Haiti after the Feb 2004 coup d'état, recalling past meddling in the early 20th century and the 1990s
Comments on the U.S. intervention in Haiti after the Feb 2004 coup d'état, recalling past meddling in the early 20th century and the 1990s
The words from President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are barely distinguishable. "This is the beginning of a new chapter in the country's history," ... Bush said. That sure sounds familiar ... The New York Times criticized Bush for doing so too late, but added, "Sending the Marines was the right thing to do." The Washington Post said essentially the same thing: "Only over the weekend did Mr. Bush finally accept what should have been obvious from the beginning: that the United States must lead any rescue of Haiti." ... Bush is taking flak because he did not support Aristide, but nonetheless says he is intent on promoting democracy ...
Related Topics: Haiti, Woodrow Wilson
Stop Demonizing Iran, by Sheldon Richman, 9 Oct 2013
Examines Iranian government efforts to resolve differences with the U.S. government, as evidenced by 2013 proposals, and recalling previous efforts to cooperate with the Bush administration, as reported in 2006 by Gareth Porter
Examines Iranian government efforts to resolve differences with the U.S. government, as evidenced by 2013 proposals, and recalling previous efforts to cooperate with the Bush administration, as reported in 2006 by Gareth Porter
Iran opposes al-Qaeda — but neoconservatives in the Bush administration, led by Vice-President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and foreign-policy officers allied with Israel's hawks, blocked progress. President Bush's embrace of the neocons was signaled by his 2002 state of the union address, in which he included Iran in the "Axis of Evil" along with North Korean and Iraq ... the moderates persevered, partly out of fear that Bush would attack Iran when he was finished with Iraq. They made a new offer ... The Bush administration rejected the proposal and reprimanded Swiss diplomats for delivering it.
Related Topics: Iran, Middle East
Swift Boat Censorship, by Anthony Gregory, 8 Sep 2004
Examines the Bush-Kerry controversy over Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads and Bush's advocacy of campaign finance reform to censor political ads
Examines the Bush-Kerry controversy over Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads and Bush's advocacy of campaign finance reform to censor political ads
Lost throughout all of this is that Bush has essentially called for censorship of an entire class of political advertising ... While Bush's defenders accuse his opponents of trying to "censor" the Swift Boat Veterans, it is their president who is the real threat to free speech. This is an outrage. Several years ago, Bush spoke out against the kind of campaign-finance laws, championed by John McCain, that would limit the free speech of independent groups. He then signed McCain-Feingold, admitting it had unconstitutional provisions ... Now he is saying the laws apparently dont go far enough ...
Related Topics: Politics, Freedom of Speech
Take the Constitution Seriously in the Second Term, by Sheldon Richman, 8 Nov 2004
Suggests a plan of action for George W. Bush upon being inaugurated (and swearing his oath of office) for a second term as U.S. President
Suggests a plan of action for George W. Bush upon being inaugurated (and swearing his oath of office) for a second term as U.S. President
Should President Bush declare a mandate and push ahead with his agenda or extend an olive branch of conciliation to his opponents? ... [H]is agenda for the next four years ought to be plain: terminate all programs and projects that fall outside of constitutional limits. Bush should get out of Iraq as soon as possible ... He should also restore habeas corpus to the exalted position ... Bush should also kill his pet faith-based initiative, that is, handing taxpayer money to religious groups that do social work ... Bush is right when he points out that secular groups get subsidies. End those too.
Related Topics: United States Constitution, War
That Death Toll, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., 21 Jun 2006
Comments on White House Press Secretary Tony Snow's remark ("It's a number") about the death of the 2,500th American soldier in the 2003 Iraq War
Comments on White House Press Secretary Tony Snow's remark ("It's a number") about the death of the 2,500th American soldier in the 2003 Iraq War
The remark came so quickly because of the true attitude behind such statistics: they constitute merely a political problem for the Bush administration, a speed bump on the road to a state-imposed end ... The Bush administration is ensconced in its marble castles in Washington, D.C., and meets average soldiers only in carefully managed PR events ... The only real moral issue that strikes the Bush administration—which is directly responsible for every one of these lost lives—is annoyance that anyone would be upset. The fodder knew what they were getting into ... It's dangerous work.
They Deserved to Lose, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 8 Nov 2006
Comments on the results of the 2006 United States congressional elections and finds the Republican Party losses well-deserved
Comments on the results of the 2006 United States congressional elections and finds the Republican Party losses well-deserved
The truth, no matter how discomforting Republicans might find it, is that President George W. Bush is nothing more than a variation of Bill Clinton — and a worst one at that. Sharing Clinton's socialist conviction that the federal government is an agent of morality through its "compassionate" confiscation and redistribution of wealth, Bush has far exceeded Clinton in social-welfare spending ... The Republican members of Congress ... have stood silently by, year after year, as President Bush set up an international set of secret detention and torture centers, some even located in former Soviet-era torture camp ...
They Lied About the Reasons for Going to War, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 23 Oct 2006
Examines various items of circumstancial evidence that would lead most reasonable people to conclude that George W. Bush and his administration lied about the rationales for invading Iraq in 2003, and then explores the real purpose behind the invasion
Examines various items of circumstancial evidence that would lead most reasonable people to conclude that George W. Bush and his administration lied about the rationales for invading Iraq in 2003, and then explores the real purpose behind the invasion
Prior to the actual invasion, President Bush spent months lobbying the UN Security Council to unanimously grant him authority to invade Iraq ... [I]f an enemy nation was really about to attack the United States, would the president even be talking about the importance of enforcing UN resolutions? ... Then, once it became clear to Bush that the UN was not going to give him the resolution he sought, the situation became "Hurry, hurry, hurry." We can't let those hapless UN inspectors continue searching for Saddam's WMDs, Americans were told, because the situation is too dire and urgent.
Trapped in Lies and Delusions, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 20 Nov 2006
Predicts that U.S. troops would not withdraw from Iraq for at least two more years, because it was politically implausible for Bush and Cheney to backtrack on their positions, and laments American attitudes towards the war and countless interventions
Predicts that U.S. troops would not withdraw from Iraq for at least two more years, because it was politically implausible for Bush and Cheney to backtrack on their positions, and laments American attitudes towards the war and countless interventions
Despite the recent election results and increasing demand among the American people for a withdrawal, I believe that there is no possibility that President Bush is going to order a withdrawal any time soon ... How in the world could ... Bush, from a political standpoint, order the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq? For the past three years, he and Vice President Cheney have been suggesting that people who call for exiting Iraq are nothing more than weak-kneed cowards ... Bush and Cheney got exactly what they wanted, especially when they openly dared "the terrorists" to "bring it on."
The Troops Don't Defend Our Freedoms, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 21 Oct 2005
Examines whether foreign invasion, terrorists taking over the government and the federal government, through the President and its orders to a "loyal and obedient" standing army, are plausible threats to the freedom and well-being of Americans
Examines whether foreign invasion, terrorists taking over the government and the federal government, through the President and its orders to a "loyal and obedient" standing army, are plausible threats to the freedom and well-being of Americans
No one can deny that [now] ... the president wields ... the omnipotent power to send the entire nation into war ... and that he has the means — a loyal ... army — to exercise that power. President Bush made his position clear prior to his invasion of Iraq, when he emphasized that while he welcomed the support of Congress in the event he decided to wage war on Iraq, he didn't need its approval. His position was reconfirmed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who informed Congress on October 19, 2005, that the commander in chief's position was that he did not need the consent of Congress to send the nation into another war ...
Related Topics: Standing Army, Eastern Europe, Patrick Henry, Iraq, Threats To Liberty, James Madison, Militarism, Military Industrial Complex, Terrorism
Under the Shadow of Inflationomics, by Hans F. Sennholz, 1 Jun 2006
Explains how inflation has its roots in central banking and fiat money, and describes the influence of Keynesian economics on the policies of U.S. presidents from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush
Explains how inflation has its roots in central banking and fiat money, and describes the influence of Keynesian economics on the policies of U.S. presidents from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush
By the end of 2000, many maladjustments were clearly visible, causing the economy to sink into recession for the first time in 10 years ... Prodded by President George Walker Bush, Congress passed a large multiyear tax cut, and the US Treasury sent out tax rebates to boost consumer spending. Thereafter, the economy seemed to shake off national disasters and soaring energy prices ... In the footsteps of President Herbert Hoover, President Bush may even call for more trade barriers, which would turn the recession into a depression and breed much international conflict.
Related Topics: George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Central Banking, Bill Clinton, Gold Standard, Inflation, Money, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan
The Urge to 'Surge', by Justin Raimondo, 15 Dec 2006
Discusses reactions to the Iraq Study Group suggestion supporting "a short-term redeployment or surge of American combat forces to stabilize Baghdad"
Discusses reactions to the Iraq Study Group suggestion supporting "a short-term redeployment or surge of American combat forces to stabilize Baghdad"
It would be a logical evolution for this president, who has, after all, gone from building the Ownership Society to resurrecting the Great Society, at home and abroad. From a pledge to reduce the size and scope of government to the biggest expansion of federal power since the first two hundred days of Franklin Roosevelt's first term, from a "a more humble" foreign policy to the doctrine of military preemption and a "global democratic revolution" – George W. Bush, it turns out, is a Bizarro Republican, a president who has deftly managed to invert the traditional GOP agenda.
Related Topics: Imperialism, Lyndon B. Johnson
U.S. Hypocrisy on Iran, by Sheldon Richman, 14 Feb 2007
Discusses the hypocrisy of Bush administration pronouncements and actions about Iran "meddling in Iraq", considering the U.S. intervention in Iran in 1953 and the U.S. invasion and continued occupation of Iraq
Discusses the hypocrisy of Bush administration pronouncements and actions about Iran "meddling in Iraq", considering the U.S. intervention in Iran in 1953 and the U.S. invasion and continued occupation of Iraq
"It has been clear for some time that Iran has been meddling in Iraq," says White House spokesman ... Johndroe. "We don't believe that [Iran's] behavior ... should go unchallenged," ... the U.S. intelligence boss, added ... Meanwhile, President Bush has authorized American troops to kill Iranians in Iraq if they seem to be engaged in activities hostile to the United States. He's also sent a couple of carriers to the Persian Gulf in a show of force aimed at Iran. In response, Iran has said it would enlarge its economic and military assistance to Iraq. ... With Bush's warnings to Iran, U.S. hypocrisy has reached a new low.
U.S. Regime Change, Torture, and Murder in Chile, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 24 Nov 2004
Discusses the unwelcome reception given to George W. Bush on a visit to Chile and various reasons for Chilean animosity towards the U.S. government, contrasting it with general opinion about these matters in the U.S. and the lack of action by Congress
Discusses the unwelcome reception given to George W. Bush on a visit to Chile and various reasons for Chilean animosity towards the U.S. government, contrasting it with general opinion about these matters in the U.S. and the lack of action by Congress
President Bush's recent trip to South America provides a valuable foreign-policy lesson for Americans. The president was greeted in Santiago, Chile, by some 30,000 angry demonstrators. But it was not only Bush's invasion and war of aggression against Iraq that Chileans were angry about. Unlike so many Americans, the Chilean people have not fallen for the "We invaded Iraq to spread democracy" line ... [D]on't forget that the next U.S. attorney general is likely to be the very man who provided the president with the "Geneva Convention is quaint and obsolete" memo ...
War Loses, Again, by Lew Rockwell, 8 Nov 2006
Reflects on the results of the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections, both what voters thought about the Iraq War and lost opportunities by the Republicans in reducing economic interventions
Reflects on the results of the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections, both what voters thought about the Iraq War and lost opportunities by the Republicans in reducing economic interventions
More than three years ago, George Bush unleashed the dogs of war on Iraq, perhaps hoping that he would take his place among the "great" war presidents ... This election has probably sealed Bush's place in history as a failed war president who used a period of national anxiety about terrorism for his own personal aggrandizement and the enrichment of his coterie ... Bush undertook this war with arrogance and claims of god-like power. The result has been catastrophic. And apparently this amazing failure of government had an impact on the vote.
What's Become of Americans?, by Paul Craig Roberts, 22 Mar 2006
Ponders the lack of reaction by Americans to events related to the Iraq War and the Bush administration, such as the missing WMDs, Abu Ghraib, mass surveillance, "free speech" zones, the death toll and the Haditha massacre
Ponders the lack of reaction by Americans to events related to the Iraq War and the Bush administration, such as the missing WMDs, Abu Ghraib, mass surveillance, "free speech" zones, the death toll and the Haditha massacre
The Bush regime acknowledges that 30,000 Iraqi civilians, largely women and children, have been killed as a result of Bush's invasion ... The Johns Hopkins study accounted for 98,000 civilian deaths. Alex Cockburn ... concluded that 180,000 Iraqis died as a result ... If [the Haditha] story is true, under Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush's leadership, proud and honorable U.S. Marines have degenerated into the Waffen SS. Those of us raised on John Wayne war movies find this very hard to take. A fish rots from the head. Clearly, deception in the Oval Office is corrupting the U.S. military.
What's to Lose?, by Sheldon Richman, 20 Apr 2007
Explains the benefits to most Americans if the U.S. government would admit defeat and withdraw its troops from Iraq, contrary to George W. Bush's claims
Explains the benefits to most Americans if the U.S. government would admit defeat and withdraw its troops from Iraq, contrary to George W. Bush's claims
The other day President Bush charged the congressional Democrats with wanting to "legislate defeat" in Iraq ... What would an American defeat in Iraq mean? ... Americans are killed every week, and the wounded are scarred for life ... We are also losing several billion dollars a month ... By stopping those losses, American would win ... But there would be losers, make no mistake. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney would be losers. They could no longer go on with their charade that the war was just and wise or that things are going well despite what our own eyes tell us.
Why I Am Not a 'Conservative', by Vin Suprynowicz, 13 Jun 2006
Examines the words "conservative" and "liberal", pointing out that Democrats are in fact the former while being called the latter, and then looks at Republicans and how far they have strayed from their supposed principles
Examines the words "conservative" and "liberal", pointing out that Democrats are in fact the former while being called the latter, and then looks at Republicans and how far they have strayed from their supposed principles
Yes, Bush the Second introduced that not-bad plan to gradually transition Social Security from a general-fund poverty handout to privately owned accounts that one could leave to the widow and kids. But after promising to spend "political capital" pushing it, Mr. Bush ended up letting it slowly sink beneath the waves as he instead frittered away all that "capital" invading Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with September 11th.
Related Topics: Conservatism, Democratic Party, War on Drugs, Libertarianism, Marriage, Nevada, Republican Party, Socialism
Why the Republicans Are Doomed, by Lew Rockwell, 21 Feb 2007
Discusses Republican behavior at both the presidential and grassroots level, arguing that they take their societal view from Hobbes
Discusses Republican behavior at both the presidential and grassroots level, arguing that they take their societal view from Hobbes
[T]here is no better case in point than George W. Bush. He, like all Republicans since the 1920s, campaigned as a shrink-the-government man. More incredibly to recall, he blasted the "nation-building" of Bill Clinton and insisted that the US needed a "humble" foreign policy. What we got instead is, well, what we got, is the polar opposite. The man who wailed over Bill Clinton's big government has made Clinton's spending record look great by comparison. The guy who decried "nation-building" has decided that bombs and tanks are a great means to inspire a wholesale upheaval in the Gulf region.
Why this libertarian is voting to re-elect George W. Bush, by J. Neil Schulman, 21 Oct 2004
Explains Schulman's rationale for casting a vote for Bush in the 2004 presidential election
Explains Schulman's rationale for casting a vote for Bush in the 2004 presidential election
I have many ideological and policy disagreements with George W. Bush. I find his "compassionate conservatism" far too compromising with the institutionalized socialism in our public policy ... George W. Bush, in his first term as governor of Texas, legalized civilian carrying of concealed firearms ... and as president not a single law harmful to gun owners has received his signature ... Bush is vastly more protective of libertarian values than the other guy who might be elected to sit in the Oval Office for the next four years. President Bush is not the best of all libertarian candidates in some theoretical contest ...
Will Congress Finally Face Up to Their Responsibility and Debate Iraq?, by Kevin B. Zeese, 31 Mar 2006
Discusses the proposal by a group of six congressmen to have 17 hours of "open and honest debate about the future of U.S. policy in Iraq"
Discusses the proposal by a group of six congressmen to have 17 hours of "open and honest debate about the future of U.S. policy in Iraq"
On March 21, 2006 President Bush said that U.S. troops will still be in Iraq after his presidency ends in 2009. When asked at a recent press conference when all U.S. forces would finally pull out of Iraq, Bush told the White House press corps: 'That will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq.' Bush's term ends in January 2009. This announcement by President Bush put the Congress in a difficult position because voters are saying they oppose the war ... Will Congress side with an unpopular lame duck president who is supporting an unpopular occupation that most observers recognize has failed.
Will the Democrats Become Part of the Problem?, by Paul Craig Roberts, 10 Nov 2006
Discusses the outcome of the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections and offers recommendations primarily for congressional Democrats
Discusses the outcome of the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections and offers recommendations primarily for congressional Democrats
Exit polls and interviews with voters ... show that the November 2006 election was a vote against both Bush and the war in Iraq ... Voters said: "I am going to vote Democrat, because I don't like Bush, I don't like the war. I want to make a statement." ... In violation of his oath of office, Bush used signing statements to negate laws passed by Congress, not with a veto, but with his personal opinion. Bush, thus, elevated himself above the rule of law that has protected America from becoming a tyranny and made a mockery of the separation of powers that are a foundation of American liberty.
Related Topics: Attacks of 11 September 2001, United States Bill of Rights, Democratic Party, Israel, Republican Party, Voting, War
Wilson in the Mirror, by John M. Peters, 23 May 2006
Compares George W. Bush to Woodrow Wilson, drawing multiple parallels between the two
Compares George W. Bush to Woodrow Wilson, drawing multiple parallels between the two
President Bush lends credence to the adage that history repeats itself ... Both men left state governorships to ascend to the White House at the beginning of new centuries. Both men came from white Protestant backgrounds, although President Bush's zeal for fundamental Christian values became an acquired taste. Both men were graduates of Ivy League institutions ... Campaigning for election in 2000, George Bush promised not to send the armed forces abroad for what he called nation building ... [He] would reverse his campaign promises and take the nation to war within less than a year ...
Reviews
An Empire Built of Paper, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., The American Conservative, 27 Mar 2006
Review of Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis (2006) by William Bonner and Addison Wiggin
Review of Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis (2006) by William Bonner and Addison Wiggin
The president moves about like Caesar Augustus, with a vast, graded court of civil and military aides ... When Bush visited Ottawa, members of Parliament were refused entry into their own legislature by the massed power of the Secret Service, in violation of Canadian law. When Bush visited London, 5,000 additional police were assigned to protect him. Parks and streets and neighborhoods were closed. Riflemen thronged the roofs. The queen was horrified by the trashed condition of the grounds and great rooms of Buckingham Palace, but that meant nothing relative to the security of the emperor.
Related Topics: Federal Reserve System, John T. Flynn, Warren G. Harding, Imperialism, Money, Franz Oppenheimer, Woodrow Wilson
Interviews
The Antiwar Republican, by Ron Paul, Scott Horton, 4 Apr 2007
Transcript and MP3 audio recording; topics include foreign policy principles, isolationism, the Bush Doctrine, the "war on terror", the British sailors captured by Iran, presidential authority over state National Guard units and Guantanamo Bay detainees
Transcript and MP3 audio recording; topics include foreign policy principles, isolationism, the Bush Doctrine, the "war on terror", the British sailors captured by Iran, presidential authority over state National Guard units and Guantanamo Bay detainees
Horton: Okay, I'd like to get your criticism of the Bush Doctrine. Its three main sections are ... preemption ... unilateralism ... regime change ...
Paul: ... What it boils down to is Bush says, "Well, we got rid of this really really bad guy–we got rid of Saddam Hussein, and that means it [the war] was worth it." That means Saddam Hussein, that one person, was worth 3,200 American deaths and 25,000 casualties. I don't think the guy was worth that much. He wasn't going to attack us. So I think Bush put way too much value on a Saddam Hussein–insisting that we have to have a regime-change.
Paul: ... What it boils down to is Bush says, "Well, we got rid of this really really bad guy–we got rid of Saddam Hussein, and that means it [the war] was worth it." That means Saddam Hussein, that one person, was worth 3,200 American deaths and 25,000 casualties. I don't think the guy was worth that much. He wasn't going to attack us. So I think Bush put way too much value on a Saddam Hussein–insisting that we have to have a regime-change.
Free markets king in Sweden, at least for a day: Ten minutes with ... Donald Boudreaux, by Donald J. Boudreaux, Bill Steigerwald, 18 Dec 2002
Comments on Vernon Smith's Nobel Prize and about the firing of Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill
Comments on Vernon Smith's Nobel Prize and about the firing of Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill
Q: Is President Bush in general pursuing the right economic policy at home?
A: I know that his insistence on tax cuts is the right way to go. I agree with that. He claims to be in favor of free trade. I hope that's true. If he is in fact in favor of free trade, that's the right way to go. But I'm leery, though, that he really believes that, given what he did with the steel tariffs ...
I would like to see him be more vigorous in endorsing free international trade. He's done these things. But again, from my standpoint, they are rather tepid and lukewarm.
A: I know that his insistence on tax cuts is the right way to go. I agree with that. He claims to be in favor of free trade. I hope that's true. If he is in fact in favor of free trade, that's the right way to go. But I'm leery, though, that he really believes that, given what he did with the steel tariffs ...
I would like to see him be more vigorous in endorsing free international trade. He's done these things. But again, from my standpoint, they are rather tepid and lukewarm.
Graydon Carter Shows How Bush Makes Lies Seem True, and Just What We've Lost on Bush's Watch, by Graydon Carter, BuzzFlash, 29 Sep 2004
Topics include: Vanity Fair's critiques of the Bush administration, WMDs, What We've Lost, the environment, federal judges appointed by Bush, liberal bias in the mainstream press, 2004 election polls and Internet journalism
Topics include: Vanity Fair's critiques of the Bush administration, WMDs, What We've Lost, the environment, federal judges appointed by Bush, liberal bias in the mainstream press, 2004 election polls and Internet journalism
BuzzFlash: ... How do you explain the polls that show that Americans agree with you and your book—that we're heading in the wrong direction—but nonetheless, Bush is slightly leading in the polls? Do you think it's mass ignorance? Is it mass disinformation? Is it mass apathy? ...
Graydon Carter: I think George Bush is one of the great campaigners in modern history. I think he's very good at marshalling whatever talents he has toward presenting an image of a man with a more common touch ... But I have yet to see George Bush talk about the economy other than ... prosperity is dead ahead.
Graydon Carter: I think George Bush is one of the great campaigners in modern history. I think he's very good at marshalling whatever talents he has toward presenting an image of a man with a more common touch ... But I have yet to see George Bush talk about the economy other than ... prosperity is dead ahead.
Lindsay Perigo Interviews Barbara Branden, by Barbara Branden, Lindsay Perigo, 17 Apr 2002
Branden answers questions about New Zealand and her then forthcoming visit, the 11 Sep 2001 attacks, Ayn Rand, objectivism and factionalism within the objectivist movement
Branden answers questions about New Zealand and her then forthcoming visit, the 11 Sep 2001 attacks, Ayn Rand, objectivism and factionalism within the objectivist movement
How do you rate Bush's handling of the crisis?
To my surprise, I rate him very highly. I think he is doing the best that can be done ... It has interested me to observe the change in the man himself. It seems that the man and the moment have met, and the moment has brought out in him qualities of strength, decisiveness, and determination that were not visible before ... It's fascinating to see that there even in physical changes in the man. His face seems more taut and fined-down, he walks almost with a strut, and he speaks with an assurance he didn't have before.
To my surprise, I rate him very highly. I think he is doing the best that can be done ... It has interested me to observe the change in the man himself. It seems that the man and the moment have met, and the moment has brought out in him qualities of strength, decisiveness, and determination that were not visible before ... It's fascinating to see that there even in physical changes in the man. His face seems more taut and fined-down, he walks almost with a strut, and he speaks with an assurance he didn't have before.
Pentagon Whistle-Blower on the Coming War With Iran, by Karen Kwiatkowski, James Harris, Josh Scheer, 27 Feb 2007
Topics include possible conflict with Iran, the Pentagon situation prior to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Office of Special Plans, Vietnam, terrorism and neoconservatism; includes audio and transcript
Topics include possible conflict with Iran, the Pentagon situation prior to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Office of Special Plans, Vietnam, terrorism and neoconservatism; includes audio and transcript
KAREN KWIATKOWSKI: ... You have political appointees in every government agency, and they switch out every time you get a new president ... So Bush was no different. He brought in a number of political appointees: Doug Feith, certainly Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. But also a number ... at what you would call a lower level ... And they're not military officers, they're civilians. And they're brought in, and this is where the propaganda was kind of put together, this is where the so-called alternative intelligence assessments were put together by the civilian appointees of the Bush Administration.
Starting a Brush Fire for Freedom: An interview with US Rep. Ron Paul, by Ron Paul, John W. Whitehead, oldSpeak, 9 Feb 2004
Topics include: being a lone wolf in Congress, the Patriot Act and related legislation, George W. Bush, the Iraq War, conservatives and neo-cons, the federal debt, education and the Constitution
Topics include: being a lone wolf in Congress, the Patriot Act and related legislation, George W. Bush, the Iraq War, conservatives and neo-cons, the federal debt, education and the Constitution
It almost seems like the President is out of touch. ... I was surprised about how bold he was on the Patriot Act. I don't think the people want that. I believe there was a sense of this in the Congress because many members applauded at the wrong time ... In other words, when he mentioned that it was going to be sunsetted and before he said that he wanted to strengthen it, the Congress applauded. ... When Bush talks, he does not sound like he is an advocate of big government. But if you look at what has happened in the last three years of his administration ... big government has been thriving.
Cartoons and Comic Strips
Decider, by Mark Fiore, 10 May 2006
Related Topic: Rule of Law
Finally, I've found my legacy!, by Stuart Carlson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 15 Mar 2008
Related Topic: Protection Against Cruel and Unusual Punishments
I _Told_ You I Was the Decider, by Stuart Carlson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 24 Oct 2006
Related Topic: Writ of Habeas Corpus
OK, I cheated on you ... but those babies aren't mine!!, by Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader, 24 Aug 2008
Related Topic: Statue of Liberty
Trusting Bush, by Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 18 May 2006
Related Topic: United States Constitution
We Must Stay the Course in Iraq, by Stuart Carlson, 29 Jun 2005
Related Topic: Attacks of 11 September 2001
Books
Attention Deficit Democracy, by James Bovard, 10 Jan 2006
Partial contents: Ignorance and the Mirage of Informed Consent - Fearmongering and the Battered Citizen Syndrome - Messianic Democracy - Lying and Legitimacy - Elections as Reverse Slave Auctions - Trusting Government at Any Cost - Democracy vs. Liberty
Partial contents: Ignorance and the Mirage of Informed Consent - Fearmongering and the Battered Citizen Syndrome - Messianic Democracy - Lying and Legitimacy - Elections as Reverse Slave Auctions - Trusting Government at Any Cost - Democracy vs. Liberty
President George W. Bush calls democracy 'the most honorable form of government ever devised by man.' ... The same types of myths have grown up around democracy that long propped up monarchs. In the 1500s, peasants were encouraged to believe that the king was chosen by God to serve His purposes on Earth. Today, Americans are encouraged to believe that Bush's reelection victory is a sign of God's approval of Bush's reign. ... The biggest election frauds usually occur before the voting booths open. Bush is upholding a long tradition of presidential deceit. He was reelected in large part due to mass delusions about Iraq.
- ISBN 1403971080: Hardcover, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006
- ISBN 140397666X: Paperback, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007
The Bush Betrayal, by James Bovard, 7 Aug 2004
Partial contents: 9/11: Canonization and Coverup - A War on Dissent? - Ed Fraud 101 - Spending as Caring - The Political Profits of Pointless Punishment - Airport Antics: The TSA Attitude Police - Afghan Absurdities - Iraq: The Iron Fist of Freedom
Partial contents: 9/11: Canonization and Coverup - A War on Dissent? - Ed Fraud 101 - Spending as Caring - The Political Profits of Pointless Punishment - Airport Antics: The TSA Attitude Police - Afghan Absurdities - Iraq: The Iron Fist of Freedom
This book does not aim to analyze all Bush policies. Instead, it examines an array of his domestic and foreign actions that vivify the damage Bush is inflicting and the danger he poses both to America and the world. Bush governs like an elective monarch, entitled to reverence and deference on all issues. Bush governs like an elective monarch, entitled to reverence and deference on all issues. Secret Service agents ensure that Bush rarely views opponents of his reign, carefully quarantining protesters in free speech zones far from public view.
- ISBN 140396727X: Hardcover, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
- ISBN 1403968519: Paperback, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005
United States v. George W. Bush et al.
by Elizabeth de la Vega, 2006
Contents: Introduction: A Fraud Worse than Enron - Grand Jury Presentation - Testimony of: FBI Special Agent Linda Campbell, FBI Special Agent Joseph Estrada, FBI Special Agent Daniel Crain - A Final Word
by Elizabeth de la Vega, 2006
Contents: Introduction: A Fraud Worse than Enron - Grand Jury Presentation - Testimony of: FBI Special Agent Linda Campbell, FBI Special Agent Joseph Estrada, FBI Special Agent Daniel Crain - A Final Word
[Back cover:] In United States v. George W. Bush et al., former prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega brings her twenty years of experience and passion for justice to what may be the most important case of her career [note from the introduction, she is writing as a private citizen]. The defendants are George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, and Colin Powell. The crime is tricking the nation into war, or, in legal terms, conspiracy to defraud the United States. If the indictment and grand jury are hypothetical, the facts are tragically real ...
- ISBN 1583227563: Paperback, Seven Stories Press, 2006
What We've Lost: How the Bush Administration Has Curtailed Our Freedoms, Mortgaged Our Economy, Ravaged Our Environment, and Damaged Our Standing in the World
by Graydon Carter, Sep 2004
Contents: To Begin With ... - The President's Wars - The Military - Secrecy - The Economy - The Environment - Education - Health Care - The Judiciary - The State of the Union - Our Reputation - The President by the Numbers - And Finally ...
by Graydon Carter, Sep 2004
Contents: To Begin With ... - The President's Wars - The Military - Secrecy - The Economy - The Environment - Education - Health Care - The Judiciary - The State of the Union - Our Reputation - The President by the Numbers - And Finally ...
- ISBN 0374288925: Hardcover, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004
Videos
Bush Speaks the Truth (Election 2000 Debates), 2000
Audio clips and photos of then Governor George Bush during the Presidential debates, particularly about nation building and a "humble" foreign policy
Related Topic: Foreign entanglements
The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "George W. Bush" as of 1 Jun 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.