THE BUSH NEWS CONFERENCE
April 13, 2005
One of the things that perplexes a lot of people is the secrecy of the Bush administration. In fact John Dean and several other ‘outsiders’ have written books and sought any audience they could find to lament the confidentiality and secrecy of the Bush administration. The whole concept is an oxymoron as far as I am concerned.
I have lived through a dozen administrations and never has there been one that I felt I knew exactly where they stood. With very few exceptions, whatever Bush SAYS, he also DOES! His words are not idle. He follows up on what he says. And so it isn’t a surprise that at his news conference Tuesday night that he stood firm. We’re turning over the government on June 30th. We’re staying until the job is done and not a day longer.
The news conference was just a confirmation of all he’s said before. So, what about all of this secrecy? Or is it that? My take on it is that Bush is a businessman (was) and he’s running the government like he ran his business ventures. In the Beltway, the press thinks they have the ‘right’ to know everything. Let me let them and everyone else in on a clue. Bush could care less what the press thinks. He’s more interested in doing the job he swore an oath to uphold and protect.
NO SPANISH MINDSET HERE!
April 12, 2005
Maybe I have become a conspiracy theorist. Maybe I’m just grasping at straws and looking for a straw-horse. But, whatever it is, I’ve come to a conclusion as to what’s happening in Iraq currently.
Blame it on the Spaniards!
It appears to me, maybe coincidently, that ever since the train bombings in Spain, the insurgents have become embolden. When the bombs flew in Madrid, changing the course of the election, a new die had been cast. Spain sent a message to the terrorists around the world that peace-loving people (or cowards?) could be intimidated to change their strategy. Just attack us and we’ll cave in and pull out of Iraq.
So, terrorists are shooting anyone that’s an enemy (read not a Muslim radical), kidnapping people regardless of race, color, or creed. And generally trying to break the back of the coalition: run us out and off.
Well, the Spanish (currently the majority of them) can be scared off, but the Japanese seem to be standing strong as most other coalition partners. But this one thing I know. For the rest of this year George W. Bush is president of these United States (even if he loses the election in November) and he will not be run off.
The Spanish mindset, the Madrid incident, the increased attacks by the enemy won’t work on this American president and I hope we don’t have to ask if it will on JFK.
DOES ANYONE HAVE A FIX?
April 11, 2005
This Thursday the IRS wants it’s dues if you haven’t already paid up. And then it’s a short 45 days til the kick-off of the summer season: Memorial Day! Can you believe how fast this year has flown?
But, if you’re a Houstonian, don’t step out doors now. Mother Nature is trying to fool us, so go a head on! I’m all for thinking (and feeling) summer is a long way off. It’s supposed to be down in the 40’s Monday night. No need to wrap the pipes, but you should get outside and enjoy the last cool front of the season.
The election used to be eons away but with summer coming to town next month, can the election really be that far off? And what’s Bush going to do with Iraq? It is one huge mess to say the least.
The new WMD is called kidnappings. First it was the Japanese, then the Italians, an American, some S. Koreans, and now nine Chinese. Chinese? Weren’t the Chinese against the war? Oh well.
I can’t wait to see how Iraq turns out. What seemed like a great idea is now turning into a millstone around GWB’s neck and I’m not sure Rove, Cheney, and all the horses men can put it all back together again.
GOOD, BETTER, AND BEST!
April 8, 2005
The stock markets are closed, many corporations give employees off, and we enjoy this day called, GOOD FRIDAY! If you’re in Iraq, it’s anything but good. The news seems to only get worse as kidnapping sees to be the new crime de jour.
Condi Rice has had her say to the 9-11 commission and she held her own with the big boys Thursday. It got a bit testy with a couple of Democrats, but what’s new. At least that’s over. We can now rest- it’s a GOOD FRIDAY!
Saturday will be BETTER because many of us will have a day of rest behind us. The world always looks better when we’re rested. And then we come to Sunday, which is the BEST day because it’s Easter.
It was more than GOOD that Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday, thereby giving us a forgiveness of sins. However, it’s the resurrection that was BEST, meaning He had conquered death, and proven all that had been prophecied in the Old Testament.
People are amazed that Babe Ruth could stand at the plate and point his bat to the stands, and then blast a home run where he had pointed. That’s GOOD! But, to point to a time down the road that you’ll die and then say you’ll be resurrected in three days- and do it! Wow- wow!
I must say, that’s absolutely the BEST!
STUPID IS AS STUPID SAYS!
April 7, 2005
Okay, so I changed the line a bit: I replaced DOES with SAYS. Same thing ultimately.
Ted Kennedy and Al-Sadr are both comparing Iraq to Viet Nam. Both made headlines in the last twenty-four hours for making the comparison. As for me, anything that Al-Sadr says, I’m probably saying the opposite.
Then there was JFK (being as much like a brother as the first JFK was to Ted) who said Wednesday morning that “Muqtada Al-Sadr was a “legitimate voice” in Iraq? I can’t believe he said it, thought it! He went further and said that “They shut down the newspaper that belongs to a legitimate voice in Iraq.” I can’t believe these two Mass. Senators are saying thses things. What kind of water are they drinking in Massachusetts anyway?
Oh, yes and just to stay in that JFK behavior pattern, Kerry altered what he said almost immediately, when seeing the faces of his audience, and said maybe the term “legitimate” was not the right term. Well, DUH!
We have soldiers risking their lives every hour on the hour in Iraq and we have two Senators from Mass. fulfilling the Forrest Gump addage, but with a lot more at stake than a movie line.
AND IT BEGINS TO GET UGLY!
April 6, 2005
They say that you cannot know all of the consequences of a war. There are too many variables. Well, we’ve just encountered a couple. The last two days I have written about Al-Sadr and his machinations. He’s a murderer and a thug wearing clerics cloth. Earlier last week, it was the horrific deaths of four contractors in Fallujah. Yesterday, it was the surprise attack and deaths of at least a dozen Marines in Ramadi.
Of course everyone has an OPINION. Bill O’Reilly came on strong as usual. Retired generals have great hind-sight. Worst of all, politicians are spinning it for personal gain: a stench of great intensity.
I hate to think about what we’ll hear for the next few days as everyone gives their expert advice. We shouldn’t have set a hand-over date, we should have made it later, etc. And of course there’s Hans Blix who says Iraqis are worse off now than they were under Saddam. Say what? It’s sure not what the vast majority of Iraqis think. Maybe Hans should have lived under Saddam’s regime.
May we hold our rhetoric for later and instead spend our time in prayer for our troops, and the families of those back here at home.
SADISTIC (Al) SADR?
April 5, 2005
As a follow up to yesterday’s commentary, I had no sooner posted the story on Sadr, when it was announced that there was a warrant for his arrest. In fact, there had been a warrant for his arrest for months!
He evidently got wind of that and so he’s out stirring up trouble. What’s he got to lose? How about his father’s name? His father was killed, murdered by Saddam Hussein. We take out the man that killed his dad and so he’s killing us?
Is he not his father’s son (in spirit and lifestyle as many are not)? Has his leadership position gone to his head and overly stroked his ego? He has an army of some 10,000 adherents, so is he really just a rebel inside a good name? Of could he be just plain ole sadistic?
Whatever he is, his days are numbered. He can only hide out in his Mosque for so long.
Many of us could ask the questions, found in the last paragraph, of ourselves. It’s easy to see the errors of others while finding the mirror fogged over when we peer into it to check ourselves out.
Meanwhile back here in the U.S. we have another Sadr-type. Did you hear Ted Kennedy’s tirade against Bush Monday? Whew! Attacks of words can carry as much damage as attacks from things.
CONDI & MOQTADA AL-SADR
April 4, 2005
It’s getting more and more interesting- and deadly. I think only the gods know what the outcome will be in Iraq- and they’re not talking.
Iraq seems to be spiraling out of control as the weekend death toll sets a new record. I’ve lost count: too many numbers being reported by differing sources. Depending upon the source, somewhere between 10-15 U.S. military men have lost their lives in the past three days.
The radical Shiites who follow Al-Sadr went looting and shooting Sunday, killing seven of our service men in Baghdad alone. And we’ve still not responded to the death of the four contractors in Fallujah.
In the meantime. Condi takes the hot seat this week before the 9-11 Commission and fireworks are sure to go off; however, it’s not a matter of life and death- only the presidency. It’s obvious that the Bush administration has a lot of fires to put out.
As we head towards Easter Sunday, we can only hope and pray for some sort of resurrection of decent human values in Iraq, lest all hell breaks loose: read civil war.
WHAT A BUNCH OF BULL
April 1, 2005
I can remember my senior year of college, living in a third floor apartment like most married college kids did. You had to climb those metal stairs up the outside of the 80 year old home. But, what’s a twenty-two year to complain about anyway?
It was an evening meeting with a financial consultant that brought my memory to this image. He was pitching a Dreyfus Fund and telling me that if I would put my money in the stock market, I could NOT LOSE! He had the records!
There was no Nasdaq so the DOW was- and still is, the big measuring rod of stock market success. There were only 30 stocks in the Dow, but it was the barometer of things golden. And the point is?
It was announced Thursday, that on April 8th, the Dow would trash three coporations (AT&T, Kodak, and IP) and take on three new ones: AIG, Verizon, and Pfizer.
Oh, so that’s how the Dow does so well. You take a corporation like AT&T that’s lost 65% of it’s value ($60 stock now selling for $21), and replace it with a stock that’s doing well. What a shell game! What a bunch of bull. The three going out were MANUFACTURING corporations. We no longer manufacture stuff- we just buy it- from China.
The Dow has done well ever since it’s inception (1896) and ever since it adopted the 30 stock scenario (1928). The last change was in 1999 when the Nasdaq hype was at it’s peak. Itel and Microsoft were added then (as well as Home Depot and SBC).
Things are not always as they seem and 38 years later, I understand that a little more.
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