As we bid a final “Good Riddance” to the Bumbler-In-Chief, a little retrospective at his “legacy” is hard to resist. Yes, George W. Bush may be headed back to the obscurity of his Texas ranch…but his “legacy” will haunt us for decades…

Click here to watch the movie.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

Outgoing presidents like to “tie up loose ends” and place their ideological stamp on all sorts of governmental regulations and programs. Clinton did it. So did many of his predecessors. Often times, these last minute regulatory efforts take place in the final days or hours of an outgoing presidents term. But because new or revised regulations have a specific path they must take before becoming active, incoming presidents can sometimes halt or even negate these plans. It isn’t uncommon. In fact, when W took office, he ordered a halt to all of Clinton’s last minute regulations that had not yet been published in the federal register.

Hoping to avoid a halt to his own last minute regulations, the Bush administration got the ball rolling early, hoping to have over 90 new or revised regulations on the books before Obama can take the oath of office.  So what’s the problem? Isn’t Bush just doing what many previous outgoing presidents have done? Well, yes…and no.

Where Clinton’s end of term regulations sought to strengthen enviromental policy or help create more parity with regards to publically funded aid programs, it seems that Bush’s regulatory efforts do the exact opposite, and may also add to an already overburdened national treasury.

Some of the changes Bush seeks to stamp in cement before he departs include:

CIVIL LILBERTIES: Expanded F.B.I. guidelines that permit agents to use chillingly intrusive techniques to collect information on Americans even where there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

ENVIRONMENT: Weakening the Endangered Species Act even further; rules that weaken clean air and water standards; opening even more federal lands for gas and oil exploration. Also, easing restrictions on mountaintop mining, removing mining restrictions near the Grand Canyon and easing rules on power plant emissions.

ABORTION RIGHTS: New regulations aimed at further limiting women’s access to abortion, contraceptives and information about their reproductive health care options.

ECONOMIC: Restored tax breaks for banks that take big losses on bad loans inherited through acquisitions. Now that this change is in the works, JPMorgan Chase and others are planning to use their bailout funds for mergers and acquisitions, transactions that will be greatly enhanced by the new tax subsidy.

Bush’s last minute regulations are really more DEREGULATIONS aimed at rewarding those remaining loyalist in corporate America. And if we’ve learned nothing from this whole economic crisis, it’s that when Republicans DEREGULATE it doesn’t bode well for John and Jane America.

Bush wants to leave his mark, but he seems to not understain that what he’s already left (and apparently wants to leave more of) is a big ugly stain. Apparently not content with being the least popular president AND the worst president in US history, Bush wants to make sure he can still screw things up when he’s out clearing brush at the ranch. With an economy in ruins, a military stretched to the breaking point, and an international reputation in tatters, Bush has already tied the hands of his successor to a great degree. But it just doesn’t seem to be enough for the Decider.

Some presidents want to be remembered for the good things they do. Sadly for America, George W. Bush has never done anything good in his life. So if we’re going to remember him for his failures, it seems that he wants to be sure to leave us plenty to ruminate on.

Barack Obama has a tough road ahead of him. So do we all.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

Here’s hoping I’m completely wrong, that we all get a chance to vote and that Bush is sent packing- and McCain too! If I’m right though, I’ll try to hook up with you in Canada.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

A look at his financial accomplishments:

Airline Industry bail-out (2001) $19 Billion

Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac bail-out (2008) $200 Billion

Bear Stearns bail-out (2008) $30 Billion

AIG bail-out (2008) $85 Billion

Wall Street Comprehensive bail-out (2008) $700 Billion

Auto Industry bail-out (2008) $25 Billion (passed as part of the Wall Street comprehensive bail-out)

Fed Bank bail-out (2008) $99 Billion (additional $$ pledged AFTER the Treasury Dept. bail-out of Wall Street)

Military-Mercenary Industry Give-away (2001-2008) $713 billion

Tax Cuts for the Wealthy bail-out (2001-2008) $1.3 Trillion

GRAND TOTAL: $3.171 Trillion dollars

Interestingly enough, the federal deficit since Bush took office has risen almost $3.8 Trillion.

And the GOP is worried that the Democrats will engineer the largest transfer of wealth in this country’s history? Give me a break already.

(Cross posted at Bring It On)

Taking a cue from the King of Made-Up Reality, George W. Bush, the GOP and their candidates have unleashed an alternate reality that they want all Americans to believe.

King George has spent the last 8 years not listening to reality. According to Bush, the economy is fine, Iraq was the best place to target terrorism, nepotism makes for the best government, drilling for off shore oil will bring gas prices down immediately, and massive debt is what future generations of Americans really want and need.

GOP heir-apparent John McCain has so much trouble with the truth that he hasn’t spoken realistically for months. According to McCain, the middle class consists of people who make about $250,000 a year, being a maverick means bucking the party line as much as 10% of the time, POW and POTUS are really interchangable, and his VP choice is someone who hates earmarks as much as he claims to.

The newest member of the GOP glamour gang is Sarah Palin who wouldn’t know reality if it bit her in the knee. According to Palin, abstinance education really works and is the only method worth teaching, God rejoices over pipelines, and that shooting animals from an airplane is the only sporting way to hunt for your trophies.

SEE NO REALITY.  HEAR NO REALITY.  SPEAK NO REALITY.

Better yet…just make up your own reality and repeat it over and over and over again.

You want reality? Here is the reality that the 21st century GOP has brought to America.

Iraq War…torture…gross mismanagement of funds…record deficits…corporate malfeasance…Dick Cheney…Katrina…cronyism…Donald Rumsfeld…economic meltdown…anti-science…politicization of government agencies…Terry Schiavo fiasco…Alberto Gonzales…high unemployment…outsourcing to mercenaries…swiftboating of politics…Iranian nukes…tension with Russia…John Ashcroft…Walter Reed Medical Center…domestic spying…massive future debt…Condi Rice…bankrupted state treasuries…national security theater…Samuel Alito…billions of dollars sent to Pakistan and nothing to show for it…bin Laden still at large…skyrocketing energy costs…widening income gap between rich and poor…Harriet Myers…suspended endangered species act…denial of environmental crisis…The Bridge To Nowhere…foreign distrust…falling dollar value…Karl Rove…tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans…nuclear proliferation…biggest expansion of government in generations and nothing to show for it…Tom DeLay…attorneygate…power to the lobbyists…religious disharmony…

And that’s just the “easy to identify” list. Some say reality is what you make it. This is the reality that the GOP has made in America. Is this the reality you want for another four years or more?

McCain/Palin are now promising change. They lie. The only change they seek is more regressive social and economic policies for Americans. The only change they desire is more debt and war and religiously based laws. The only change we can count on from them is even more government bullying and lies. That is the reality they can promise and that you can expect from the GOP.

If reality really is what we make it, it’s time for a new reality.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

(photo credit www.werescrewed08.com)

Convention fever is lighting up the 2008 presidential elections here in the United States- the time for the major political parties to formally nominate their candidates for the general election, for the party faithful to gather and pat each other on the back while mending wounds inflicted during the primaries, and for the political poobahs to flower the nation with promises of a better world ahead. It is a time when the candidates will try and persuade us that they have the right vision and the right stuff to pull America out of the slump of economic decline, foreign war entanglements, and healthcare nightmares. It is a time when the Democrats and the Republicans will seek to prove that only they have the cure to America’s ills, the magic elixir that will make everything all right again.

As if…..

Folks, it’s time for a little reality check. This election is not about fixing America, per se, as much as it is about putting America on a new path forward. Truth of the matter is this: 8 years under George W. Bush (6 years with a compliant GOP Congress and the last 2 with a spineless DEM Congress) has turned the foundation of America on its head, divided the electorate more than ever before, created a less safe and more unstable world, bankrupted the national treasury, demolished our international reputation, and laid the path for continued ecologic and economic ruin and havoc. Of the two main choices for president this election year, one candidate will continue down this path with glee; the other, at best, can slow the forward momentum into the abyss and attempt to lay the groundwork for an altered tomorrow.

Here’s the rub…

Economic future- unless you are an oil company, or a high paid executive, or a politician, the economic outlook for the near future is gloomy. You’ve lost ground with the dollar, your property, and your wages at a time when energy costs have skyrocketed and boosted up the costs of all goods and services. Looking farther ahead, the treasury has reached record deficits and the congress keeps allowing themselves to spend more and raise the legal debt limits, meaning that your grandkids will be paying back China for the Iraq War and the recent questionable tax “rebates” among other things.  Social Security and Medicare are reaching insolvency.

Energy Supply- Despite spurious claims that drilling for oil in America will solve our short term energy problems, the fact is that our oil economy is headed for a brick wall. No amount of forewarning was heeded in America and the crux is that we will face serious lifestyle alterations fueled by an oil crisis. You think we have it tough now with gas at $4/gallon? If we continue to resist a changed course these may well seem like good times, vis-a-vis our energy needs. Our national ignorance and lassaiz-faire attitude towards oil usage and all that is incumbent on its availability will create a serious fault in the foundation of the American dream. It will happen, and the longer we delay real, serious alternatives, the worse the fall will be.

International relationships- The War in Iraq was by far the worst international ploy ever undertaken by an American administration. It has made an already dangerous region even more unstable, zapped American military strength and reputation to the point of paralysis when other world situations arise. Our presence in that debacle has emboldened Russia to return to its own empire building machinations and oil resource power plays. The Bush “with us or against us” mantra has alienated former allies and ignited other regions to become more active foes. And the duplicity with which this “policy” has been applied has further damaged our reputation as champions of freedom and democratic values.

Internal Damage- From illegal domestic spying to politicizing the Justice Department to appointing inept cronies to important positions of responsibility to outsourcing federal responsibilities to mercenary corporations to playing theater with national security….the damage Bush has done to America is both immense and self-perpetuating. Decades of dismantling the messes Bush has purposely created will be required to put this country back on an even keel.

Make no mistake- of the two plausible contenders for president, neither can come close to achieving the promises they put forth. No, wait a minute…actually McCain could. But that’s only because he promises to continue down the path Bush has forged. And with the reality being that the make-up and mental attitude of Congress will not change dramatically this election, a McCain presidency modeled after Bush would almost certainly accelerate the disaster we’re already ensconced in.

For Obama, the task is much harder. Campaigning on the mantle of change, he has raised the expectations of his base and the rest of the nation to a level of unreality. As usual, most Americans live on the sound bites without seeking to know or understand the reality behind the lens. Politicians know the reality but just don’t give much of a damn. They seek to get and hold power. And while Obama may indeed by a new breed of politician, one who actually cares about service over power and politics, his hands are as tied by Bush’s misdeeds as McCain’s mouth is watering to be the next big GOP failure.

In 2006, I wrote a post about what I expected from the Democrats once the regained a majority in Congress. To my chagrin, they have done nothing of substance to change our path and indeed have continued to abet Bush in his own calamitous course. These same folks will continue to make up the majority of our law making body. If McCain succeeds in the election, they will continue to bluster while making few efforts at change. They may stall some policy plans, but in the end, the will either acquiesce or spend time making political hay and further alienating Americans from their government. If Obama can win, he’ll spend the next four years having to explain why his promises haven’t become reality and fending off GOP attack dogs.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m going with Obama. I think that his view for the future is infinitely more palatable that that of McCain. But this time, when the Democrats regain the White House, and when they achieve a slightly larger congressional majority, the best I think I can hope for is 4 years of repair work. The real change I seek isn’t universal health care in 4 years or an immediate withdrawal from Iraq or a realistic and viable energy policy. And it’s not that these things aren’t desperately needed. It’s just that those aims aren’t realistic.

The best we can hope for is some restoration of common sense governance and principled public service. We need a leader who is not only willing to propose and make changes, but who can guide us through the painful times ahead…who can not only make this country understand the need for serious and drastic changes in the way things work, but who can bring us to accept those changes as necessary for a better future for our children and the dream of real freedom and democracy. In short, we need a leader who will make us finally face the truth that how we’ve been doing things can’t continue and then do something about it.

If McCain becomes the next president, we’re totally screwed. If Obama becomes the next president, we’re still screwed, but maybe less so. For at least Obama recognizes that the status quo is broken and seems willing to change things.

Hope and Change? More like hope FOR change. Our path is unsustainable by any measure. We need to abandon this path completely. McCain charges ahead down the path to ruin. Obama at least seems ready and willing to make a new path altogether.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

Foiling Terror Plots Doesn’t Take An Army (August 10, 2006)

Law Enforcement Continuing To Succeed Where War Fails (October 4, 2006)

New Alleged Terror Plot Thwarted-Again Without Destroying A Foreign Country (June 2, 2007)

U.S. Should Rethink “War On Terrorism” Strategy to Deal with Resurgent Al Qaida (July 29, 2008)

These articles, covering a span of about two years, are all saying the same thing: fighting terrorism is better done through law enforcement than through war. Interesting enough, the first three articles were written by me and posted at Bring It On. The final article was published yesterday by the Rand Corporation, a think tank developed by the US Air Force after WWII and today a major supplier of policy advice to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the unified commands and other defense agencies. Seems like the Rand Corporation is a little behind the “obvious curve.”

In it’s newly released report, the Rand Corporation says:

“Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests that there is no battlefield solution to terrorism.” -Seth Jones, the study’s lead author and a political scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

Hmmmmm….sounds an awful lot like this:

“There are terrorists who want to harm the west, specifically killing as many civilians as they can. If they are determined enough, some will succeed. But through the application of solid investigative work and application of the rule of law, many of these folks have been stopped before reaching their murderous intentions.” – Ken Grandlund, 8-10-06

And this:

“Law enforcement, including cooperation with intelligence agencies and other countries, is more effective in breaking up terror cells than going to war.” – Ken Grandlund, 6-2-07

I’m not trying to brag here. I’m just pointing out that for over two years, I’ve been saying publically what the Rand Corporation (and presumably the folks who rely on its reports to craft policy) is only now figuring out. I’m no genius, but then again, it doesn’t take a genius to state the obvious. Apparently it just takes waiting for an idiot president who has squandered untold billions of dollars, thousands of American lives, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, soiled the reputation of the United States of America and garnered the disgust of people everywhere to enter his final months in office for someone (in a position to be really heard) to finally stand up and state the obvious.

(Sarcastic) Kudos to the Rand Corporation and every other asshat politician, corporate executive, and neo-con ass-licker for finally facing the facts- namely that massive military action is a stupid way to deal with terrorists.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

The context for the above quote lies in a meeting President Bush had with Congressional Republicans and aides back in 2005 when they were discussing how to renew the Patriot Act. His outburst came after an aide pointed out that certain provisions of the Patriot Act undermined the U.S. Constitution. Yet even without this quote, which has been vigorously denied by conservative lapdogs, a look at the Bush presidency reveals the disdain Bush has for our national charter, and by association, the concept of democratic governance.

When the American colonists broke the chains of servitude to the monarchy, they set out to create a government by, for, and of the people, modeled on the ancient Greek experiments with democracy. Having endured the abuses of power ubiquitous in a monarchical government, the framers of the U.S. Constitution sought to create a government whereby the people were to be protected from the abuses of governmental intrusion and largess. Under a monarch, there were no individual rights, no quarter from the dictates of the king, no protection from abusive or arbitrary rulings. When the king wanted money, he took it. When the king wanted to go to war, he conscripted his troops. When the king declared a law, there was no room for recourse or debate. This kind of rule offered no freedom, and it was this kind of rule that the Constitution was created to protect against.

And by and large, even with the imperfections and inequities of its origin, the U.S. Constitution has endured and even expanded the concept of freedom and equality over our 220+ years of existence. It has done so for one very important reason- successive generations of American citizens and political leaders have embraced its underlying and all encompassing central theme- government exists at the will of the people, to serve the needs and desires of the people, and must, in its course, be accountable and transparent to the people.

That is not to say that all American politicians throughout our history have embraced these concepts equally. It’s not hard to find dozens of examples of elected officials subverting democracy for personal gain or from a sense of historic necessity. And if the truth shall be told, a great many 20th century American politicians have been complicit in the erosion of a strong tripartite government, in the weakening of the power of the people, and of the overall dismantling of our carefully crafted charter. Indeed, were it not for complicit Congresses, no president alone could have managed to transform our democratic republic into an oligarchy. Regardless, before Geroge W. Bush had himself annointed “Decider in Charge,” most politicians still held that no one, not even the president, could be above the law and that even the president had to abide by the restrictions set forth in the Constitution. And with but a few notable exceptions, even during this country’s greatest challenges like the Civil War and World War II, presidents and congresspersons alike held fast to the provisions in our Constitution that guaranteed certain powers to each branch of government and guaranteed certain rights to American citizens.

I should concede right now that the general powers of our government today are very different than those originally anticipated by the writers of our Constitution. Our government is much more intrusive then they would have liked it to be. And the addition of layers of federal bureaucracy over the decades have grown the size of our government to enormous proportions. But with a few exceptions, governmental expansion, and with it an increase in the power of government and its various branches, has been codified into law with the consent of the governed. The New Deal programs that helped lift this country out of the Great Depression of the 1930’s greatly expanded the role of government into everyday life, but it did so under the support of the majority of Americans. The expansion of governmental services crafted under the Great Society were somewhat more controversial, but were still acted upon with the consent of a majority of Americans who sought to create a more enlightened government that would help its people achieve success without squashing their freedoms. While these governmental expansions clearly exceeded the original intent of the federal government, verbage in the preamble of the Constitution does indeed allow for government to act to “promote the general welfare” and under the sometimes silent direction of their constituents, elected politicians promoted and passed laws to cover a wide range of “public” issues. However, with each passage of a new program or policy, bureaucracies and departments had to be created to fulfill the various mandates, and by the nature of the Constitution, all those new bureaucracies and departments fell under the Executive branch, in essence giving more and more power to the president and his appointees. Most presidents tried to balance the addition of power with the constitutional theory of balance of power. And most congresses and Supreme Courts took pains to keep each branch of government in check. Even Richard Nixon found that the idea “if the president does it it isn’t illegal” didn’t hold water in American government and was forced to resign the presidency for abusing the powers of his office.

But something about following the rules just doesn’t seem to sit well with our current president, George W. Bush. And under the guise of “national security” and “terrorism,” and with our history’s most compliant and spineless Congresses, Bush has turned our government into a parady of its founders vision. Under Bush, not only has abuse of power run roughshod over the tenets of democratic governance, the very notion of government by the people has been corrupted to become government in spite of the people. Where once the Constitution was used to protect people from the abuses of government, now the Constitution is subverted to protect government from the people.

Consider the constant use of signing statements under Bush. While there is plenty of historical precedent for presidents to attach commentary to bills they sign, no president has done so with such frequency and vehemence than Bush. Where other presidents may have used the “signing statement” opportunity to clarify thoughts on laws, Bush has used them to justify ignoring or effectively anulling the law altogether.

Or consider Bush’s claims of executive privilege for anything under the sun, including applying it to instances where it has no legal basis. Executive privilege was designed to shield a president, their actions or words, from public scrutiny when the topic at hand required secrecy and the ability to drop diplomacy from the conversation. But Bush has extended “executive privilege” to cover any situation of any executive branch function, regardless of whether or not the president was involved in a particular conversation or not. The most recent and classic examples involve Bush’s order to former aides Harriet Miers and Josh Bolton to ignore a congressinal subpoena, and to his Justice department to refuse to act on the subsequent contempt of congress charges. Executive privilege was designed to shield a president, not every political hack he ever appointed to a position of incompetence.

Yet these transgressions (or rather, willful acts of constitutional subversion) are only the tip of an unwelcome iceburg of constitutional debasements perpetuated upon America by George W. Bush. Whereas previous presidents often had the public on their side for major governmental shifts on purpose, Bush and his congressional lackeys have not had large scale public support for their most odious and harmful actions. And such support as they may have originally held in the wake of the 9-11 attacks has withered away as presidential excess has destroyed American credibility and debased the Constitution to “just a goddamned piece of paper.”

Abuses of power and the dismantling of the Constitution under Bush has reached previously unknown heights, and our nations great founders are likely rolling in their graves. Among the most grevious transgressions:

Warrantless wiretapping and the presidential decree that private business be shielded from prosecution for abetting illegal governmental actions. The constitution forbids warrantless searches, but some have been allowed through subsequent legislation provided that certain steps are followed. Bush decided he didn’t even need to follow those rules and ordered the most massive warrantless spying program in history.

The introduction of presidentially approved torture, kidnapping and detention in the name of national security. Violating the Constitution is like Bush’s hobby. The Bill of Rights explicitly forbids punishment that is cruel and unusual (torture) as well as detention without charges or trial. And kidnapping is illegal pretty much throughout the civilized world. No amount of argument about how the “terrorists” do it so we will too is acceptable. Security does not require giving up your humanity.

Government secrecy, from Cheney’s secret energy meetings to covering up or ignoring the truth about Iraqi weapons programs to the world’s biggest “lost e-mail” treasure trove, in the Bush administration, information is not for public consumption. Our government was designed to be open and accountable, but to be so it requires that information be shared and public. Under Bush, accountability is non-existant, in part because the flow of information stops at the White House door.

The list could go on for pages and pages, but most of us, even the deniers and Bush lovers, are familiar with the multitude of constitutional transgressions put forth by George W. Bush. And while it is important to recoginze the shared culpability of all elected officials who have given this man-child free reign, it is even more important to recognize that had we not had a president of such pettiness and immaturity, a great many of these abuses would never have occurred and America might still have some standing on the world stage that was not accorded simply due to the might of our military.

Make no mistake- I allow no excuse for the elected Republican and Democrat leaders who have sat idly by and acquiesced or abetted Bush on his path of Constitutional destruction. They are all guilty of cowardice at best, of treason at worst. The congress has repeatedly abrogated its own responsibility as an equal branch of government and allowed these things to go unchallenged.

But it is Bush, and Bush alone, who is responsible for debasing our Constitution and for setting precedents that will make future presidents even less accountable to the people. Now, because of Geroge W. Bush, our only real hope in restoring the concepts and ideals of democracy is to actually get a president who respects not only the Constitution and its meaning and historical importance, but who respects the American people and is ready and willing to deconstruct the vile separation that has been built between the people and our government by George W. Bush.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

Conservatives hate socialism. We know this is true because they tell us how evil socialism really is every chance they get. According to many conservatives, socialist public policies are to blame for everything from the destruction of the American family (think welfare) to the crumbling of American manufacturing (think labor unions) to the financial straits of the American government (think Social Security, Medicare, and any non-defense related government spending). If there is a problem in America, odds are that some socialist policy is behind it, or so a conservative might assert.

Many conservatives insist that socialism will destroy America, that Democrats are really just socialists at heart, and therefore that Democrats destroy America. Even more, they confuse socialism and communism, and insist that Democrats are just communists bent on destroying the wonders of American capitalism by taking “our money” and giving it to the “worthless, lazy slobs” who are too stupid to grab a real chunk of the “American dream.” Conservatives are loathe to approve public policies that spend taxpayer money on healthcare or childcare or food assistance or anything that diverts tax money away from corporations and towards the citizens.

For conservatives, the notion of Capitalist Socialism is an oxymoron, an impossibility, an evil force of perveted economics. Unless you’re talking about the kind of socialism whereby the public has to bail out private corporations who have managed their affairs so badly that their collapse might have widespread economic implications. In that case, socialism is not only okay, it’s the only way to go.

The general public actually embraces some forms of Capitalist Socialism, like the ever popular Social Security program. Truth be told, most of our “public” institutions are funded through a form of socialism. When our taxes are spent on hospitals or schools or police departments, this is a form of socialism. We all pay for the services that we all receive. Our system of capitalism depends upon socialism in this form, as does any democratic country and government. But the conservatives ignore the fact of this kind of socialism because it provides them with billions of dollars to dispense annually, and they like to give our tax money to fat cat corporations by way of no-bid contracts or public bail-outs.

It is a hypocrisy that is lost on most people though, because of the demonized reputation the word “socialism” has gotten at the hands of the conservative political machine. Ask your average citizen how they feel about socialism and you’ll probably get an earful of criticism. But try to explain that we already live under a form of socialism and you’ll be speaking to deaf ears. We can’t be socialist! We’re a damn democracy, and we’re capitalists to boot.

Uh, yeah. Right.

I’m not against socialist programs per se. Our social safety net programs have helped millions of Americans over the years to avoid abject poverty. And to be fair, many of our socialist programs have not lived up to their potential, although I would insist that any failures lie at the hands of greedy politicians and political special interest groups more than in the design of the programs themselves. Social Security, one of the biggest socialist programs we have (in terms of overall cost) is nearing insolvency as much because of politicians raiding the fund as the rising population of retirees. But when it comes to corporate bail-outs where the failure lies in lax oversight or outright fraud, I have to say I’m not all that keen on corporate socialism. Especially when those individuals at the top of the corporate heap, who laugh all the way to their off-shore banks, are never held responsible in any meaningful way for their corrupt practices that result in massive financial loss to average working folks and end up costing us all when the government steps in to bail them out.

The current financial crisis in the mortgage industry is a direct result of the Bush administration’s laissez-faire attitude towards financial regulation and oversight. You’d have thought that the Enron collapse (and other corporate meltdowns over the last 7 years) would have opened the publics eyes, and maybe it did for a few minutes. But put a sweet, juicy apple in front of a horse and he may well forget that the last apple you  gave him was really just a piece of rotton fruit. When Bush proclaimed his desire to create “The Ownership Society” he was handing us an apple. It did taste pretty good for a few chews, but as we reach the core, we can see how rotton it really was. And the taste seems to be lingering far longer than it ever should.

By creating an atmosphere of lax enforcement and by stripping away funding for regulation and any sort of oversight, the mortgage industry called open season on America. They played fast and furious to get anyone into a home regardless of the financial realities such moves required. They got paid when the made the loan, then they sold the loan and got paid again. They didn’t give a crap about the people at the end of the trail though, those who would ultimately be left holding worthless loan notes because the original borrower would never be able to pay the full rates when the juicy apple revealed itself to be rotton.

And by and large, as the banking system is brought to its knees by its own greed, none of those folks who fueled the boom will be held responsible. Much like the German Army of the 19030’s and 1940’s, these fine folks were just following orders. They didn’t make the rules after all. Why should they be held responsible?

Socialism has some good qualities- like the collective payments for public institutions and infrastructure or social safety nets that promote work while offering a hand in hard times. But socialism also has an evil side, just like the conservatives tell us it does. It’s called corporate socialism. Isn’t it funny how it’s the only aspect of socialism that the conservatives really seem to love?

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

Concluding his final meeting with world leaders at the G8 summit, U.S. President George W. Bush pumped his fist into the air and boldly announced, “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.”

Probably thinking he was being amusing, Bush got no props from the other world leaders who stood by with looks of shock on their faces.

It’s well known around the world that Bush cares little for the environmental well being of this (or probably any other) planet. He unilaterally withdrew the US from any kind of climate action treaties upon taking office and spent the first 6 years denying that the world faced any real threat from manmade pollution. He purposfully degraded the EPA and made attempts to politicize its findings. And when the EPA sent the president an e-mail report decrying the problems with greenhouse gas pollutants, Bush just ignored them altogether. He didn’t even open the report. 

As if to punctuate his public “Fuck Off World” message he left the G8 leaders with, US lawmakers announced today that no efforts to tackle greenhouse emissions will occur until AFTER Bush leaves office. This is a tacit acceptance by the EPA that Bush will only delay or deny efforts to reduce greenhouse pollution while still at the helm.

Here’s to hoping that all of Bush’s future progeny are born with extra limbs and deformed gonads.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)