FOR EIGHT FABULOUS YEARS
I know – only 7 and a half, but we trust you
Mr. President I know you agree that when we’re 7 years old, and our teacher shows us a video of some solemn occasion taking place in Washington, the President is always larger than life. At that impressionable age, we’re led to believe he (you) can walk on water, settle all of life’s problems, and particularly in America because we do it so much; “…defeat the enemy on the battlefield.” (Note, at 7 we never wonder why we have so many “enemies” to defeat, but I realize you never had time to tell us. All you said was “…they hate us because we’re free,” but a severely retarded friend of mine asked me “Who is he trying to kid?” I defended you on that one.)
The fact is, we all remain awed by your intellect, leadership, personal courage in combat under fire, and unwavering devotion to the country. So with that beginning, herein a sort of conversational history of your term in office, or a sort of score card on your extensive vision and wisdom, in your own words, for you to savor as you leave office.
Here are some of your predecessor’s offerings, to assure the nation. I know they will seem puerile to you, but they are all samples of Presidential utterings before you rode in from Texas to unite the country.
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself”
“Ask not what your country can do for you …”
“Give me liberty or give me death”
“A nation cannot exist half slave and half free”
“I regret I have but one life to give for my country”
Then moving on in history a bit, we remember:
“It’s not illegal when the President does it”
“I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow.”
SO – with those memorable statements by some of America’s past leaders as a guide for you as you leave office next January Mr. President, we humbly offer this tribute to your tenure as Commander-in-Thief.
Let’s start with your term as Governor. We remember you ran on a promise to clean up the air pollution in Texas. You passed a Clean Air bill once you were in office, and some say it wasn’t very strict.
“Oh yes, it was. Very strict. It required the cump-nees to mon-or their discharge of pollutation, even if they had to mon-or it on the weekend. That’s hard.”
Well, some of the companies just simply proceeded as they had always done, and the air pollution in Texas increased!
“Heh-heh-heh. See? Increase! Heh-heh-heh. Positive for Tex-iss.”
Coincidentally, about that time the owners of the Texas Baseball Club wanted to force the citizens of Arlington to pass an increase in the sales tax in order to build them a new stadium. They’d get rich with a new stadium, paid for by others.
“Yeah. Heh-heh.”
Well, they put you in as a partner, cost you nothing, and with your name on their Board, the sales tax initiative passed. You waited a reasonable few months, and then sold your “share” of the Ball Club and the stadium for several – what? – 5 million? Six? Is that right?
“Yeah. Heh-heh.”
Okay. I guess that’s what passes for business practice, huh?
“Yeah. Heh-heh-heh. If you know bid-ness.”
Then when you made it known you were going to run for President, a series of stories came out about your Air Force service. Your performance was rated as poor, and before you were released, you simply left your base and went over to Alabama or somewhere. How did that work? Can members of the service just simply leave when they want to?
“Yeah. Well, my expertise was needed in a p’litickal campaign over there – the guy who was running needed my hep. The Air Force had a lot of other pilots, so I didn’t ness-airily have to stay, fortch-unly.”Heh-heh.”
So what did you do in the campaign?
“I taught the guy some things, you know, how to cam- pain, so as to really promote his cann-acy.””
Did he win?
“No, unfortch-unly his opponent cam-pained every single day, I mean con-stully!! We couldn’t be expected to do that! I guess he wasn’t ade-qua-lly prepared for the tough decision making. Not like me – I’m the de-cider.” But we deaf-ly ran a great cam-pain for him.”
Deaf-ly? You mean you were loud?
“No. We bas-ally campain-ed very well, covered all the bases, so as not to be accused of doing any cam-pain irreg-ularies. Heh-heh-heh. – if you know what I mean.”
But your only experience was with a losing campaign, for Congress. Why did he want your advice and your name on his campaign?
“Heh-heh-heh. If you have to ask, you don’t know bid-ness OR politicks. Heh-heh.”
Well, when you finally got into the White House, your first year was a total waste of time, until September and the WTC catastrophe, right?
“Yeah. Heh-heh.”
Then 2002 was all devoted to convincing the country to go to war with Iraq. Right?
“Yeah. Sure was. WMD, Sodd-am – WMD. Mushroom Cloud. Terra. Heh-Heh-heh. Mobile Germ Warfare labs. Scuds. Fight ‘em over there so we don’t have to fight ‘em over here. Heh-heh-heh- know what I mean?”
Why were you so hell-bent on taking the country to war?
“Well, un-fortch-unly, it was now ab’sly certain that SODD-am had stockpiles of nuc-ular weapons, so we bas-ally had no choice but to mon-or his nu-cular activities very closely. In fact, we mon-ored him con-stally as it turned out, because without close mon-oring, he could deliver a nucu-lar missile toward Israel at any time, which would deaf-ly become a distraction from the Poll results. I wasn’t about to let this neg-ive-ly affect my Poll results at the time. I mean, after the bullhorn, you know, standing on the rubble. A proud moment in American history: the Commander-in-thief Chief rallying the whole nation !!! No American President had EVER done that before. He could also send us one under a mushroom cloud, so we had to act.”
Well – but he didn’t have the delivery capabilities to do that, did he?
“I don’t care about deliveries right now. Don’t change the subject. I’m talking about nucular bombs. Mushroom clouds! A terra strike on us. Stay the course. Terra-ism. It’s my job to proteck the American people, and I’m deaf-enly gonna do my job, do NOT mis-underestimate that. That’s a promise, and you can take that to the Dock.”
You mean to the Bank?
“What?”
Never mind. I understand your resolve, sir, but the facts don’t seem to fit the realities at the time.
“Please – don’t change the subject. I’m talking about the potential for terra here! I’m not gonna let the terra-RISTS strike America.”
I appreciate that. OK – so you rallied the Congress to give you the power to go after the terrorists, and they gave you millions of dollars and weapons and troops to use in Afghanistan, where the perpetrators were holed up. But very quickly, without any consent from Congress, or even advising Congress, you transferred that money to Iraq. It occurs to me that’s illegal, or at the very least, suspect.
“No, when the President does it, that means it’s not illegal, didn’t you know that? And - par-tick-yurly in Wartime.”
But why Iraq? Osama bin Laden was originally from Saudi Arabia and was reported to be in Afghanistan, along with his entire machinery for war. Why Iraq?
“We didn’t need his machinery, we had our own. Hum-vees, really big tanks. Airplanes, National Guard Troops, The Green Zone, trucks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, we had everything. It was a noble cause. Afghanistan only has Opium, Iraq has oil. But you can get high on either one – heh-heh-heh” little wartime joke. Heh-heh-heh.”
Invading Iraq was a noble cause?
“Of course. Heh-heh-heh. It was a 4-gone conclusion.”
A what?
“You know – a 4-gone conclusion. There were five countries over there to invade and have a war with. Saudi Arabia and Jordan and Syria and Egypt weren’t involved – that’s 4 of them gone, so we hit Sodd-am in Iraq.”
Okay. But when your troops searched, they never found the WMDs What about that???
“Well, you still don’t get it, do you? We didn’t ness-air-ly HAVE TO FIND WMDs – he’s got ‘em.”
But if you never found any … ?
(Interrupting) No, no, no, don’t worry about FINDING, let’s talk about WMDs, Weapons of Mass Destruction, mushroom clouds, nu-cu-lar bombs. He had ‘em – Dick Cheney said that, a number of times.”
Well, you haven’t found any ….
“Not yet. Heh-heh-heh. But I’m gonna stay the course.”
It looks like it. Well, let’s talk about the war. How would you say it’s going?
“Well, things are really improving since the surge. It’s really a hard job, being a wartime Prez-det of the You-Nigh-Stay, because someone is always asking a question about the war. They don’t realize how hard it is. They’re especially bad at sta-stis-stics – when we say the war is 39% better than last month, they just don’t understand.”
Actually, I don’t either.
“That’s why I’m the Prez-det and you’re not. I know what 39% looks like. That’s the percentage of Americans who vote for Prez-det. That favors us – heh-heh-heh. Little political joke – heh-heh. You just aren’t ade-qually prepared for a job this big, and this important, and with the polling activity so phenom-ally high, I have to be on my toes at all times.”
Are you saying your main concern is your rating as President, and not the potential for death and destruction in Iraq? The immeasurable agony and heartache of war places second to your ratings?
“Of course. You really don’t understand, do you? The Prez-det has to be on top of all things, in wartime. I’m a wartime prez-det. The people have to really like me, for the war to go ahead really good, you know, with a lot of guns firing, and cannons, and stealth airplanes dropping bombs, and only a few troops instead of a lot, and a new General to blame when the war goes bad, and asking Congress for 190 billion more in a new supplemental, and if they hesitate, they're not patriotic, they don't SUPPORT THE TROOPS - that's a magic phrase - heh-heh-heh, you know, high-class stuff like that. I mean, with all the addish-ul requirements I have to stay on top of, with all the sta-stis-sticks involved, being a wartime Prez-det is hard !! I mean, I can say cat-e-gor-ally this is the hardest job I’ve ever had.”
Well, what other job have you had?
“See? Gosh I’d hate to be you, and not see the big picture.”
Moving on, how do you think you’ll be viewed by history?
“That’s easy. I will ul-ti-my be remembered as a Prez-det who brought the people of the You-Nigh-Stay together. A compassionate Conservative, a brave Patriot in the Vietnam war, a real churchgoer, a brave Wartime Commander-in-thief Chief, an eloquent speaker, one who ---“
(Interrupting)
Excuse me, an eloquent speaker?
“Of course. Heh-heh. Don’t you remember the bullhorn? People all over the world remember that, they remember even in a stupid place like France. No more French Fries – it’s Freedom Fries. Or even in the Medi-ranian. I call it the MED – heh-heh. Those people remember the Bullhorn. Heh-heh – (then pantomiming his bullhorn speech) ‘AND THE PEOPLE WHO KNOCKED THESE BUILDINGS DOWN WILL HEAR FROM ALL OF US SOON.’ Heh-heh-heh” (Then Pantomiming the huge applause he got after this speech.)
“Then, after my speeches, I will be remembered for my bid-ness savvy – I’m an MBA, heh-heh-heh. Harvard Bid-ness School. In a select group, with an MBA from Harvard. They will remember my tax cuts to the rich – pretty savvy moves those were – I got millions back for – are you ready- CAMPAIGN FINANCE !! Heh-heh-heh. They will remember how I agg-ress-ally went after bin Laden and –
(interrupting)
But he escaped to Afghanistan and then Pakistan, and …
“There you go again – don’t you realize those countries don’t have any OIL ???
God! A number of Sen-ters backed my resolve to forget him and concentrate on Iraq. I don’t even think about him anymore – he’s not even mar-gally important now. Some left-winger ha-bitch-ully brings up his name at Press Conferences, and …..”
How do you answer that?
“Easy, if you know stategery. I just don’t schedule Press Conferences.” Heh-heh-heh.
I always AIR on the side of caution.”
You always what ???
“Air on the side of caution.”
Does that mean you breathe cautiously?
“God, who is sending me people like this? No, I said I always HEIR on the side of caution.”
Does that mean you always have a child carefully?
“Yeah, I think we did that, a couple of times. But you changed the subject first to breathing, then to having children. I per’s-ally need to give you some interviewing tips, and some exercises in the English language.”
BUT - THE VERB ERR RHYMES WITH HER.
“Okay, now you’re into poetry. Whatever. But I AM going to stay the course, and I will ul–ti-my be regarded as one of the best Prez-dets of the You-Nigh-Stay, you’ll see. There will be an as-ter-ik by my name, that defines me as: A Compassionate Conservative who proved he was a Uniter, and who Stayed The Course. It doesn’t get any better than that! Heh-heh-heh.” My programs in-cent bid-nesses to invest.”
Your programs do what?
“Give bid-nesses the incentive to invest in America. The Will to Win. The 11th hour. Grace under Pressure. Come from Behind. The two-minute protocol. Joe Montana. You know, a winning single in the 11th inning. Up San Juan Hill. The flag on Iwo Jima. Pearl Harbor. Bush leadership. World Trade Centers. Conquering Small Pox and Polio. The BullHorn. Little League. Fred Astaire and Ginger. YMOC, Clar-dank, The Prez-da-cy. Sin-der-ella . sikk-ich-uly
I was somewhat shocked to see this continuing, long after I thought he would have stopped it. His eyes had no life in them. The only thing that still resembled him was a smirk, and an occasional chuckle.
I tried to get a word in edgewise while this continued, so we could continue and wind this thing up. But I was never able to do it. It continued well beyond what any of us realized a person could sustain, and his volume dropped markedly as we were leaving. I studied his face carefully, and could see no recognition in his eyes whatever, and there was that ever-present wink with a smile - the wink that is always meaningless. My producers and staff finally all just agreed we had to pack up and get back to the office. The last things we heard, although in a hoarse voice, were
“Star Spangled Banner. Hand over the heart. Pledge of Allegiance, General Petraeus, Medal of Honor, Don Rumsfeld, Breaking the Sound barrier. America on the Moon. Stay the Course. WMD. Terra
In closing, I have to say this was the weirdest interview I’ve ever done. All I can say is, Mr. President, wherever you are, I wish you – on second thought, maybe not. You have a lot to answer for.
-30-
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
OPEN LETTER TO JOHN McCAIN
You Were Right All Along, John
Hey, John, this is Bob. I’m writing to let you know how right you were all along. You accurately nailed the folly of our ongoing practice of literally financing a lot of parasites in our society, and how to cut them loose. Great stuff! I mean, with literally thousands of them “…Feeding at the Washington Trough,” as you said, it’s a wonder we can call ourselves solvent. With all our real expenses piling up (Iraq, tax cuts, corporate tax cuts, prisoners expenses, building more submarines, etc.) we’ve got our hands full with must do expenses, and don’t need a lot of socialized freeloaders adding to our fiscal burden.
It was really Presidential of you, I have to say, when you had the courage and moral fiber to point out that we simply can no longer afford to finance such idiocy as Socialized Highway Departments. I mean, how goofy can we be, to fall for the idea of a government subsidizing the building and maintenance of our highways? God! You made a lot of friends, John, when you struck that practice down with your edict, which you correctly called Grave Assessment of the Situation, or GAS.
I know, you have other priorities to consider, there’s something new every day it seems. But your response to the charge that you will overuse the practice of signing statements to ignore laws that could inhibit you, was perfect. You simply considered your potential use of signing statements to be minimal procedural practice, and created another great program Defense Initiative (for) Rejecting Trivia, or DIRT. Calling it a national Defense measure will assure passage.
I’ve been waiting for the attacks on you from the media and others, for your correct stance on how we should treat the possibility of war with other nations. You’re absolutely correct, we can’t continue like we’re doing, with the expensive practice of “…Socialized Defense.” I mean, for the government to have to actually pay for a group of soldiers and Marines to go and fight some enemy, is what, Communism? You were right in calling it “Socialized Defense”. And your substitute - sending National Guard troops overseas, paid by their employers - was inspired. Think of the millions we’ll save with that program -– Defensive Unity (by) National Guards, or the DUNG program.
And while we’re at it, I saw your speech on the Economy the other day, which was brilliant. You sure quieted those who say you have no experience or study in Economics, when you pointed out that you have the answer for all money problems: your program you call WAR. Though some scoffed, your program you titled
Worldwide Aconomic Recovery, was brilliant. (I agree with you, we don’t have to sweat things like spelling. It’s not like you have to be flatulent in a number of languages.)
I won’t belabor things any more John, I know how busy you are. I’ll be able to rest as long as I know you’re going ahead with the elimination of things like “Socialized Education” (how arrogant is that, for us to pay for schooling poor people’s kids?) and “Socialized Police Forces”. But John, what I have had some really major concern about, truly, is the idea of “Socialized Medicine.” I know you won’t let it happen, I feel secure in that. The fact that it works flawlessly in Germany, Japan, Sweden, Britain, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Israel, etc. etc. is beside the point. Like you said recently, what do they know? All that talk about their success with “Socialized Medicine” is pure propaganda. It’s easy to see those countries are bankrupt, because they are countries that don’t have a large standing army, don’t have a Mach 3 fighter plane, or Attack Submarines, and actually buy into the Climate Change myth, so how can they speak authoritatively on anything?
And that left-wing statement that you and 553 other members of the congress and Senate are provided great medical care, is beside the point. I remember your answer was great. You said: “… It’s not “Socialized Medicine” when it’s for the Congress, because the cost is covered in our patriotic program: Government Reply (to) Every Existing Doubt.” GREED - so that subject is above criticism. Right? In addition, you’ve helped make sure that the Insurance companies maximize their profit by authorizing as little care, and accepting as few sick patients, as possible. When they said 75% of the cost of medicine is from “administrative costs,” we found out that what all those administrative costs and mountains of paperwork are for is denying care.
So the system is running good, huh, John? And as for you in the White House, it’s probably comforting for you to know that you will have a good inventory of the countries that match the mold, at least for your lifetime. You know, the Big three? The Los Tres as Bush taught you to say in Spanish? You now have two that fit, besides Iraq, that have:
Huge Oil Deposits
Nuclear Ambitions
They Hate us
So all you have to do, admittedly child’s play, probably, is make sure Hugo Chavez is “discovered” working on a bomb. (He already hates us, that was easy.) Then with Colombia, which is already 2/3 - we should be able to get the conversation going on their bomb ambitions, which will give us enough time to make sure oil is discovered in North Korea.
So it looks like smooth sailing, big guy. Hang tough in the coming election. It looks like either one of the Democratic candidates will be an easy smear. Hillary with her killing of Vince Foster and Barack with that Weather Underground dude – child’s play.
I’ll see you around the campus.
Swungnotes
Hey, John, this is Bob. I’m writing to let you know how right you were all along. You accurately nailed the folly of our ongoing practice of literally financing a lot of parasites in our society, and how to cut them loose. Great stuff! I mean, with literally thousands of them “…Feeding at the Washington Trough,” as you said, it’s a wonder we can call ourselves solvent. With all our real expenses piling up (Iraq, tax cuts, corporate tax cuts, prisoners expenses, building more submarines, etc.) we’ve got our hands full with must do expenses, and don’t need a lot of socialized freeloaders adding to our fiscal burden.
It was really Presidential of you, I have to say, when you had the courage and moral fiber to point out that we simply can no longer afford to finance such idiocy as Socialized Highway Departments. I mean, how goofy can we be, to fall for the idea of a government subsidizing the building and maintenance of our highways? God! You made a lot of friends, John, when you struck that practice down with your edict, which you correctly called Grave Assessment of the Situation, or GAS.
I know, you have other priorities to consider, there’s something new every day it seems. But your response to the charge that you will overuse the practice of signing statements to ignore laws that could inhibit you, was perfect. You simply considered your potential use of signing statements to be minimal procedural practice, and created another great program Defense Initiative (for) Rejecting Trivia, or DIRT. Calling it a national Defense measure will assure passage.
I’ve been waiting for the attacks on you from the media and others, for your correct stance on how we should treat the possibility of war with other nations. You’re absolutely correct, we can’t continue like we’re doing, with the expensive practice of “…Socialized Defense.” I mean, for the government to have to actually pay for a group of soldiers and Marines to go and fight some enemy, is what, Communism? You were right in calling it “Socialized Defense”. And your substitute - sending National Guard troops overseas, paid by their employers - was inspired. Think of the millions we’ll save with that program -– Defensive Unity (by) National Guards, or the DUNG program.
And while we’re at it, I saw your speech on the Economy the other day, which was brilliant. You sure quieted those who say you have no experience or study in Economics, when you pointed out that you have the answer for all money problems: your program you call WAR. Though some scoffed, your program you titled
Worldwide Aconomic Recovery, was brilliant. (I agree with you, we don’t have to sweat things like spelling. It’s not like you have to be flatulent in a number of languages.)
I won’t belabor things any more John, I know how busy you are. I’ll be able to rest as long as I know you’re going ahead with the elimination of things like “Socialized Education” (how arrogant is that, for us to pay for schooling poor people’s kids?) and “Socialized Police Forces”. But John, what I have had some really major concern about, truly, is the idea of “Socialized Medicine.” I know you won’t let it happen, I feel secure in that. The fact that it works flawlessly in Germany, Japan, Sweden, Britain, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Israel, etc. etc. is beside the point. Like you said recently, what do they know? All that talk about their success with “Socialized Medicine” is pure propaganda. It’s easy to see those countries are bankrupt, because they are countries that don’t have a large standing army, don’t have a Mach 3 fighter plane, or Attack Submarines, and actually buy into the Climate Change myth, so how can they speak authoritatively on anything?
And that left-wing statement that you and 553 other members of the congress and Senate are provided great medical care, is beside the point. I remember your answer was great. You said: “… It’s not “Socialized Medicine” when it’s for the Congress, because the cost is covered in our patriotic program: Government Reply (to) Every Existing Doubt.” GREED - so that subject is above criticism. Right? In addition, you’ve helped make sure that the Insurance companies maximize their profit by authorizing as little care, and accepting as few sick patients, as possible. When they said 75% of the cost of medicine is from “administrative costs,” we found out that what all those administrative costs and mountains of paperwork are for is denying care.
So the system is running good, huh, John? And as for you in the White House, it’s probably comforting for you to know that you will have a good inventory of the countries that match the mold, at least for your lifetime. You know, the Big three? The Los Tres as Bush taught you to say in Spanish? You now have two that fit, besides Iraq, that have:
Huge Oil Deposits
Nuclear Ambitions
They Hate us
So all you have to do, admittedly child’s play, probably, is make sure Hugo Chavez is “discovered” working on a bomb. (He already hates us, that was easy.) Then with Colombia, which is already 2/3 - we should be able to get the conversation going on their bomb ambitions, which will give us enough time to make sure oil is discovered in North Korea.
So it looks like smooth sailing, big guy. Hang tough in the coming election. It looks like either one of the Democratic candidates will be an easy smear. Hillary with her killing of Vince Foster and Barack with that Weather Underground dude – child’s play.
I’ll see you around the campus.
Swungnotes
Sunday, April 20, 2008
WHY AMERICA NEEDS A PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT – NOW
I don’t think you’d get any real opposition from intelligent Americans if you said we desperately need the mechanism to remove a loose cannon from the White House, if we realize we have one. It was widely suggested 200 years ago that the experiment in government being embarked upon by those in the New World – the were calling it Democracy – was fraught with problems. Among the problems with Democracy is the realization that, with this system, sooner or later the citizens will elect an idiot to the highest office.
We have now reached that miserable and untenable position – we have allowed an idiot to occupy the most powerful position on Planet Earth. And this situation is now in its eighth miserable year. True, his party machine stole the first election, the first 4 years, and their fingerprints for a similar theft in 2004 are everywhere. It is therefore abundantly clear, based on the performance of this presently serving idiot, that we need an improved set of guidelines for executive removal.
We – the millions of us in America who defiitely did NOT vote to elect this idiot to the highest office, still have to live (and suffer) with the results of his will. So as not to interrupt the flow of thought with a reading of his crimes at this point, I have listed just some of them at the end. Professor Jonathan Turley of George Washington University has listed 143 felonies perpetrated by this idiot and his minions, since he took office.
These facts are unacceptable. Aren’t they? They are. They’re unacceptable to all of us, and quite frankly, surely they’re unacceptable even to the most ardent, most loyal Republican, those having passed a sanity exam. The founding fathers, with their base of 18th Century values, obviously never suspected that the power of money would intrude so thoroughly into the recipe for good government. If you told Jefferson or Hamilton that candidates would raise and spend over $500 million in a campaign for President, they would declare you daft. They never imagined that the Press would be – or could be – completely transposed from a simple reporting of plain truth, to a very efficient mechanism for thought control. Franklin and Washington never gave so much as a passing thought to using war as the world’s most efficient generator of money. They would have soundly scolded, and just as soundly rejected, anyone who even suggested starting a war unilaterally, and would have swiftly thrown out and incarcerated anyone who did so based on lies.
Yet our present idiot has done just that, and much more, and the idiot-in-waiting is eagerly planning another military “adventure”, his own.
SO – how does a parliamentary form of government differ with what we have? In a presidential system, (what we have) all executive power is concentrated in the president. In a parliamentary system, with a collegial executive, power is more divided. One of the huge stumbling blocks in Washington is gridlock– that phenomenon of the Congress being unable to get any laws passed, due to the different agendas, and members of opposing parties. This is one of the most egregious of all sins for the Congress to subject the citizenry to. It’s obvious it is easier to pass legislation within a parliamentary system. This is because the executive branch is dependent upon the direct or indirect support of the legislative branch and often includes members of the legislature.
This alone is a great incentive for corruption-weary Americans to adopt the superior system of Parliamentary government. However, by far the most pressing reason for America to adopt the parliamentary system of government is its capacity to issue a vote of no confidence - remove an idiot in mid-term - instead of having to suffer with his or her continued gaffes and misdeeds and wars and recessions, and generation of hatred for us by the rest of the world, for a number of years more. As everyone knows by now, Bush sees everything as “good” or “evil,” nothing in between. He has remarked on more than one occasion that he sees himself as being a modern day Abe Lincoln, with the divided country, the war, etc. He would do well to read Lincoln’s take on good and evil, although we know he won’t:
“The true rule in determining to embrace, or reject anything, is not whether it has any evil in it, but whether it have more of evil, than of good. There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost every thing, especially governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two; thus our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.” Abe Lincoln, June 1848.
Here are just some of the excesses this person has inflicted on the good people of America, and by extension those of the world, since America’s power is so far reaching. While pondering these outrages, it’s my humble opinion that we should bear firmly in mind how many surrogates it took to assist him in carrying them out, even if the ideas were originally his. All of tho$e individual$ no doubt had a ve$ted intere$t in doing so.
Manipulation of the free press – if they ask tough, he simply eliminates them
Subjugation of the press – prohibiting photos of dead soldiers in caskets
The myth of polls – questions manipulated to achieve predictable outcome
The dishonesty of polls – 1000 people does not a majority position make
Money in politics – a cancer that at present appears forever incurable
Newspeople as rock stars – selected for beauty, paid outrageously, controlled
Forced the world to wait until he’s gone, to fight the imminent perils of climate change
Repeatedly violated the FISA Act – enacted primarily to prevent Bush’s abuses
Detainee abuse at G’TO – some held over 2 years without charges(!)
Abuse of War Crimes Act of 1996 –
Abusing, ignoring Geneva Convention
Trampled on and effectively gutted habeas corpus – the cornerstone of Law
Illegally diverted congressionally-voted funds for Afghanistan over to Iraq
Etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum, apparently.
It is therefore easily seen that if the United States converted to the Parliamentary system we could have prevented all the never-before-dreamed-of excesses of our present-day “Éxecutive Idiot”. There will be those who will ferret out some element in the Parliamentary system that will not set well with ordinary Americans, and that’s fine. But we have the power to adopt the one thing in the parliamentary system that will really work perfectly for us – the power to have a Vote of No Confidence on a ruling idiot, before he or she takes us any further down the slippery slope. We can do that – no one would doubt that we can do that much. After all, America is 219 years old, with Democracy, and Britain is what, 2000 years old, with a Parliamentary government. Any argument that takes issue with the efficacy or fairness of Parliamentarism is thus still born.
Finally, I will close this with the strongest possible reasoning to rid ourselves of this dangerous idiot at the helm of our ship of state. Allow me to pass along the summary rendering of a protracted psychiatric evaluation of George W Bush, by the celebrated team of John P Briggs, M.D. and JP Briggs II, Ph.D. John Briggs MD recently completed 40 years of psychiatric practice in Westchester County NY.
When the Defenses Become the Reality
We have noted in previous articles other prominent defenses Bush employs to cover his feelings of inadequacy: He is a classic emotional bully. Bullies disguise sensations of their own weakness by splitting the weakness off and casting it out of their own conscious awareness - projecting it - onto the consciousness of others. They generate a stream of signals and behaviors that keep others on guard and seek to enfeeble them. Bush's signing statements where he reserves the right not to abide by the law he's just adopted, his foreign policy asserting his right to preemptive strikes, his denial of Habeas Corpus, his fixation on retaining the torture option, his rejection of subpoenas from Congress, his demeaning of people by giving them nicknames - these are all emotional bullying tactics. Friends from his younger days remember that in basketball and tennis games Bush would force opponents who had beaten him to continue playing until he had worn down their will so he could beat them. Bush emotionally bullies his White House staff, making them afraid to tell him any news that doesn't fit his "optimistic" expectations. It’s known that Sr. Staffer Josh Bolton greets Bush each morning with: "Thank you for the privilege of serving."
John P Briggs MD and JPBriggs II PhD 18 January 2007.
Faithfully, in the interest of the American people - Swungnotes
We have now reached that miserable and untenable position – we have allowed an idiot to occupy the most powerful position on Planet Earth. And this situation is now in its eighth miserable year. True, his party machine stole the first election, the first 4 years, and their fingerprints for a similar theft in 2004 are everywhere. It is therefore abundantly clear, based on the performance of this presently serving idiot, that we need an improved set of guidelines for executive removal.
We – the millions of us in America who defiitely did NOT vote to elect this idiot to the highest office, still have to live (and suffer) with the results of his will. So as not to interrupt the flow of thought with a reading of his crimes at this point, I have listed just some of them at the end. Professor Jonathan Turley of George Washington University has listed 143 felonies perpetrated by this idiot and his minions, since he took office.
These facts are unacceptable. Aren’t they? They are. They’re unacceptable to all of us, and quite frankly, surely they’re unacceptable even to the most ardent, most loyal Republican, those having passed a sanity exam. The founding fathers, with their base of 18th Century values, obviously never suspected that the power of money would intrude so thoroughly into the recipe for good government. If you told Jefferson or Hamilton that candidates would raise and spend over $500 million in a campaign for President, they would declare you daft. They never imagined that the Press would be – or could be – completely transposed from a simple reporting of plain truth, to a very efficient mechanism for thought control. Franklin and Washington never gave so much as a passing thought to using war as the world’s most efficient generator of money. They would have soundly scolded, and just as soundly rejected, anyone who even suggested starting a war unilaterally, and would have swiftly thrown out and incarcerated anyone who did so based on lies.
Yet our present idiot has done just that, and much more, and the idiot-in-waiting is eagerly planning another military “adventure”, his own.
SO – how does a parliamentary form of government differ with what we have? In a presidential system, (what we have) all executive power is concentrated in the president. In a parliamentary system, with a collegial executive, power is more divided. One of the huge stumbling blocks in Washington is gridlock– that phenomenon of the Congress being unable to get any laws passed, due to the different agendas, and members of opposing parties. This is one of the most egregious of all sins for the Congress to subject the citizenry to. It’s obvious it is easier to pass legislation within a parliamentary system. This is because the executive branch is dependent upon the direct or indirect support of the legislative branch and often includes members of the legislature.
This alone is a great incentive for corruption-weary Americans to adopt the superior system of Parliamentary government. However, by far the most pressing reason for America to adopt the parliamentary system of government is its capacity to issue a vote of no confidence - remove an idiot in mid-term - instead of having to suffer with his or her continued gaffes and misdeeds and wars and recessions, and generation of hatred for us by the rest of the world, for a number of years more. As everyone knows by now, Bush sees everything as “good” or “evil,” nothing in between. He has remarked on more than one occasion that he sees himself as being a modern day Abe Lincoln, with the divided country, the war, etc. He would do well to read Lincoln’s take on good and evil, although we know he won’t:
“The true rule in determining to embrace, or reject anything, is not whether it has any evil in it, but whether it have more of evil, than of good. There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost every thing, especially governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two; thus our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.” Abe Lincoln, June 1848.
Here are just some of the excesses this person has inflicted on the good people of America, and by extension those of the world, since America’s power is so far reaching. While pondering these outrages, it’s my humble opinion that we should bear firmly in mind how many surrogates it took to assist him in carrying them out, even if the ideas were originally his. All of tho$e individual$ no doubt had a ve$ted intere$t in doing so.
Manipulation of the free press – if they ask tough, he simply eliminates them
Subjugation of the press – prohibiting photos of dead soldiers in caskets
The myth of polls – questions manipulated to achieve predictable outcome
The dishonesty of polls – 1000 people does not a majority position make
Money in politics – a cancer that at present appears forever incurable
Newspeople as rock stars – selected for beauty, paid outrageously, controlled
Forced the world to wait until he’s gone, to fight the imminent perils of climate change
Repeatedly violated the FISA Act – enacted primarily to prevent Bush’s abuses
Detainee abuse at G’TO – some held over 2 years without charges(!)
Abuse of War Crimes Act of 1996 –
Abusing, ignoring Geneva Convention
Trampled on and effectively gutted habeas corpus – the cornerstone of Law
Illegally diverted congressionally-voted funds for Afghanistan over to Iraq
Etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum, apparently.
It is therefore easily seen that if the United States converted to the Parliamentary system we could have prevented all the never-before-dreamed-of excesses of our present-day “Éxecutive Idiot”. There will be those who will ferret out some element in the Parliamentary system that will not set well with ordinary Americans, and that’s fine. But we have the power to adopt the one thing in the parliamentary system that will really work perfectly for us – the power to have a Vote of No Confidence on a ruling idiot, before he or she takes us any further down the slippery slope. We can do that – no one would doubt that we can do that much. After all, America is 219 years old, with Democracy, and Britain is what, 2000 years old, with a Parliamentary government. Any argument that takes issue with the efficacy or fairness of Parliamentarism is thus still born.
Finally, I will close this with the strongest possible reasoning to rid ourselves of this dangerous idiot at the helm of our ship of state. Allow me to pass along the summary rendering of a protracted psychiatric evaluation of George W Bush, by the celebrated team of John P Briggs, M.D. and JP Briggs II, Ph.D. John Briggs MD recently completed 40 years of psychiatric practice in Westchester County NY.
When the Defenses Become the Reality
We have noted in previous articles other prominent defenses Bush employs to cover his feelings of inadequacy: He is a classic emotional bully. Bullies disguise sensations of their own weakness by splitting the weakness off and casting it out of their own conscious awareness - projecting it - onto the consciousness of others. They generate a stream of signals and behaviors that keep others on guard and seek to enfeeble them. Bush's signing statements where he reserves the right not to abide by the law he's just adopted, his foreign policy asserting his right to preemptive strikes, his denial of Habeas Corpus, his fixation on retaining the torture option, his rejection of subpoenas from Congress, his demeaning of people by giving them nicknames - these are all emotional bullying tactics. Friends from his younger days remember that in basketball and tennis games Bush would force opponents who had beaten him to continue playing until he had worn down their will so he could beat them. Bush emotionally bullies his White House staff, making them afraid to tell him any news that doesn't fit his "optimistic" expectations. It’s known that Sr. Staffer Josh Bolton greets Bush each morning with: "Thank you for the privilege of serving."
John P Briggs MD and JPBriggs II PhD 18 January 2007.
Faithfully, in the interest of the American people - Swungnotes
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