Bush Called to Task

#1

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20060 ... n/15120539

#2

Wow...great speech

#3

I thought so too. Regardless of your politics or your position on how well (or poorly) Bush has done, you have to admit, that's a great piece of rhetoric.

Bot · #4

I can sum this up in one word for everyone who doesn't want to read it... BULLSHIT!

Five years later this space is still empty.

Five years later there is no memorial to the dead.

Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals.

Five years later this country's wound is still open.

Five years later this country's mass grave is still unmarked.

Five years later this is still just a background for a photo-op.

It is beyond shameful.

At first I passed that off as nothing... whatever... but he mentions it again, and again, so it's no longer about a metophorical empty space, or wound... he's actually pissed that a new tower hasn't been build. Give me a fucking break.

I couldn't even finish his speech. Talk about a waste of time...

Is it me or is nothing ever fast enough for anyone? The whole goddamn country is fucking impatient... :roll:

#5

I almost completely disagree.

The President is NOT in charge of the rebuilding effort. He never has been. contract headhunters seek the contract most beneficial to their own interests at the expense of the taxpayers, such as the healthy commission that lines their pockets. congressmen seek the biggest payout, families of victims seek the ultimate compensation.

The garden is not enough, the fountain is not enough, the friggin waterfall is not enough... the building is not enough... the labyrinth is not enough... none of this is enough, and nothing will ever be enough. that whole damn process has already cost billions, and it is stupid, childish, and beyond the vestiges of common sense. Trump had the best idea yet: One floor higher. Not a magnaminous statement, a modest one. knock me down, and i stand just a little bit taller when I get back up. Also, to compare this to Gettysberg is a disgrace. Gettysberg was a BATTLEGROUND upon which two armies met. Better you compare this to the intersection where Kennedy was shot. If Lincoln would have let the families of the soldiers at Gettysberg decide, we would have never finished it either.

The ONE memoriam the President had executive control over is when he commission a new ship to the navy that serves him, and us through him... a ship constructed of the debris, consecrated by the unwilling ashes of the victims of that horrible event... THAT is the ultimate sign of the phoenix spirit that beats in the bosum of the American Eagle; the military compliment to the same statement Trump suggested. tear down our civility, and you unleash the engine of our wrath vested in the conviction of our ideals... and that ship has long been deployed.

this problem is simple, ANY TRUE CONSERVATIVE can identify it easily: to many goddamn chiefs.

People can not demand a greater diversity of govt and administration, and then hold the Chief of the entire organism responsible. Hold the PEOPLE responsible who GET PAID OUR MONEY to do THAT JOB.

Also, this war is not irrelevant. It is beyond the capacity of most of the media fed to see that.

QUOTEWho has left this hole in the ground?

the people who slaughtered pilots crew and passengers on TWO domestic airliners that were highjacked and used as weapons of mass destruction against American citizens, buildings, visitors and cities.

This guy is an asshat if he can't get that in his head.

I agree with his call to action, but not his criticism of one man who inherited a flawed organizational structure that includes job favoritism, pork spending, false processes, direct fiscal fraud, and neccesary financial discretion***.

*** Keep in mind, when you "think" the govt. is paying 145 dollars for a hammer, that is simply the way it is "allocated", through accounting applications. Keep in mind, the budgets of clandestine operations and secret locations DO NOT get accounted into formal budgets, just as "consultants" do not get their dollars and expenses factored into a payroll budget. Everything from weapons employed that are not reported to personnel who "don't exist" are compensated from what looks like "pork." This excelled during the cold war, and was really capitalized on during Clinton's term of office.

plain and simple, you will never know how much of your tax money is spent in any given place, for more than 47% of the vital operations to thei countries sovereignty will never be visible to its general public, or it will be visible to its entities.

Bot · #6

DD, I think you should change the title to "Keith Olbermann owned by raum." lol

#7

I thought it was a damn good speach and about a lot more than why theres no memorial. Heres some thing that makes a point along the same line. Its from this weeks newsweek.

An Alternate 9/11 History

Sept. 18, 2006 issue - Five years after 9/11, the world is surprisingly peaceful. President Bush's pragmatic and bipartisan leadership has kept the United States not just strong but unexpectedly popular across the globe. The president himself is poised to enjoy big GOP wins in the midterm elections, a validation of his subtle understanding of the challenges facing the country. A new survey of historians puts him in the first tier of American presidents.
As Bush warned, catching terrorists wasn't easy, but he kept at it. At the battle of Tora Bora, CIA operatives on the ground cabled Washington that Osama bin Laden was cornered, but they desperately needed troop support. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld immediately dispatched fresh forces, and the evildoer was killed. While bin Laden was seen as a martyr in a few isolated areas, the bulk of the Arab world had been in sympathy with the United States after 9/11 and shed no tears. After their capture, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other 9/11 terrorists were transported to the United States, where they were tried and quickly executed.
Today, Al Qaeda remains a threat but its opportunities for recruitment have been scarce, and the involvement of the entire international community has helped dramatically reduce terrorist attacks worldwide. Because Bush believes diplomacy requires talking to adversaries as well as friends, even Syria and Iraq were forced to help. By staying "humble," as he promised in 2000, he preserved much of the post-9/11 good feeling abroad, which paid dividends when it came time to pull together a coalition to handle North Korea and Iran.
At home, some aides suggested that Bush simply tell the nation to "go shopping." But the president knew he had a precious opportunity to ask Americans for real sacrifice. He took John McCain's suggestion and pushed through Congress an ambitious national-service program that bolstered communities and helped train citizens as first responders.
Soon Bush put the country on a Manhattan Project crash course to get off oil. He bluntly told Detroit that it was embarrassing that Chinese automakers had better fuel efficiency, he classified SUVs as cars, and he imposed a stiff gas tax with a rebate for the working poor. To pay for it, he abandoned his tax cuts for the wealthy, reminding the country that no president in history had ever cut taxes in the middle of a war. This president would be damned if he was going to put more oil money into the pockets of Middle Eastern hatemongers who had killed nearly 3,000 of our people. To dramatize the point, he drove to his 2002 State of the Union address in a hybrid car. Sales soared.
When Karl Rove suggested that the war on terror would make a perfect wedge issue against Democrats in the 2002 midterms, Bush brought him up short. Didn't Rove understand that bipartisanship is good politics? Lincoln and FDR had both gone bipartisan during wartime, he reminded his aide. So when evidence of torture at the prison camp in Guant†™ ¢‚¬„¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¡namo Bay surfaced and Rumsfeld was forced to resign, former Democratic senator Sam Nunn got the job. With post-9/11 unity still at least partially intact in 2004, Bush was re-elected in a landslide.
Taking a cue from Lincoln's impatience with his generals, Bush was merciless about poor performance on homeland security. When the head of the FBI couldn't fix the bureau's computers in a year's time to "connect the dots," he was out. And Bush had no patience for excuse-making about leaky port security, unsecured chemical plants and first responders whose radios didn't communicate. If someone had told him that five years after 9/11 these problems would still be unsolved, Bush would have laughed him out of the office.
In 2003, Vice President Cheney advised the president to take out Iraq's Saddam Hussein militarily. But Bush was beginning to understand that his veep, while sounding full of gravitas, was in fact reckless. When it became clear that Saddam posed no imminent threat, Bush resolved to neuter him, Kaddafi style. When the president found, after a little asking around, that the 10-year cost of invading Iraq would be a crushing $1.2 trillion, he opted out of this war of choice.
Five years after that awful September day, even Bush's fiercest critics have learned an important lesson: leadership counts. Imagine if we'd done the opposite of these things. This country†™‚¢‚¢¢¢¬…¡‚¬‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬

‚and the world†™‚¢‚¢¢¢¬…¡‚¬‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬

‚would be in a heap of trouble.

By Jonathan Alter
Newsweek

#8

Mr. Alter wrote a much better article, and thank's for sharing it Highlife!

now, to rip into it,..

In particular this part:

QUOTE"To pay for it, he abandoned his tax cuts for the wealthy, reminding the country that no president in history had ever cut taxes in the middle of a war.

(it is not tax cuts for the wealthy. it is tax cuts for the overtaxed.) I will always favor minimal govt and minimal taxation. better we live in a world of people who earn their keep with more than a hungry mouth. I lived off of personal charity and petrsonal efforts, with no money for more than three months... JUST TO SEE if you could. In 1997, in Berkeley, Ca. It was easy. Be nice, be interesting, be sincere, be assertive, be clean = be fed. That being said, I am in a higher tax btracket this year, due to an income I will never EVER see in the next five years easy. So, for that year, I pay more taxes than a sane man can handle. I know people who cut 7 figure tax checks... and they still want more???

there is only so much they should take from one man. Income tax doesn't work in any way but to create a welfare state. we need a flat sales tax of 23% goods and services purchased from US, and a flat 38% on imported goods and services purchased. companies should pay this tax, and based on the number of employees they employ, some of this should be given back, through the company, to the employees, and that should affect the tax status of the company, as should companies donations to social welfare programs. Then, we don't even need an IRS. we just need the treasury, and the Securities commission. cut the middlemen out of taxation and you need less taxes.

QUOTEThis president would be damned if he was going to put more oil money into the pockets of Middle Eastern hatemongers who had killed nearly 3,000 of our people. To dramatize the point, he drove to his 2002 State of the Union address in a hybrid car. Sales soared.

this is rediculous, as the president could easily pull his vehicle up to a Sunoco station and pay about 32 cents more per gallon for gas not originating in the middle east. I do this weekly. but keep in mind, the oil money to the middle east is really the only money they get. Even Iran is suffering because we are getting good gas prices. so the US has to pay more for gas at this time (though we don't get it from Iran) to stabalize the world economy, or the people there would experience the same kind of poverty that led to many seeking desperately some means for recourse, where many shahada-jihadin (suicide bombers) came into play. this does not blame us, but really what we must do is make the world STOP looking to the US for welfare, and the best way to do that is to affirm that US people are not supportive of welfare states...

#9

raum...but keep in mind, the oil money to the middle east is really the only money they get. Even Iran is suffering because we are getting good gas prices.

me...Isn't that part of the problem. That the people in charge of these oil countries have never deversified. Part of the hostility the people feel in those countries is a lack of control in the direction of there countries future. They feel there kings have waisted vast amounts of money.Thats why terrorists get a certain amount of support in those countries from even people who dont hate us.I dont know if there rebelling against poverty as much as a desire to force change. We need to find ways to help the moderates make those changes. Thats my 2 cents

#10

the Muslims back in the day used to pay bandits to attack merchants to drive up the cost of the goods.

today is no exception.

and when you said they refuse to diversify, you hit the nail on the head... but here's the nail gun.

A people ONLY built on their history can not afford to diversify, or quickly their world will come tumbling down.

There is an entire part of the world where some >60% of the thoughts citizens have are socially, technologically, or politically obsolete.

And introduction of advancements has always been controlled, because they maintain the concept of underclass and noclass.

They will open a mall, and the clerics get to decide what stores are in it.