Bush, somehow thinking that he is capable of good judgement when it comes to foriegn policy, has the idea that a $75 million program to promote democracy, aid Iranian dissidents and expand the Voice of America will work better than negotiation in dealing with Iraq. Bush also thinks he's a war president and a decider.
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration, shunning pressure from allies for direct
dialogue with Iran, is shifting toward a more confrontational stance and
intensifying efforts to undercut the country's ruling clerics.
Rice and
other officials have publicly advocated steps to pressure the Iranian
government. But by setting up the new offices, staffs and programs, the
administration is institutionalizing its long-held antipathy toward Iran's
government.
The Iranians don't seem very intimidated.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also said in a speech broadcast by state-run television
that "trying to provoke ethnic and religious unrest is the last desperate shot
by enemies."
He referred to a Bush administration request to Congress
for $75 million to promote democracy in Iran, saying: "Enemies of the Iranian
nation have earlier announced that they have allocated some money for this
purpose."
Speaking of bad policy, Bush's new Policy Advisor Karl Zinsmeister has been caught tweaking a newspaper profile of himself.
The White House says, "No problem, what use would he be if he didn't lie."
White House press secretary Tony Snow said Friday that Zinsmeister erred in
making the changes, but he was well-intentioned: "This was done not out of
animosity; it was an attempt to set the record straight and he did it in an
unartful
way."
All of this was a surprise to the New Times reporter, Justin Park,
especially because, as he told the Sun, he had received a laudatory e-mail from
Zinsmeister after the profile was published.
If the White House policy isn't lying, then why do they put out fake news stories?
Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of American television
stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major
corporations, and passing them off as normal news. Some of the fake news
segments talked up success in the war in Iraq, or promoted the companies'
products.
The report, by the non-profit group Centre for Media and
Democracy, found that over a 10-month period at least 77 television stations
were making use of the faux news broadcasts, known as Video News Releases
(VNRs). Not one told viewers who had produced the items.
Remember when the media was supposed to be liberal?
Fresh out of prison, Republican Charles McGee, the former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, goes right back to work for the party by training candidates how to run campaigns. And that's how he got in prison in the first place. Republicans, such a forgiving bunch.
A major figure in the Election Day phone-jamming scandal that embarrassed and
nearly bankrupted the New Hampshire GOP is out of prison and back in the
political game.
Charles McGee, the former executive director of the state Republican Party,
pleaded guilty to conspiracy and served seven months for his part in the scheme
to have a telemarketer tie up Democratic and union phone lines in 2002.
He's back at his old job with a Republican political marketing firm,
Spectrum Monthly & Printing Inc., and will be helping out at the firm's "GOP
campaign school" for candidates.
The United States is finally giving up all pretense at giving a damn about the Palestinians. George Bush, who has long proclaimed the virtues of democracy, is doing in Gaza what he has already done in South America. That is, turn his back on democratically elected officials who don't meet his approval. Hypocrite.
As part of the rethink, relations with every Palestinian government ministry is
now forbidden. US officials who have long been involved in assistance on
security affairs are faced with trying to distinguish which of the Palestinian
forces are under the interior minister or prime minister - and therefore off
limits - and which are under the president, Mahmoud Abbas. Only offices under
the helm of Mr. Abbas, the leading Fatah official, are open to US officials for
dialogue.
"It hasn't been lost on anyone that we've been promoting
democracy, then we turn around and say, we don't like your choice," he says. "It
confirms some fears that the US is not a fair broker.
Veterans may be able to have lawyers assist them in their claims against the Veterans Administration.
Sens. Larry E. Craig (Idaho) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) introduced a bill this
month that would allow lawyers to represent veterans applying for disability pay
and other benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
From the BBC, In pictures: Day of violence in Iraq.
In Montana, a real Democrat is taking on and beating an established, DLC, Republican-lite Democrat in the U.S. Senate primary. That's it, the good news.
It looks like John Morrison has lost his mojo in his primary battle against
grassroots hero Jon Tester. Two big pieces of news, in anticipation of the
primary a week and a half away:
The first is news that Tester
outraised Morrison the past six weeks. Not bad for an organic farmer without
a lifetime of family-related and professional big-money connections like DLC
favorite John Morrison (the product of a political dynasty).
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I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally Conservative. I believe that to be so obvious and undeniable a fact that I hardly think any hon. Gentleman will question it.
John Stuart Mill (May 20 1806 – May 8 1873)