Bush Cheney and Gates with THEIR Families at XMAS....

It's traditional for the Secretary of Defense to "serve" the troops their holiday meals. Gates buzzed into Iraq BEFORE Christmas...and then flew back out to join "his" family and loved ones for Christmas.

The only time President Bush visited the troops in Iraq during a Holiday was for a Thanksgiving "photo op" during his 2004 re-election campaign. Our President, Vice President, Secretary of State are taking a Christmas vacation to be with their family and loved ones for Christmas. There is no shame among these folks. The mainstream corporate media never mentions the hypocrisy or the lies..

Hard questions need to be asked of this President and this administration come January....

Another Rubber Stamped Nomination

The media and the Senators united today to talk about how impressed they were that Gates was candid in stating that “We are losing in Iraq.” It takes so “little” to please this Rubber Stamp Senate. If Gates had stated the obvious deceitful propaganda, “that we are winning,” he would have been blasted. Frankly I don’t think there was any other answer that a logical, reasonable person could have given to the question. Therefore, it’s not time to “applaud” this candidate.

I’m not saying that Gates should NOT get the nomination. However, I have grave concerns given his history of deceiving Congress during the Iran Contra scandal and “cooking” the intelligence to fit his agenda. There is no history of Gates speaking "Truth to Power" and being truthful with intelligence reports to Congress. The Gates nomination has troublesome questions and to Rubber Stamp this nominee is irresponsible.

Bush and the Republicans are RUSHING this nomination through the current Republican lame duck congress. It’s only a matter of a month before the Democratic Senate would be installed.

Americans voted to put the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress out of business. Given Bush's horrible track record with his nominees the Senate needs to thoroughly assess any Bush nominee.

Consider this scenario...Bush obtained Rumsfeld’s resignation quickly after the mid-term elections so that he could put another "loyal Yes Man" appointee up before the Republican Rubber Stamp Senate.

A quickie four day hearing and then a vote by the current Rubber Stamp Congress is a slap in the face of the the voters ended the rule of the Rubber Stampers. This is the Congress that has rubber stamped Bush’s previous disastrous appointments.

The head of Homeland Security--Chertoff--was derelict in his duties during the Katrina disaster and allowed incompetents to head up disaster relief without overseeing the situation. The debacle during Katrina showed that his people were incompetent, corrupt, and guilty of cronyism. Gonzalez at the Justice Department and Rice as Secretary of State are simply extensions of the Bush administrations, worst they aren’t producing results. Gonzalez “shields” the White House from the legal system and gives opinions that appear “un-constitutional.” The one case that has been sent to the Supreme Court overruled Gonzalez’s opinion on the matter (I continue to wonder why Bill Frist doesn’t have his ankle bracelet on for insider trading. What’s good enough for a wealthy private citizen should be good enough for a wealthy, Republican “rubber stamp” Senator.)

Condoleeza Rice is showing the same incompetence as a Secretary of State as she did when she was in charge of national security when the 9/11 attacks occurred on the World Trade Center. Rice did nothing, in spite of a report with a title spelling out that Al Queda was determined and ready to attack the United States.

I’m not alone in this opinion; many others, including Donald Trump have noted that Bush “does not surrounded himself with good people. Rumsfeld is a disaster. Condoleeza Rice is a nice woman. But when she walks in she doesn’t solve any problems…..You think that’s good?”

It's obvious that Bush needs Congress to do it's job properly and provide the necessary oversight to insure that the best candidates are being nominated for these positions. Bush desperately needs help in order to hire the right people who can produce positive results.

Any current Democratic Senator who is not willing to thoroughly "vet" this nominee is choosing to support the Rubber Stamp Republican Congress that has thoroughly disgusted the American people. IF this nominee ends up being a disaster their maybe "hell to pay" when it comes re-election time. Americans voted and voiced their disgust with the Rubber Stamps.

My Buzz on George Bush

Lately, when my thoughts have turned to the sudden "bi-partisan" PR blitz put on by George Bush I was just too angry to write anything.

Bush's sudden turn around was so artful....He dumped Rumsfeld!! That was great! But then he quickly nominated this Gates guy....I started to check out this Gates guy and the more I read the angrier I became.

I feel like the entire Bush "turn around" is nothing more than another Rovian PR job to enable Bush to continue the "same ole same ole" stay the course with this new guy.

Even worse...it looks like Bush's folks still have their guns aimed at Iran and want to create another disaster for America. (Hell, why does Al Queda even need to plan an attack on American soil as long as Bush is in office and deadset on such disastrous goals?)

I have come to the conclusion that Gates is just another Bush loyalist "yes" man and is another bad move. He "politicized" the CIA. That IS the major problem with the "faulty intelligence" and cherry picking that got us into Iraq. The fact that Bush is wanting the man that helped him lead this nation astray to be rewarded with the position of Secretary of Defense is typical Bush. Promote incompetent yes folks who are loyal and get rid of the competent folks who have skills and integrity.

The next Secretary of Defense needs to be carefully considered. I'm very happy to hear from local Webb folks (and the Virginia Beach Dems blogger)--Beach Mom) that Jim Webb will question the Gates nomination. I "thought" this would be the case. I didn't get the idea that Webb prefers "yes" men.

During this congress we will get a chance to see which Republicans are willing to work together with the Democrats to pull our nation from this fiery quagmire that Bush insisted on.

It will also give us a chance to assess if there are TWO parties up in Washington. I'm hoping the Democrats will prove themselves. But if the Democrats go with the status quo and let Gates through then I'll be singing the David Rovics new song, "Democrats make me want to vomit."

In my book BOTH parties have to prove themselves now.