Archive for January, 2008

Andy Carvin wrote in his blog about this picture that President Bush has hanging in the Oval Office.

Mr. Bush has held the conviction that the rider depicted in this painting is a leader — someone leading people, unafraid into the fray. That he’s focused on his goal and leading his “people” regardless of personal danger.

Mr. Bush’s opponents have long felt that this painting shows someone reckless and uncaring of possible dangers, totally focused on a personal agenda.

Whichever meaning you subscribe to, it’s far different from the reality of what this painting was painted to depict.

The truth of the matter is that artist W.H.D. Koerner painted it to illustrate a Western short story about a horse thief who is running away to escape the consequences of his acts.

I think it’s an accurate portrayal for Mr. Bush to hold as his personal symbol. Don’t you?

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In a report that’s rocking the nation on it’s heels, the Center for Public Integrity has conducted an exhaustive examination of government records which found 935 lies that the Bush administration released in the months before declaring war on Iraq. All the disinformation, lies and half-truths were solely aimed at furthering Mr. Bush’s desire to wage war on Saddam Hussein.  

The chart here (click to enlarge), shows when and by whom the false statements were issued. It was only after not being able to substantiate any of the statements once US troops were on the ground, that the suspicion of being duped became the cornerstone to President Bush’s slide into unpopularity and, in all truth, should have resulted in his being impeached from office.

It’s no wonder that the US and the world is greeting Mr. Bush’s plans for economic stimulus with a jaundiced eye. Why should we believe in or trust someone who lied to us for years concerning something that has not only cost us BILLIONS in tax dollars, but THOUSANDS of US lives and is part of the cause of our current ecnonomic woes? And Mr. Bush shows no regrets for his actions at all.

In fact, he still maintains that “that the United States was nonetheless right to remove Saddam from power.”  Yet, Iraq remains in turmoil, with daily bombings and economic stagnation coupled with political instability and little reduction of terrorist activities 5 YEARS after our invasion! The perception of the world regarding US leadership is that it’s laughable. Our recent record of human rights violations is as bad as any third world country’s. It’s sad that one man has been given the power to ruin this great nation. 

What’s even sadder is that now this precedent has been set and the presidential candidates we have to choose from all have this example before them that once elected president, they will not have to answer to their electorate body. That the office of US President gives the occupant carte blanche to do whatever he/she wills. Is this not as scary to you as it is to me?

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Ok — I’ve been and EntreCard member for less than a week now, but I can already see that there are a couple of things that need to be done to make this work the best to my advantage.

I’ve already started off fairly well by dropping my card on a bunch of other sites and buying ads on sites I think will generate some organic traffic my way. There’s one other thing I need to do, though and that’s a weak spot for me. I need a redesigned card.

Oh, mine’s cute enough and I think it is a fair description of the name of this blog, but it really doesn’t have much pizzaz to it. So, I’m going to enter this contest for a redesigned EntreCard and just see what happens. The contest is over at the Digital Lounge. I think I have a fair chance of winning it, but we’ll see.

I’ve looked over some of their designs and like what I see. They appear to work for their client’s taste and personality.  I also need to come up with a catchy tag line, so if you have any ideas, please feel free to post them here! If I use your tag line, and you’re an EntreCard member, I’ll credit your account with 50EC — how’s that for fair??

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With the current downturn in the economy, US workers are bracing for a round of spikes in unemployment numbers. Recession be damned — we’re headed for a full DEPRESSION if we can’t get these spiraling numbers under control.

Just like in the 20’s when the first depression occured, this one will have been sparked by Wall Street cheats. That’s what the sub-prime fiasco is/was — a cheat by Wall Street and the financial community on desperate and unsuspecting home buyers. While it wasn’t a very well hidden one, the “let the good times roll” theme of the day lured many into ignoring their gut and going with the floating interest rate mortgages that are now unaffordable and lure of borrowing against tomorrow on the speculation that property values would increase that was the cornerstone chorus of the sub-prime lending siren song.

The war in Iraq is not helping matters, either. With the government pulling many workers off the line and sending them overseas, manufacturing slowed, and those companies who lost employees to the military are simply downsizing and removing those jobs from the available list. Democrats scream to “bring the troops home”, but if we do that, what will we be bringing them home to? Unemployment, Welfare, Food Stamps and poverty. While I’m not and never have been a fan of the war in Iraq, we now have multiple reasons to keep our military over there and many have nothing to do with Al Qaeda!

Of course many argue that the trillions (Mr. Obama!) we spend in Iraq could go towards domestic issues and they are right, but let’s be realistic — when have you EVER seen government take money from one profit-for-few bottomless pit and put it into anything other than another profit-for-few bottomless pit?

The Feds reduction of interest rates today is a stop-gap measure that has very little hope of bolstering the economy. It took years to get to this level of down and it’s going to take years to get back to a healthy economy. Thinking otherwise is pollyana-ish and unrealistic. We need to get those mortgages that are in danger of being foreclosed on re-financed with some kind of sustainable mortgage that has reasonable rates and reasonable terms (such as no pre-payment fee!) — waive those existing pre-payment fees so people can afford to refinance their loans and “forgive” some missed payments. It’s only by keeping people IN their homes and in their jobs that we can begin to look forward to better times.

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