John Kerry, Garage Rocker? Record geeks have uncovered that John Kerry played bass with the
Electras, a Ventures-style instrumental band formed at St. Paul's Academy of Concord, NH. Strangely enough, George W. Bush also has a connection to the sub-subgenre of 1960s garage bands, known as
"prep rock." When he attended Andover, Dubya was allegedly a
"clapper" with the frat rock band, the
Torques, although prep rock aficionados generally prefer other Andover bands, such as The Rising Storm and the Satans.
posted by jonp72
on Feb 5, 2004 -
24 comments
PAIR UP FOR PEACE PRIZE It is possible to see the war against Iraq as a good thing,finally, but this Orwellian War is Peace seems a bit strange: :Tony Blair and George Bush have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for waging war on Saddam Hussein.
They have been put forward by a Norwegian politician who said ousting the dictator had reduced the threat of a war with weapons of mass destruction."
posted by Postroad
on Feb 1, 2004 -
26 comments
Remarks by the President to a Press Pool. THE PRESIDENT: I'm ordering ribs. David, do you need a rib?
Q: But Mr. President --
THE PRESIDENT: Stretch, thank you, this is not a press conference. So instead of asking questions, answer mine: Are you going to buy some food?
posted by tweebiscuit
on Jan 22, 2004 -
58 comments
Hate Bush? Love to Shop? Putting affiliate programs to good use, this site takes the standard affiliate commissions and donates it toward groups working to replace Bush in 2004.
To stay within F.E.C. guidelines, none of the money will go directly to our candidate. Rather, the money will be sent to democratic/progressive/liberal groups such as moveon.org. Quite a range of online stores represented, too.
posted by amberglow
on Jan 20, 2004 -
9 comments
I.M.F. Report Says U.S. Deficits Threaten World Economy
With its rising budget deficit and ballooning trade imbalance, the United States is running up a foreign debt of such record-breaking proportions that it threatens the financial stability of the global economy, according to a report released Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund. Prepared by a team of I.M.F. economists, the report sounded a loud alarm about the shaky fiscal foundation of the United States, questioning the wisdom of the Bush administration's tax cuts and warning that large budget deficits pose "significant risks" not just for the United States but for the rest of the world. The report warns that the United States' net financial obligations to the rest of the world could be equal to 40 percent of its total economy within a few years--"an unprecedented level of external debt for a large industrial country," according to the fund, that could play havoc with the value of the dollar and international exchange rates.From The Brookings Institute:
Sustained Budget Deficits: Longer-Run U.S. Economic Performance and the Risk of Financial and Fiscal Disarray (Full Report
PDF)
posted by y2karl
on Jan 8, 2004 -
60 comments
Paris Beats Bush
More viewers watched The Simple Life than George Bush's interview with Diane Sawyer. What does that say about America?
posted by fenriq
on Dec 19, 2003 -
41 comments
The BBC is asking visitors of its news site to
vote from a shortlist of the ten most embarrassing political moments. Visitors can watch a
short film [real media] which shows all ten nominated moments (forgive the home-video moments style background muzak). There's some variety here: Tony Blair and Neil Kinnock in moments exhibiting a baffling degree of misguidedness, George W Bush and Kenneth Clarke in tight spots (figuratively and literally), while Charles Kennedy and John Prescott probably coming out of their situations looking better than they did beforehand. For me the most cringe-inducing clip is that of John Redwood, the then newly appointed Secretary of State for Wales, attempting to mime the Welsh national anthem. Genuinely difficult to watch.
posted by nthdegx
on Dec 5, 2003 -
31 comments
The Bird Was Perfect But Not For Dinner The bird is so perfect it looks as if it came from a food magazine, with bunches of grapes and other trimmings completing a Norman Rockwell image that evokes bounty and security in one of the most dangerous parts of the world.
But as a small sign of the many ways the White House maximized the impact of the 2 & 1/2-hour stop at the Baghdad airport, administration officials said yesterday that Bush picked up a decoration, not a serving plate.
posted by y2karl
on Dec 4, 2003 -
40 comments
Bush in Baghdad, Behind the Scenes. Drudge has posted Washington Post reporter Mike Allen's raw notes from the 2-day secret whirlwind trip to Iraq. It reads like a script from "The West Wing." (The stripped-down finished article
appears in Friday's
Post.) Meanwhile, some in the journalism field are
pissed, says Howard Kurtz. Says one: "Reporters are in the business of telling the truth. They can't decide it's okay to lie sometimes because it serves a larger truth or good cause."
posted by PrinceValium
on Nov 27, 2003 -
59 comments
Dear President Bush, I'm sure you'll be having a nice little tea party with your fellow war criminal, Tony Blair. Please wash the cucumber sandwiches down with a glass of blood, with my compliments.
Harold Pinter, Playwright.
Some caustic open letters in The Guardian for the big state visit.
posted by serafinapekkala
on Nov 19, 2003 -
45 comments
The U. S. Secret Service is going to extraordinary lengths to ensure the safety of George W. Bush's visit to London - including some not insignificant structural changes to the Palace (which have not as of yet been approved). The article claims that "
There will be more armed men on the streets of London this week than at any time since the end of the Second World War." British security officials further describe operations as has having been "hijacked by the US secret service."
Everyone knows there's a possibility of violence against the president, especially in light of recent events. A measure of security is thus justified. However, are economic concerns being considered? Now, I have the utmost respect for the president's life - as much as I do for just about anybody. I hate the callousness of associating any sort of price on human life. But when security measures require
5,000 police officers and £4,000,000 (that's merely the cost footed by UK taxpayers, mind you), have we not yet reached the point where that money would have been better spent? -especially when the U. S. executive branch has a very robust official policy of succession in place. It's not like the government will suddenly evaporate if the president were to be killed.
posted by SilentSalamander
on Nov 16, 2003 -
115 comments
"George Bush killed my son." With these words, peace activist Rosemary Slavenas
buried her son, Brian, a National Guardsman and
"great, big kid" killed in the downing of a Chinook helicopter in Iraq. A tragic story of an Illinois family split in two by the death of their son, who received two funerals -- one military, with honors, and the other, with strong words for the current administration.
posted by digaman
on Nov 14, 2003 -
96 comments
Bush's Speech on the Spreading of Democracy This is a massive and difficult undertaking -- it is worth our effort, it is worth our sacrifice, because we know the stakes. The failure of Iraqi democracy would embolden terrorists around the world, increase dangers to the American people, and extinguish the hopes of millions in the region. Iraqi democracy will succeed -- and that success will send forth the news, from Damascus to Teheran -- that freedom can be the future of every nation. (Applause.) The establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East will be a watershed event in the global democratic revolution.
Since
this speech was posted earlier, I just thought it would be good if we are exposed to ideas from both sides.
posted by VeGiTo
on Nov 10, 2003 -
88 comments
Examining Bush's stem cell policy, two years later. Kinsley: Put it all together, and the stem cells that can squeeze through Bush's loopholes are far less promising than they seemed two years ago, while the general promise of embryonic stem cells burns brighter than ever. If you claim to have made an anguished moral decision, and the factual basis for that decision turns out to be faulty, you ought to reconsider or your claim to moral anguish looks phony. But Bush's moral anguish was suspect from the beginning, because the policy it produced makes no sense.
posted by skallas
on Oct 25, 2003 -
1 comment
Trading with the Enemy (Prescott Bush was a bad man) - The mainstream press
decides to bring up the Bush/Nazi connection - Newly declassified documents shed new light on the shady beginnings of the Bush family's dynastic wealth: through GW Bush's grandfather Prescott Bush's work as a director of a US bank which was both controlled by the German industrialist Thyssen (who played a key role in bankrolling Hitler's rise to power) and which continued to launder Thyssen Group profits after the US declaration of war against Germany. But if you've been reading Metafilter closely,
you would have known the facts almost a year ago.
( * executes clannish, self/Metafilter congratulatory victory jig * ). Will the mainstream press pick up the trail of the story, to the US government secret importation of
Nazi scientists immediately after WW2? (don't hold yr. breath)
posted by troutfishing
on Oct 18, 2003 -
60 comments
The 5pm Deadline is approaching, but the White House doesn't care. The White House--expected to turn in all documents relevant to the Justice Department investigation of the Plame affair--has instead decided that a team of lawyers ought to spend two weeks determining which evidence can be used against their clients. Meanwhile, President Bush continues his
two-month initiative to get to the bottom of the matter himself.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly
on Oct 7, 2003 -
21 comments
Last night I saw
Brent Mendenhall on an Asian-language television channel, doing a sometimes-uncanny George W. Bush impersonation. Being able to understand his mock-Texan ramblings but not the host interviewing him was a surreal experience. Upon
cursory investigation, I was shocked to find that some
suspect Dubya of using a look-alike for particularly dangerous speaking engagements, and that others are
available for hire.
Saddam, too!
posted by scarabic
on Oct 3, 2003 -
3 comments
Ol' Brown Eyes is back. Photo mosaic of POTUS. NSFW if someone's standing in your cubicle looking over your shoulder, but from a distance it's relatively innocuous.
posted by emelenjr
on Sep 10, 2003 -
34 comments
$20,000 bonus to official who agreed on nuke claim A former Energy Department intelligence chief who agreed with the White House claim that Iraq had reconstituted its defunct nuclear-arms program was awarded a total of $20,500 in bonuses during the build-up to the war, WorldNetDaily has learned...His officers argued at a pre-briefing at Energy headquarters that there was no hard evidence to support the alarming Iraq nuclear charge, and asked to join State Department's dissenting opinion, Energy officials say. Rider ordered them to "shut up and sit down," according to sources familiar with the meeting.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly
on Aug 13, 2003 -
22 comments
GOP Warns TV Stations Not to Air Ad Alleging Bush Mislead the Nation Over Iraq They claim that the
ad itself is dishonest, and cite the obligation of broadcast outlets to be free of misleading information. “
Such obligations must be taken seriously. This letter puts you on notice that the information contained in the above-cited advertisement is false and misleading; therefore, you are obligated to refrain from airing this advertisement.” Despite the implicit threats,
only one station has refused to run the ad, a Fox station.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly
on Jul 23, 2003 -
74 comments
Bush dares Iraqis to kill U.S. soldiers "There are some who feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is bring them on," Bush said. "We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation."
Is it wise to goad Iraqis into killing Americans?
Is it an impeachable offense?
posted by Holden
on Jul 2, 2003 -
135 comments
Even with
frequently-discussed endorsements, the Democrats have a lot to worry about financially: staffers for George W. Bush's re-election campaign are making a "conservative estimate" that
Bush will spend an average of $426,640 every single day from now until November 2004 on his re-election campaign. Bush will be promoting his visions of (among other things) fiscal conservatism by spending more money each day for the next 16 months than over 99% of the American population earns annually. Campaign spokesman Montgomery Brewster could not be reached for comment.
posted by XQUZYPHYR
on Jun 27, 2003 -
45 comments
In 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... 1... 1... 1... "In this footage obtained exclusively by The Memory Hole, watch as the President of the United States sits and does nothing after learning that his country is under attack." Andrew Card whispers about plane #2, POTUS remains engrossed in book. (Warning: Quicktime, little kids reading slowly in unison for five long minutes.)
posted by emelenjr
on Jun 26, 2003 -
144 comments
Joshka Fischer Said What? That The U.S. Needs Another Boston Tea Party? Hidden in the depths of this very interesting article by
Timothy Garton-Ash, on Europe's misplaced anti-Americanism, is a very interesting revelation from Germany's Green Party-carrying Foreign Minister. To what extent are relations between the pro-American and the anti-American Europe and the United States - the so-called "Old and New Europe" - based on misperceptions? Is Europe, like the Middle East and, well, the whole wide world, too complex for the current U.S. administration to understand? Is it really possible for American foreign to swerve round France and Germany?
[Fwiw, my two centimes is that it is.]
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Jun 14, 2003 -
8 comments
Drowning the government in a bathtub -
"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." Thus spoke Grover Norquist, of
Americans for Tax Reform.
"The lunatics are now in charge of the asylum", quipped the conservative UK
Financial Times. Hardly, says
Paul Krugman. The strategy?: "Instead of challenging popular liberal programs directly, the Republicans are creating fiscal conditions that make those programs unsustainable." [lead post, Am. Prospect]. In other words, the
400 billion dollar deficit, coupled with the Bush tax cuts, is designed to shift the obligations of the Fed
onto the States and, later, to cause a fiscal train wreck after Bush is out of office.
posted by troutfishing
on Jun 12, 2003 -
58 comments
