MetaFilter posts tagged with bush and america

100 Things I'm Ready To Take Credit For

shii — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:28:56 -0800

Ensuring that at least someone gets his legacy right, Ex-President Bush has on his final day in office commissioned a series of Official Legacy Booklets with such unlikely titles as 100 Things Americans May Not Know About the Bush Administration Record. These weighty tomes inform us, for example, that "the Afghan economy has doubled since 2001"-- an accomplishment perhaps assisted by the arrival of American forces spending some $3 billion per month there. Other things taken credit for: 1. Stopping a 2006 plot to destroy multiple airplanes... in Britain. 2. Overseeing the largest increase in defense spending since the Truman Administration. 3. Lowering taxes in a time of war. 4. "Focusing attention" on Burma, Belarus, and Zimbabwe, all of which deteriorated during his administration. 5. Funding an aborted coup in Venezuela (described in the pamphlet as "bolster[ing] civil society activists"). 6. Cutting aid to any international charity that funds abortions among its other work. 7. Doing... something... for veterans? 8. The Do Not Call List. Personally, I prefer this alternative list of accomplishments:

Personally assigned pet nicknames to 145 Administration staffers and Cabinet members and 82 individual members of the White House press corps.

Adieu, big fella.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

scalefree — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:51:26 -0800

In February President Bush issued an Executive Order changing the role & reporting structure of the PFIAB, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. At the time the order was criticized & analyzed as a move to consolidate power within an organization that was already full of Bush cronies. But it now looks like all the pundits were wrong. The real reason? There was a spy in the PFIAB.

Bush Branding

brookeb — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:35:49 -0800

Worldwide disdain of Bush used to sell everything from newspapers to marmite to adhesive tape to cars to Scrabble, plus lots of advocacy ads for not-for-profit organizations.

The Audacity of Government

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:45:01 -0800

A very special 'This American Life' about an administration with the endemic belief that laws only apply to the little people, and a limitless refusal to concede on even petty issues, no matter the costs. The highlight is about immigrant widows of US citizens (30:50). The program also discusses the constitutional beliefs of the presidential candidates. Bonus post: Expecting a tax rebate check? Yesterday's 'Marketplace' says think again. (Marketplace transcript)

How to Restore America's Place in the World

chunking express — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:02:25 -0800

Beyond Bush: What the world needs is an open, confident America. An interesting article from Zakaria Fareed.

With friends like this ...

homodigitalis — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:15:08 -0800

"Hello America!" - a message of greeting from the UK by Pat Condell including some nasty truthiness from good old Europe. [MySpace Video]

The Not Too Distant Future

spaltavian — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 18:39:49 -0800

Shooting War: a graphic novel by Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman. The 11-chapter first act has been lauded in Rolling Stone, Wired and The Village Voice. It's 2011: President McCain is fighting for political survival, America is stuck in Iraq, and there's another oil embargo. 'Vlogger' and indie icon Jimmy Burns happens to catch a terrorist attack in NYC on his web cam, making him the new face of wartime journalism.

Christopher Morris's "My America"

matteo — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 18:42:24 -0800

"Then my photography started to shift; everything had to be very clean and Republican, straight and perfect... Everything is staged and controlled... It's the complete opposite of war photography."
War photographer Christopher Morris's new exhibit and book: "My America".

The State of Disunion

digaman — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 08:11:31 -0800

Zeitgeistfilter: Lumpen Leisure and Welcome to Middle-Class Lockdown... Now Shut Up and Buy Something -- two fine rants about our current state of disunion by James Howard Kuntsler, author of The Long Emergency (excerpt), and writer and Vietnam vet Joe Bageant. "All over but the keening for our soon-to-be-lost machine world," Kunstler predicts in The American Conservative, while Bageant taps the inner stream-of-unconsciousness for Dissident Voice: "Things cannot be as bad as the alarmists say. They cannot be as bad as I often suspect they are. If there really were such a thing as global warming they would be starting to do something about it. And besides, even if it were true, science will find a way to fix it. If there really were genocide going on in so many places far more people would be concerned... If the earth were heating up we would surely notice it. If our soldiers and government agencies were torturing people around the world it would make the news. If millions were being exterminated, it would be more obvious, would it not?" (Kunstler's book previously discussed here, Bageant here.)

Is Jesus a solution or an excuse?

0bvious — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 19:34:47 -0800

Faith based prisons... Can Gov. Jeb Bush's new drive to introduce God to the inmates make a difference, or was Jesus 'dying for our sins' not enough already? Is Jesus a solution or an excuse?

"Night has fallen. He has died now. A fly crawls over the still flesh. Of what use is it to me that this man suffered, If I am suffering now?" - Jorge Luis Borges

Someone steal a Diebold and reverse engineer pls tia

Pretty_Generic — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 19:25:03 -0800

At this challenging time for President Bush, let us reminisce about the system that elected him. Will the next election be different? Do you want it to be? What are you going to do about it?

SAMMY: "That's democracy?"

matteo — Mon, 16 May 2005 10:30:53 -0800

"I am an American, so that is why I make films about America. America is sitting on our world, I am making films that have to do with America (because) 60% of my life is America. So I am in fact an American, but I can't go there to vote, I can't change anything. We are a nation under influence and under a very bad influence… because Mr. Bush is an asshole and doing very idiotic things."
Lars Von Trier introduces his new film at the Cannes Film Festival: «Manderlay» picks up where «Dogville» left off, with the character originated by Nicole Kidman -- now played by Bryce Dallas Howard -- stumbling onto a plantation that time forgot, where slavery still operates in the 1930s. The film (5 MB .pdf file, official pressbook) ends, as Dogville did, with David Bowie’s Young Americans played over a photomontage of images that range from a Ku Klux Klan meeting to the Rodney King beating, George Bush at prayer and Martin Luther King at his final rest, American soldiers in Vietnam and the Gulf, the Twin Towers. More inside.

Move along media... nothing to see here...

samlam — Tue, 25 Jan 2005 22:52:03 -0800

Seems the media's STILL scared of looking too closely into BUSH's history... and WHO helps him cover up on the way...

Super Fantastic!

pxe2000 — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 14:03:08 -0800

Manolo's Shoe Blog. Because every once in a while, you need something where the sole political content consists of commentary on Bush in a poncho.

.

Parannoyed — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 11:43:47 -0800

We're so unbelievably sorry, everyone...
Seriously. We're not even kidding.

At long last, Sir...

XQUZYPHYR — Fri, 29 Oct 2004 09:00:30 -0800

Going for broke. With four days to go before the election, Bush-Cheney '04 finally pulled the last stop and started sending out anti-Kerry mailings using images of the burning World Trade Center. The ads are paid for and officially endorsed by Bush's campaign.

comics about criminals

Peter H — Mon, 11 Oct 2004 09:06:58 -0800

Bush Junta: A Field Guide to Corruption in Government - A substantial visual document (200 pages of comics from Fantagraphics, fact-checked with an extensive bibliography; the link goes to a number of sample pages) on the Bush Dynasty, from its beginnings benefitting off of Hitler and WW2 (that entire piece, which is printed in english, is posted in its original dutch online here), to the Bush's connection to Reagan's assassination, CIA and Iran-Contra, ending with the unsettling origins and profiles of the current administration. A great election primer, featuring comics and art by Steve Brodner, Ralph Steadman, Spain Rodriguez and many others. (Amazon link provided for a better description)

Why You Should Ignore The Gallup Poll This Morning - And Maybe All Of Theirs

Postroad — Fri, 17 Sep 2004 14:05:03 -0800

Why You Should Ignore The Gallup Poll This Morning - And Maybe All Of Theirs If you support the Dems, you might want to pass this on!
"This morning we awoke to the startling news that despite a flurry of different polls this week all showing a tied race, the venerable Gallup Poll, as reported widely in the media (USA Today and CNN) today, showed George W. Bush with a huge 55%-42% lead over John Kerry amongst likely voters. The same Gallup Poll showed an 8-point lead for Bush amongst registered voters (52%-44%). Before you get discouraged by these results, you should be more upset that Gallup gets major media outlets to tout these polls and present a false, disappointing account of the actual state of the race. Why?"...

Paul Krugman gives some free advice

skallas — Thu, 25 Dec 2003 22:54:07 -0800

Paul Krugman gives some free advice to reporters covering the election.

Democrats or Mudcats?

clango — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 21:04:40 -0800

Ted Rall has a theory as to why some people hate George W. Bush. Some of us got beyond the hate and just plan to support Frickles the Mudcat in 2004. A Frickles regine benefits you!

Revisionist Historians at Work

RKB — Sat, 12 Jul 2003 23:01:54 -0800

Pay No Attention tothemenbehindthe Curtain. You maybe read about PNAC here, wherein numerous members of the current administration wrote down their grand plans for an American-led NWO. Pretty heady stuff, with Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz writing to Clinton in 1998 that "the only acceptable strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction." Umm, that is... move along, citizen. Nothing to see here (thank goodness for Google's cache).

^

Ignatius J. Reilly — Tue, 10 Jun 2003 00:36:15 -0800

Rep. Henry Waxman has written an (extensively footntoed and juicy) open letter to President Bush demanding answers about "misrepresenting evidence" against Iraq. Waxman is unique among an ever-growing numer of pitchfork-wielders as a Congressman who had supported the war. He wrote of the use of forged evidence about alleged nuclear transactions between Niger and Iraq:

New Federal Budget Proposal

nofundy — Thu, 13 Mar 2003 09:22:36 -0800

“Class warfare turns out to be alive,” Center director Robert Greenstein commented. “It is a centerpiece of the Nussle budget, with deep budget cuts that could harshly affect the poor, the vulnerable, and many middle-class Americans, alongside lavish tax cuts for the nation’s richest individuals. With this budget, we would be marching down the path toward a new Gilded Age.”

“The Nussle budget serves one very useful purpose.” Greenstein added. “It shows that these large tax cuts aren’t free, and that at bottom, the issue is one of national priorities. This ought to trigger a national debate. Are tax cuts averaging $90,000 a year for millionaires so high a priority that we should cut health care programs, increase the ranks of the uninsured, reduce the cost or limit the availability of student loans, and increase hardship among the disabled, poor children, and others to free up room for massive tax cuts?”

Possible Other Titles
Why is this rain yellow? or Hey, GWBush, self-appointed one of God, WWJD?

War With Iraq - As Predictable As Chess

daHIFI — Fri, 22 Nov 2002 14:33:48 -0800

War With Iraq - As Predictable As Chess There is still a good chance we can avoid war with Iraq. Saddam Hussein has never won a war, and his military forces surely foresee their own destruction. Numerous assassination attempts by them (some involving the Republican Guard) have failed. They are likely trying again, even now. Therein lies our best hope. What if they fail again? Then invasion by the U.S. is inevitable.

semmi — Thu, 25 Oct 2001 09:00:29 -0800

Bush's Mideast Charade (NYT link)