Too Many Reasons

How Bush avoided Vietnam

So now, it appears that George W. Bush was actually spared from the
Vietnam because of a family connection! Imagine that!

Former Texas Lt. Gov. Barnes has admitted on video that he is ashamed
that he jallowed G.W. Bush to get into the Texas National Guard. You
can see this video at the Austin4Kerry.org webite.
http://www.austin4kerry.org/Barnes/index.htm
http://69.59.167.160/

Buzzflash has also created a mirror site to download this video.
http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/04/08/ale04040.html

Salon has an article on this revelation at:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/27/barnes/index_np.html

And then, there's the latest Greg Palast article, which provides a nice summary. Here it is:

* * * * * * * * * * * * *
STILL UNREPORTED: THE PAY-OFF IN BUSH AIR GUARD FIX
Saturday, August 28, 2004

by Greg Palast

In 1968, former Congressman George Herbert Walker Bush of Texas, fresh from voting to send other men's sons to Vietnam, enlisted his own son in a very special affirmative action program, the 'champagne' unit of the Texas Air National Guard. There, Top Gun fighter pilot George Dubya was assigned the dangerous job of protecting Houston from Vietcong air attack.

This week, former Lt. Governor Ben Barnes of Texas 'fessed up to pulling the strings to keep Little George out of the jungle. "I got a young man named George W. Bush into the Texas Air Guard - and I'm ashamed."

THE PAY-OFF

That's far from the end of the story. In 1994, George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas by a whisker. By that time, Barnes had left office to become a big time corporate lobbyist. To an influence peddler like Barnes, having damning information on a sitting governor is worth its weight in gold – or, more precisely, there’s a value in keeping the info secret.

Barnes appears to have made lucrative use of his knowledge of our President's slithering out of the draft as a lever to protect a multi-billion dollar contract for a client. That's the information in a confidential letter buried deep in the files of the US Justice Department that fell into my hands at BBC television.

Here's what happened. Just after Bush's election, Barnes' client GTech Corp., due to allegations of corruption, was about to lose its license to print money: its contract to run the Texas state lottery. Barnes, says the Justice Department document, made a call to the newly elected governor's office and saved GTech's state contract.

The letter said, "Governor Bush ... made a deal with Ben Barnes not to rebid [the GTech lottery contract] because Barnes could confirm that Bush had lied during the '94 campaign."

In that close race, Bush denied the fix was in to keep him out of 'Nam, and the US media stopped asking questions. What did the victorious Governor Bush's office do for Barnes? According to the tipster, "Barnes agreed never to confirm the story [of the draft dodging] and the governor talked to the chair of the lottery two days later and she then agreed to support letting GTech keep the contract without a bid."

And so it came to pass that the governor's commission reversed itself and gave GTech the billion dollar deal without a bid.

The happy client paid Barnes, the keeper of Governor Bush's secret, a fee of over $23 million. Barnes, not surprisingly, denies that Bush took care of his client in return for Barnes' silence. However, confronted with the evidence, the former Lt. Governor now admits to helping the young George stay out of Vietnam.

Take a look at the letter yourself - with information we confirmed with other sources - at
http://www.gregpalast.com/ulf/documents/draftdodgeblanked.jpg .

Frankly, I don't care if President Bush cowered and ran from Vietnam. I sure as hell didn't volunteer ... but then, my daddy didn't send someone else in my place. And I don't march around aircraft carriers with parachute clips around my gonads talking about war and sacrifice.

More important, I haven't made any pay-offs to silence those who could change my image from war hero to war zero.

"TIME WARNER WON'T LET US AIR THIS"

By the way: I first reported this story in 1999, including the evidence of payback, in The Observer of London. US media closed its eyes. Then I put the story on British television last year in the one-hour report, "Bush Family Fortunes." American networks turned down BBC's offer to run it in the USA. "Wonderful film," one executive told me, "but Time Warner is not going to let us put this on the air." However, US networks will take cash for advertisements calling Kerry a Vietnam coward.

The good news is, until Patriot Act 3 kicks in, they can't stop us selling the film to you directly. The updated version of "Bush Family Fortunes," with the full story you still can't see on your boob tube, will be released next month in DVD. See a preview at

http://www.gregpalast.com/bff-dvd.htm

Subscribe to Greg Palast's reports at
http://www.gregpalast.com/contact.cfm

George Bush and the Phony Ribbon

With all this recent talk about John Kerry’s military records, there’s been a tendency to forget about the military record of his opponent. Thanks to RhinosBlog, I discovered an interesting thread at the DemocraticUnderground.com on the subject of a special ribbon that George W. Bush wore for a military portrait. Take a look at this photo from Presidential Library site of George H.W. Bush:

The photo was taken sometime before his promotion to 1st Lt. in 1970. In it he's wearing an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (AFOUA) and a Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon (SAEMR) just below his pilot wings. According to a just-completed investigation by Walt Starr, Bush's unit (the 111th Fighter Intercept Squadron 147th Fighter Intercept Group) did not receive its first AFOUA until 1975. For weeks, the media has put John Kerry's 5 medals under a microscope. Now we learn that George Bush was so ashamed of his undistinguished service record that he had himself photographed with a ribbon he never earned.

For a detailed analysis of this incident, you should go to:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x675299

I found that loading this particular URL, even with cable broadband, took a very long time to access. I’ve distilled the first three pages into an Acrobat file that you can download by CLICKING HERE.

Taking this particular story one step further, Cockeyed.com has chosen to discuss all the other potential medals in George Bush’s trophy cabinet. By all means, do check out this other link:

http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/medals/medals.html

Comparing the Two Candidates

When one is evaluating political candidates, I think it’s worthwhile to consider their personal histories and how they treat their fellow human beings.

Some people seem to take pleasure in causing pain for others. Other people are genuinely concerned with the well-being of others, including their adversaries. Some people are humanitarians, and some people are blatant assholes.

When George Bush attended Yale University in the 1960’s, there was a bit of controversy over allegations that his fraternity, DKE, had hazed incoming pledges by branding them with an iron. Bush told the New York Times "it was just a coat hanger, and ... it didn't hurt any more than a cigarette burn."

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040714_2436.html

As a child in Midland, Texas, George W. Bush enjoying killing small animals. He took great pleasure in exploding frogs with firecrackers.

http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-3nov2000-frogs.html

Bush wasn’t much of a sportsman either. As a member of the Yale rugby team, George W. Bush didn’t always play fair. In a 1969 Yale yearbook, you can see a photo of Bush clearly sucker-punching his opponent.

http://www.thismodernworld.com/weblog/mtarchives/week_2004_08_08.html#001687

When he was the governor of Texas, he oversaw 152 executions, a record number unmatched by any other governor in the history of the United States. When CNN broadcaster Larry King asked Bush about death row inmate Karla Faye Tucker before her execution, Bush mocked her in a whimpering tone, "Please, don't kill me.'"

One of George W. Bush’s original campaign themes was the concept of “compassionate conservatism.”

John Kerry has a very different history than George W. Bush. Certainly, most Americans are aware that John Kerry is a distinguished war veteran who volunteered for service in Vietnam.

What is not common knowledge is the fact that Senator Kerry actually saved the life of a Republican political adversary. Chic Hecht, who was a conservative Republican Senator from Nevada, almost died when a piece of apple lodged firmly in his throat at a Republican luncheon in 1988.

Senator Hecht stumbled out of the dining room, as he didn’t want to vomit in front of colleagues. He passed out in the hallway, but luckily Senator John Kerry stepped off an elevator at the right time. Kerry rushed to Hecht's side and gave him the Heimlich maneuver -- four times.

Hecht said he was amazed that Kerry acted so quickly -- some people were assuming that he was having a heart attack. "He knew exactly what to do," he said. "But a lot of people know what to do. They just don't size up the situation immediately."

The story has a twist of irony: Hecht was up for re-election that year, and Kerry, who was serving as the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, had pegged Hecht as one of the most vulnerable Republican seats.

Indeed, the Democratic nominee for Hecht's seat, then-Gov. Richard Bryan, beat Hecht, who served just one term in office.

"Only in America can this happen, where he's working against me to get me defeated and then saves my life," Hecht said.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2004/feb/06/516309920.html

Quote of the Day

"George W Bush has been the worst president in US history for working people, for women, for the environment, for our reputation among the nations of the world, for our financial future, for the advancement of science, for the independence of the judiciary, for the rule of domestic and international law, and for the safety and security of our citizens both at home and abroad."

Ben Hudnall, (National Coordinator, Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, AFL-CIO)

Bush vs New York

an excerpt from the article” The 10 Ways Bush Screwed New York”
by Wayne Barrett, special reporting by Daniel Magliocco, featured in the Village Voice:

There are actually 5,879 fewer city cops than in 2000, partly due to the nearly 90 percent Bush cuts in Bill Clinton's COPS programs. Even with the post-9-11 invention of homeland security funding, NYC is getting $61 million less in federal public-safety subsidies than it did before our cops became America's front line. Bush's 2005 budget proposes even more cuts. Though most conventioneers would prefer to forget it, George W. Bush has slashed the troop strength that host committee hero Rudy Giuliani put on duty.

With the Bush administration also opposing legislation backed by Mayor Bloomberg that would've compensated the city for revenue lost due to 9-11, six firehouses were closed as well. That includes one on 125th Street in East Harlem, an engine company that might well have been summoned to Madison Square Garden in a multi-alarm fire. Of course, should anything catastrophic happen there during convention week, the firefighters whose brothers died on 9-11 will still be communicating on the same, reprogrammed, radios that cost lives three years ago, thanks to a president who refused to pony up the $120 million needed for new ones. Bush has also de-funded the SAFER program even after Congress passed it—blocking NYC from hiring more firefighters—and limited equipment purchases under the FIRE program to a puny cap of $750,000, putting NY's allocation on a par with Poland, Ohio's, with Montana getting $9 per capita for federal firefighter aid and NYC nine cents.

Read the whole article at:
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0434/barrett.php

The Bush Network

An amazing resource you should know about. For those that need more reasons to get rid of George W. Bush, this website is an amazing starting point.

The Bush Network is here to show the world that George W Bush is the worst president any country or company has ever had in the history of humanity. He doesn't even know it because he doesn't use the internet, yet here we have a very long list of devoted sites against him!

Since we know there are SO MANY MORE sites, devoted to doing anything at all to get rid of the guy, let this be an unprecedented showing, please add links!

CHECK OUT THIS AMAZING RESOURCE:
http://www.bushnetwork.com

A Guide to the Swift Veterans

Today, the New York Times published an excellent article on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Deception. You can read this article by going to this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/politics/campaign/20swift.html

What I especially found interesting was the visual flowchart that documents the links between the people behind this group and George W. Bush. Did you know that John O’Neill, the main spokesman of this group was married to a woman that was appointed to the Texas State Court of Appeals by then-Governor George W. Bush? One of John O’Neill’s law partners was a paid counsel to Governor Bush that was hired as President Bush to the position of deputy counsel to the Department of Commerce? Harlan Crow, one of the other top dogs at the Swift Boat Veterans is a trustee for Daddy Bush’s official Library Foundation? Neither did I.

You can download this flowchart at
http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/08/19/politics/campaign/20040820swift_graph.gif

If this link doesn’t work, then you can also download the flowchart at a MIRROR SITE .

There’s another great resource for disseminating the TRUTH of these deceitful Swift Veterans. It’s THE DAILY SHOW, which airs on Comedy Central. You can see an excellent clip titled “Vet Offensive” in the RealMedia format (ack!) at this OFFICIAL COMEDY CENTRAL LINK .

or you can download a QuickTime version of the same program at this ALTERNATIVE LINK .

Iraqi soccer team pissed at Bush

Recycled info from DailyKos :

Bush is running an ad featuring the Iraq and Afghanistan Olympic teams. The Iraqi soccer team -- one of the darlings of these games -- is not amused.
Sadir had a message for U.S. president George W. Bush, who is using the Iraqi Olympic team in his latest re-election campaign advertisements.

In those spots, the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear as a narrator says, "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes."

"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. "He can find another way to advertise himself."

Ahmed Manajid, who played as a midfielder on Wednesday, had an even stronger response when asked about Bush's TV advertisement. "How will he meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women?" Manajid told me. "He has committed so many crimes."

READ THE WHOLE STORY AT:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/writers/08/19/iraq/index.html

Quote of the Day

"The Bush administration has done for terrorism what Prohibition did for organized crime."
- Linda Peterson, letter to SJ Mercury August 13, 2004

ACCESS THE SAN JOSE MERCURY AT:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/

Bush Doesn’t Read Newspapers

Kerry: Bring 'em on
Newspapers, that is - candidate reads avidly
By John Nichols
August 7, 2004

John Kerry and George W. Bush, the Democrat and Republican who will compete this November for the presidency, both attended similar New England preparatory schools, both went to Yale and both received advanced degrees from prestigious East Coast colleges.

But somewhere along the way, they developed dramatically different reading habits.

Where Bush says he does not read newspapers, Kerry says he cannot get enough of them. And that distinction, Kerry suggested when he sat down this week for a rare extended interview on media issues, sums up a radically different vision of how a president should gather and process information to use in making fundamental decisions about the direction of the nation and the world.

"I read four or five papers a day if I can," Kerry said when asked about his newspaper reading habits. "It depends obviously on where I am and what I'm doing. I always pick up a local paper in the hotel I'm staying at, or two depending on what the city is. And I try to get the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, papers like that. I try to read as much as I can."

Those patterns are similar to most former presidents. Dwight Eisenhower read nine papers daily and Ronald Reagan was such an avid consumer of newspapers that his ex-wife Jane Wyman complained about his print media obsessions. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were known to read stacks of papers each day.

But Kerry's penchant for the papers clearly distinguishes him from the current President Bush, who was asked by Fox News anchor Brit Hume how he gets his news and replied that he asks an aide, "What's in the newspapers worth worrying about?"

Bush added, "I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving. I rarely read the stories."

Instead of gathering information himself, Bush said, he prefers to "get briefed by people who probably read the news themselves" and "people on my staff who tell me what's happening in the world."

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE AT:
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/index.php?ntid=8029&ntpid=2

Ron Reagan on Bush

"It's one thing to get trashed by Michael Moore. But when Nobel laureates, a vast majority of the scientific community, and a host of current and former diplomats, intelligence operatives, and military officials line up against you, it becomes increasingly difficult to characterize the opposition as fringe wackos."

Ron Reagan (son of Ronald)
Esquire Magazine
September 2004, Volume 142, Issue 3

READ HIS WHOLE ARTICLE AT:
http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2004/040729_mfe_reagan_1.html

Fact Check on the Swift Veterans

There's a group known as the "Swift Veterans for the Truth" that has been airing a new television commercial that's highly critical of John Kerry's military record. As it turns out, this group's version of the "truth" has little resemblence to actual events. You can see their commerical by logging onto http://www.swiftvets.com/.

The John Kerry website has posted a detailed response to the lies perpetuated by this group. I would encourage all voters to read this.

http://www.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/080504_truth.html .

What Bush Didn't Do

"Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered in my ear that America is under attack, I would have told those kids very nicely and politely that the president of the United States has something that he needs to attend to."

-- Sen. John Kerry, quoted by Editor and Publisher, referring to the moment, "now immortalized in Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11, when Bush refused to leave a group of schoolchildren in Florida for seven minutes after being notified of the second attack on the World Trade Center."

QUOTE COURTESY OF:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000600338

WITH THANKS TO:
http://www.politicalwire.com/

Bush Seeks New Ways to Harm Our Country

Bush Insists His Administration Seeking 'new Ways to Harm Our Country'
Associated Press, Aug 5, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush offered up a new entry for his catalog of "Bushisms" on Thursday, declaring that his administration will "never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people."

Bush misspoke as he delivered a speech at the signing ceremony for a $417 billion defense spending bill.

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we," Bush said. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

No one in Bush's audience of military brass or Pentagon chiefs reacted.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBCWNR3JXD.html

Retired general: Bush policy a DISASTER

Retired general: Bush foreign policy a 'national disaster'
Saturday, July 31, 2004

(CNN) -- A former Air Force chief of staff and one-time "Veteran for Bush" said Saturday that America's foreign relations for the first three years of President Bush's term have been "a national disaster" but that the president's Democratic rival was "up to the task" of rebuilding.

Retired Gen. Tony McPeak, the Air Force chief of staff during the first Gulf War, delivered the Democratic radio address supporting implementation of the 9/11 commission's recommendations for national security.

"As president, John Kerry will not waste a minute in bringing action on the reforms urged by the 9/11 commission," McPeak said of the Massachusetts senator nominated by the Democrats this week. "And he will not rest until America's defenses are strong."

The president, on the other hand, "fought against the very formation of the commission and continues to the present moment to give it only grudging cooperation, no matter what he says," the general said. "Why should we believe he will do anything to institute the needed change?"

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE AT:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/31/dems.radio

WMDs Gone MIA

Pat Buchanan writes about Bush’s war for The American Conservative magazine, and I’m happy to share an excerpt.

* * * * * *

WMDs Gone MIA
by Pat Buchanan

What was America’s real motive for attacking Iraq? Was it oil? Empire? To make the Middle East safe for Sharon? That these questions are being asked, not only by America’s critics, is the fault of the administration alone. For its crucial argument as to why it had no choice but to launch the first preventive war in American history is collapsing like a sand castle in a rising surf.

Iraq, in retrospect, was no threat whatsoever to the United States. We fought an unnecessary war, and now we must rebuild a nation at a rising cost in blood and treasure.

Before the war, many who opposed it argued that no matter the evil character of Saddam, Iraq had not attacked us, did not threaten us, did not want war with us, could not defeat us. Why then were we about to invade Iraq?

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE AT:
http://www.amconmag.com/06_30_03/buchanan.html#

Bush and Anti-Depressant Drugs

Bush Using Drugs to Control Depression, Erratic Behavior
By TERESA HAMPTON
Editor, Capitol Hill Blue
Jul 28, 2004, 08:09

President George W. Bush is taking powerful anti-depressant drugs to control his erratic behavior, depression and paranoia, Capitol Hill Blue has learned.

The prescription drugs, administered by Col. Richard J. Tubb, the White House physician, can impair the President’s mental faculties and decrease both his physical capabilities and his ability to respond to a crisis, administration aides admit privately.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” says one aide. “We can’t have him flying off the handle at the slightest provocation but we also need a President who is alert mentally.”

Tubb prescribed the anti-depressants after a clearly-upset Bush stormed off stage on July 8, refusing to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth J. Lay.

“Keep those motherfuckers away from me,” he screamed at an aide backstage. “If you can’t, I’ll find someone who can.”

Bush’s mental stability has become the topic of Washington whispers in recent months. Capitol Hill Blue first reported on June 4 about increasing concern among White House aides over the President’s wide mood swings and obscene outbursts.

Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President . Dr. Frank diagnosed the President as a “paranoid meglomaniac” and “untreated alcoholic” whose “lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad” showcase Bush’s instabilities.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4921.shtml

READ ABOUT THE FROG KILLINGS AT:
http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-3nov2000-frogs.html

Nancy Reagan Says NO to Bush

Nancy Reagan to Bush: 'We Don't Support Your Re-Election'
By TERESA HAMPTON & WILLIAM D. McTAVISH
Capitol Hill Blue Staff

The widow of former President, and Republican icon, Ronald Reagan has told the GOP she wants nothing to do with their upcoming national convention or the re-election campaign of President George W. Bush.

Nancy Reagan turned down numerous invitations to appear at the Republican National Convention and has warned the Bush campaign she will not tolerate any use of her or her late husbands words or images in the President’s re-election effort.

“Mrs. Reagan does not support President Bush’s re-election and neither to most members of the President’s family,” says a spokesman for the former First Lady.

Reagan’s son, Ron, spoke at the just-concluded Democratic National Convention and writes in next month’s Esquire magazine that “George W. Bush and his administration have taken normal mendacity to a startling new level far beyond lies of convenience. They traffic in big lies.”

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4935.shtml