The Tangible Power Of Change

There is now in this country a concerted effort being made to revise the history of the President George W. Bush and his administration. In some kind of ham handed Orwellian manner Bush officials and operatives are trying to sell the last 8 years of being full of peace, prosperity, and security and they are trying to sell Bush as a strong, competent leader. Well good luck with that. Unfortunately for them we aren't living in Orwell's 1984 and there are external clues that we can consider that aren't subject to any revisionist history in this country. One of the most notable examples is the disdain that the international community has had for George Bush and the contrast in their willingness to actually work with incoming President Elect Barack Obama. In the Washington Post today we find an article about the member nations in the E.U. who are eager to work with Obama on closing GITMO by offering some of the prisoners housed there asylum in their country. From the article.

European nations have begun intensive discussions both within and among their governments on whether to resettle detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a significant overture to the incoming Obama administration, according to senior European officials and U.S. diplomats.

The willingness to consider accepting prisoners who cannot be returned to their home countries, because of fears they may be tortured there, represents a major change in attitude on the part of European governments. Repeated requests from the Bush administration that European allies accept some Guantanamo Bay detainees received only refusals.

The Bush administration "produced the problem," Karsten Voigt, coordinator of German-American cooperation at the German Foreign Ministry, said in a telephone interview. "With Obama, the difference is that he tries to solve it."

snip

"I believe the new administration will have the conditions to create a new dynamic of cooperation," Amado said. He noted that when he first raised the issue of Guantanamo Bay at a meeting of E.U. foreign ministers about seven months ago, some countries resisted assisting the Bush administration.

Note that last line. There were countries in the EU who didn't want to offer asylum to detainees in GITMO, not because they didn't want to help America, but instead because specifically they didn't want to help George Bush. There is a running meme pushed by conservative pundits and talking heads that history will be kind to President Bush. Well someone should tell them that history isn't just written in this country anymore. No matter how many false platitudes are showered upon President Bush, no matter how many self serving books are written about President Bush, no matter how many talking heads get on the Tee Vee and gloss over war crimes for President Bush, the world will not forget what a failure his presidency was. His legacy will not only haunt him for the rest of his life, but also will haunt our nation until we can rebuild our reputation around the world. Thankfully, our election of President Elect Obama seems to be a good first start.

What If You Have A Conviction Against Treating Rich White Men?

President In Name Only George Bush is at it again but,New this time I think I might have a counterpunch. The New York Times tells us that PINO Bush has signed into law the "conscious rule" which bars discrimination against employees who refuse to provide medical treatment and or procedures that go against their "convictions". I'll let the NYTimes do the honors of further explanation:

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration, as expected, announced new protections on Thursday for health care providers who oppose abortion and other medical procedures on religious or moral grounds.

“Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience,” Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a statement on his department’s Web site.

The rule prohibits recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and health care aides who refuse to take part in procedures because of their convictions, and it bars hospitals, clinics, doctors’ office and pharmacies from forcing their employees to assist in programs and activities financed by the department.

“This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience,” Mr. Leavitt said.

Now as the New York Times points out and most of us with half a brain already know, this rule is meant to make it harder for women to get abortions. In truth it has nothing to do with the rights of doctors or nurses because its a rarity that any of them who oppose such a procedure would find themselves faced with a situation of having to do one. But I say instead of opposing this rule, lets embrace it. We just have to form a "religion" of our own.

The first rule of our "new religion" would have to be that we are against rich white men having any kind of surgery. God made us perfectly and if we are sick or ill its because he wanted it that way. If he wants to heal rich white men then I am sure he can do it himself without us lowly humans getting in the way. So no more heart procedures for Dick Cheney.

The second rule of our "new religion" should that we do not believe in diagnostic tests for rich white men. If something is ailing the rich white men then they should just pray about it and God will reveal to them what is wrong.

The third and final rule of our "new religion" should be we do not believe in painkillers for rich white men. God can heal all the pain of rich white men as long as they ask him to.

So for all the people who oppose this rule who are in the medical profession, lets turn it on its head and see what PINO Bush has to say about that.

A Rare Moment For Me

I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to President George W. Bush

The US government has said it will provide $17.4bn (£11.6bn) in loans to help troubled carmakers General Motors and Chrysler to survive.

President George W Bush said allowing the US car industry to fail would not be "a responsible course of action".

Ford has said it hoped to get by without government help.

The government will use part of the $700bn originally pledged to rescue US banks. It has set a deadline of 31 March for the firms to become viable.

General Motors will get $9.4 billion and Chrysler $4 billion before the end of the year. A further $4bn will be provided later.

GM chief executive Rick Wagoner said his company would quickly start to restructure itself.

"Our focus now turns to fully and rapidly implementing the restructuring plan that we reviewed with Congress earlier this month in conjunction with all of our key partners," he told a news conference.

Orwell Is Bush's Homeboy

George Bush forgot to tell everybody at the Ministry of Truth to shove the videos of all of his speeches down the memory holes. A word to the wise, you can only revise history when you own all the records.

What a Maroon.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy