Like all the sycophants Bush hires, Harriet Miers has "resigned." That's the way Dubya likes to get rid of people. But this is good news. With a Republican controlled congress, Bush didn't need a heavy hitter for White house legal counsel. Now that he will be faced with legions of warrants, subpoenas, inquiries and hearings (lions and tigers and bears, Oh My!!) he needs someone who can be tough.
President Bush is seeking a new chief lawyer with credentials as a proven combatant as he and his staff prepare for a potential raft of investigations from Democrats in Congress who have promised to challenge the White House's conduct of policy and its assertions of executive power.
Republicans who have consulted with administration officials on personnel said the White House chief of staff, Joshua B. Bolten, was looking for a seasoned Washington hand to succeed Harriet E. Miers, the White House counsel who announced her resignation on Thursday.
Republicans said Friday in interviews that the White House was now, in essence, seeking a politically savvy outsider with ties throughout the capital and in Congress who might be called upon to become something of a public figure in potentially high-profile fights.
Bush's problem is he only hires people who are blindly loyal to him, who tell him what he wants to hear and who are pretty much willing to sell out their soul, their family, and certainly their country to give Dubya whatever he wants. That doesn't generally produce a person who is particularly competent and certainly doesn't produce good advice or a person of integrity.
At this point, any person who takes a job with Bush or his administration deserves to be tarred with a lifetime reputation as a sellout who has no integrity, who will tell a boss what he wants to hear, who has no loyalty to country or values, who has no guts to speak the truth, no courage to stand up to a boss. And this, will, I hope, also apply to all the generals who left Bush's service in good graces, like Tommy Franks.
The good news is, since Bush has proven himself unable to choose competence over almost sociopathic loyalty, it is likely that he will be brining in another incompetent, who will, when the shit hits the fan, sell out Bush rather than go down... I hope.
If Bush were smart, which he has consistently proven he is not, he'd do what Karl Rove did-- hire a smart Democrat to represent him. That's why Rove wasn't indicted by Fitzgerald.
The good news is that Miers is leaving because Bush knows that he is in for a lot of battles, that frat boy dubya is out of the frat house (Republican led congress) and into the street and he's going to get his ass kicked-- a sweet, sweet image to consider. The question is, will Bush, a weak, cowardly sort, be able to tolerate the routine, methodical beating the Dems should be planning for him? Will the Dems do what they should do and keep after Bush, week after week, month after month, attacking him, challenging him, accusing, indicting, subpoenaing him and all the sycophantic lackeys around him? If they don't, they will be failing to do their job, failing to take the fight for America to where it should be fought.
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
To learn more about me and OpEdNews.com, check out this article.
and there are Rob's quotes, here.
To Watch me on youtube, having a lively conversation with John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here Now, wouldn't you like to see me on the political news shows, representing progressives. If so, tell your favorite shows to bring me on and refer them to this youtube video
My radio show, The Rob Kall Show, runs 9-10 PM EST Wednesday evenings, on AM 1360, WNJC and is archived on www.whiterosesociety.org Or listen to it streaming, live at either www.wnjc1360.com or here.
A few declarations.
-While I'm registered as a Democrat, I consider myself to be a dynamic critic of the Democratic party, just as, well, not quite as much, but almost as much as I am a critic of republicans.
-My articles express my personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.
It is happening. Did you notice the AP article this morning concerning the secret pact signed by the White House and the Secret Service not to reveal the White House visitors log. This secret pact was signed at the height of the Abramoff scandal. In an unrealed lawsuit VP Cheney got the logs for evidence in his case, probably the Liddy case. The Washington Post wanted the list. The White House said they are the personal property of Presidential records. Evidently, the WP is going to court to get the records.
If you will remember, the reactionary right Senate and House members used those records to prove how many times Monica Lewinsky visited President Clinton in the White House.
This is all happening even before the first Congressional hearings take place. It is going to be so much fun seeing all the bigwigs brought before committees chaired by Dennis Kucinich, Hillary Clinton and Patrick Leahy.
The rats are starting to scatter as the Bush "ship of the line" heads to the bottom. I hope we can keep him around so we can have hearings for two solid years. It will take that long to shovel out the outhouse for the American public to see what all has been done with their taxes and in their name.
Phil.
by
pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 962 comments)
on Saturday, January 6, 2007 at 9:14:25 AM
If I were you I would be careful in this hating stuff. I have dealt with people over forty years. There is nothing as useless and self destructive as hate. Your word "Schadenfreude" means "taking pleasure in the misery of others." I wish Bush no misfortune once he has been removed from office. I do not want him to be removed too quickly not in order to torture him. What good would that be for me or him? I want him to be hung out in the open so the Senate and House can bring person after person into public view who have stolen money and destroyed individuals time and again. I want them to be seen as to who they are and hopefully be disempowered from being able to hurt anyone else. This right wing cabal has been at work over forty years in this country and they need to be drug in to the light of public view. I think three questions must be asked and answered: Who are they? What do they do? How do they do it?
You might need to learn why Jesus cursed the fig tree according to Biblical interpretation. The fig tree was a symbol of Israel's national independence. Jesus was just telling the disciples that the time was coming when Israel would go through a second destruction like that of her first destruction by Babylon almost six hundred years before. Israel had come to the place again were all wealth was accrued in a few individuals, the poor had no chance for justice in religious court, the orphans were raped on the streets, and widows were made to fend for themselves. God judged Israel and set her aside until his own time is over with her. Hosea in the Tanakh had prophesied this long before Jesus cursed the fig tree.
I hope you do not blame Christianity for the likes of Pat Robertson. As far as Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction with the other three cities of the plains, I suggest you check out the Tanakh's (Old Testament) Nebiim (Prophets) named Jeremiah and Ezekiel as to why they were destroyed,
Ezekiel 16:49,
"Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." (daughters-the other four destroyed cities).
Not a mention of homosexuality is there?
I like how a more modern translation translates the Hebrew into English,
"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy."
Isn't it very peculiar that the mega church religious right and the political religious right fight every governmental program to help the poor? As far as eternal torment goes? It is one thing as to what religious leaders say and another thing as to what the Tanahk and the New Testament teaches. Do you realize there are twenty –seven short books in the New Testament? Not one book in any place from Saint Matthew through Revelation permits a Christian or follower of Jesus to do any harm to any person at any time for any thing? Amazing isn't it?
The Tanakh taught that Israel was a theocracy. Justice was severe, but if you compare it to all the nations around Israel, it was very mild. There was no human sacrifice. Isaac was the closest case and he was spared. There was no mutilation of the body such as amputation of parts of the body as putting out eyes, cutting off hands or feet. The Tanakh teaches mercy to the stranger (non-Jew) in the Land, love your neighbor as your self, taking care of the poor, take care of widows, protect the defenseless or powerless from the powerful, take care of the fatherless and notice it did not say orphans. The Old Testament or Tanakh even teaches respect for the earth and for animals. When a farmer plowed his wheat, he was not allowed to muzzle his ox, but the ox was allowed to eat his full. It is amazing what we hear about the Bible and what it really teaches is it not?
Phil.
by
pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 962 comments)
on Saturday, January 6, 2007 at 5:56:32 PM
i will take great pleasure in bush's continued trajectory into utter infamy. This is a sign of my love of Truth, as all repulsion at the face of Evil is.
by
Nezua (42 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 93 comments)
on Saturday, January 6, 2007 at 10:27:13 PM
So sure it is comforting to visualize the departure of the
most incompetent Personal Presidential Lawyer in White
House history,screwball Bush Bimbo Harriet Miers,however
we need to be alert to the fact that Psychotic Power Mad
Generalissmo George W Bush & Vice Psycho Dick Cheney also
gave us,two extremist US Attorney Generals,John Ashcroft
and Mr Torture Crazy Alberto Psycho Gonzales and a bunch
hardcore Neo-Con Nutcases like James Yoo,the real author
of Bush's Use Of Torture Doctrine,as well!
by
Ralph (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 74 comments)
on Saturday, January 6, 2007 at 11:06:19 PM
Look, it may please some of you - for varying motives - to leave Bush there while he shuffles in new doubtless Hebraic aides - well, what else? And it may well be that you could not bear the embarrassment of saying anything as the posturing clown yet again pouts his expression of 'I am the dictator here and you're not, so you have to swallow this crap' as he consigns thousands more faceless troops to his battle against . . . what does he claim? - evil? and consigns hundreds of thousands more innocent victims to the penalty of his and his manipulators' corporate ambitions. It may well be that you are sincere in your sensitive concyern for hyim.
But, hey! How do you think we out here feel? or your troops when they are finally hit, if only by the truth? or the innocent natives when they and their families are blown to bits by the corporate ambitions of these depraved apes.
Look, don't wait, simply to spare the poor mutt's feelings. Think of us out here. And think what he is going to do to you when he can get around to it - think of those waiting prison camps. Just tear the evil bastard down and hang him. And Cheney. And the rest of those manipulators who have put them up to it. Don't talk. Just do it.
In the name of Justice? - No, just to stop the evil cretins from inflicting ever more pain and death and suffering on the rest of the world. Don't we shoot marauding hyenas any more?
Or do you want the rest of the world to have to do your dirty work for you?
by
amazin (34 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 400 comments)
on Sunday, January 7, 2007 at 6:22:25 AM
I feel imperilled with Bush/Cheney and the rest of the NeoCons in office. Everyone who thinks, reads, or talks about all the shenanagins he has pulled knows that we are headed straight to HELL WITH A NAZI EMPIRE HEADED UP BY DUBYA BUSH. If you doubt that anyone in "our government" would pull something like 9/11, read some of Antony C. Sutton's books as to what our SHADOW GOVERNMENT is capable of and has been for at least the last 67 years. Start with one of his later books AMERICA'S SECRET ESTABLISHMENT,Introduction to Skull and Bones; and then from the list on the introductory pages, pick anyone you want for FACTS about our leadership from Franklin D. Roosevelt and move forward.
by
Auveline Robinson (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 18 diaries, 1 comments)
on Sunday, January 7, 2007 at 6:28:24 PM
I expect that Senator Leahy in particular has a couple of choice words for Cheney. I'd be happy to see Leahy not just *say* it to Cheney while making some obscene gesture, but to *do* it to him the legal system.
And this should be made plenty costly to defend. There should be no end to documents called into question for Cheney's counsel to consider at $1000 an hour - each (ka-ching!!). Then come the trial preparation (ka-ching!!), the appeals (ka-ching!!), the pleas for pardons (ka-ching!!), and years of trying to get him out of solitary and off of death row - ka-ching!! ka-ching!! ka-ching!! Clinton's legal fees were in the millions, and they were his personal bills.
Cheney made enough through his Halliburton connections (as did the Bushes through the Carlyle Group war profiteering, and Rumsfeld through his pharmaceutical connection's bird flu remedy.
I don't know why people accept the common wisdom to be down on hatred in all forms for any reason. Or why they're so big on forgiveness and mercy in all cases, especially those that cite the Christian bible as a source. Schadenfreude is a beautiful thing when judiciously applied as the bible amply demonstrates:
Christ hated the moneychangers and the fig tree, and Yahweh hated and killed (or ordered the killing of) virtually anyone who violates his rules as well as everybody else around them as with Pat Robertson's tsunamis and the Old Testament's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Far from always forgiving, the Christian deity sentenced them to eternal torment. I'm much less strident than that. I'll be satisfied with their family's impoverishment, the opprobrium of their peers and of history, incarceration, a few years of torture, and death of neglect on the stone floor of a cold, dark dungeon after many years without human contact or sunlight. Is that wrong?
Hatred in the form of contempt and ill wishes for the people that desecrated the Constitution and destroyed this country seems righteous and healthy to me. Doing it openly and freely feels cleansing, refreshing, cathartic.
by
Yaybob (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 174 comments)
on Saturday, January 6, 2007 at 2:49:58 PM
9 comments
How would you rate this?
You must be logged in (if signed up) to do ratings.
It's free to signup! And easy. And takes just a minute or two....
Must Read (
Well Said (
News (
Touching (
Funny (
Supported (
Interesting (
Inspiring (
Valuable (
