The St. Petersburg Times reports, picked up by the London Guardian, that the president says his brother Jeb would make a great president.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/05/10/State/President_wants_broth.shtml

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5812620,00.html

GWBush isn’t saying that Jeb wants to run. The helmsman of torture, illegal invasion of another country and indefinite incarceration without telling the prisoners what they are charged with also doesn’t define his concept of “great.”

Gov Jeb Bush is, however, taking a trip outside the U.S. perceived as a trial run for presidential activity. With all the help he’s given U.S. corporations in outsourcing, Gov Jeb Bush has plenty of support out there, that is outside the U.S.

This blog continues from the previous ones on the same topic. As we now know, the White House and top administration figures launched a well organized and highly concerted campaign to exploit the six-month anniversary of 9/11 to get a war with Iraq.

Fanning out on March 11, the president held a ceremonial press opportunity at the White House, the vice president appeared jointly with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London, and the Secretary of Defense attacked Iraq at Arlington. Statements hyping Iraq concerns were made at the press daily briefing at State and in appearances by Senators McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lieberman (D-Conn.). Sympathetic stories appeared in media outlets, and rightwing Washington think tanks supported the whole effort, as did most Republicans in office with the honorable exception of Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas).

This operation exposes more than administration eagerness to invade Iraq. It also exposes how the current White House deputizes branches of U.S. government as branches of its own political operations. In an ugly continuing push, the Bush White House has engaged in the greatest enlargement of presidential power in the history of the United States, co-opting the other branches of government, the Republican Party, the press, the military, the intelligence community and even the states.

With a few heroic exceptions, there could be little resistance within the administration to inappropriate dominance by the White House or the unconstitutional invasion of a foreign country. Two weeks before March 11, Elizabeth Cheney, Vice President Cheney

Having Entertainment Tonight on while you’re in the room is a grand study in avoidance of every kind of individual merit. With the occasional exception of physical attractiveness, hardly one form of the gigantic talent, drive and work that go into entertainment is allowed to filter into “the most watched entertainment news program in the world.”

I am amusing myself here by coming up with a quick list of some of the tremendous skills, labors and assets that actually go into making our movies, television shows, stage productions, music recordings and performances. The makers of entertainment have to engage in these and do so often with love, verve and excellence, but seldom do they rate air time on ET:

1. dialect coaching; voice coaching; memorizing and what used to be called elocution; 2. singing lessons; song rehearsal and vocal practice; opera; 3. lessons and practice on musical instruments; making musical instruments; repairing same; rehearsing; 4. composing; conducting bands, groups and orchestras; 5. lighting, both stage and film; 6. makeup, hair; 7. costumes, designing, making and finding; 8. historical research; 9. horseback riding; animal breeding and training; 10. stunts; stunt directing; 11. fencing; baseball; athletics; 12. exercise physiology; fitness training; 13. copyright; contracts; entertainment law; 14. entertainment finance.

Et cetera.

Instead, Entertainment Tonight plays almost entirely to the guilty-pleasure audience. The show covers nothing in so much depth or with so much exactitude as the topics of eating disorders, sexual escapades and the romantic vicissitudes of celebrities, the occasional minor or major crime, drug addiction and substance abuse, and — by far the most nearly substantive — fashion.

Why? Are they bent on implying that show biz is all luck and no skill? Why are they pushing a line suggesting that every one of today’s celebrities is subject to drug addiction, chemical dependency, or an eating disorder, former or future? Are they implying that fame and fortune bring so much personal punishment that we don’t need to concern ourselves with — for example — a less regressive tax structure?

Come to think of it, with all that focus on personal disorders among celebrities, why don’t they at least tackle the tobacco use so widespread in the entertainment world?

Also quoted in full, without editing/comment:

“On the subject of contractors and your tax dollars, I have a new acronym for you – “P-S-D” – “Personal Security Detail.”  Because the military is stretched so thin, the US Government hires PSD firms to provide security details for various government departments.
> PSDs are armed to the hilt and drive armored SUVs with impunity.  No laws apply to them.  They are not official US entities and national laws here do not really exist.  Essentially, they are the mercenaries of the 21st century.  Everyone is terrified of them: local citizens, official US personnel, the military, me, etc.  The Department of State here uses the firm Blackwater (one of the more notorious PSDs) to provide
security.  A week and a half ago, a convoy of Blackwater SUVs was moving through the city – they came up on a taxi that was stopped at a stop sign.
> They honked once at the taxi, which for some reason did not move out of their way.  To emphasize their point, they drew their automatic weapons and fired
multiple times into the car.  The three men (all unarmed, fathers, and on their way to work) were killed (murdered).  The SUVs then sped off.  As of today, the US has not apologized and the Blackwater employees (all Americans) have been “transferred.”
> There have been several demonstrations – and there will be more.  Their actions make it very difficult for other “official” Americans to move around.
> Unfortunately, events of this kind are all too common. It is easy to understand why the people here no longer welcome our “assistance.”
>
> As a follow-up to the refinery explosion of two weeks ago, the same facility was flooded with 20,000 barrels of oil last week.  This new “incident” will set back repairs about a year.  At this point, it is uncertain whether the cause was gross negligence or sabotage – but the distinction between the two is becoming harder to make.  The immediate result was that the cost to fill a tank of natural gas for cooking went from $1 to
$15.  If “improvement” in the lives of these people continues at this rate, we will need to bring back the $1,000 bill.”

Republican Senator Lindsey O. Graham of So. Carolina is not up for re-election until 2008, and I cannot find that South Carolina has any provisions for a recall campaign except for its statewide offices. Presumably this is partly why Graham was picked to spearhead the White House attack on habeas corpus.

“HABEAS CORPUS. Lat. (You have the body.) The name given to a variety of writs, (of which these were anciently the emphatic words,) having for their object to bring a party before a court or judge.”

“The sole function of the writ is to release from unlawful imprisonment. . . The office of the writ is not to determine prisoner’s guilt or innocence, and ONLY ISSUE WHICH IT PRESENTS IS WHETHER PRISONER IS RESTRAINED OF HIS LIBERTY BY DUE PROCESS.” (Black’s Law Dictionary, 4th ed., caps added)

Make no mistake. Current moves in our GOP-dominated Congress regarding the “detention” of “terrorists” are not security measures. They do not defend the American people. They do not protect us from actual terrorists — some of whose relatives may well have been shepherded out of the U.S. right after 9/11 by this White House. They do not attack terrorists. They attack the ancient right of habeas corpus, which underlies our most immediate freedoms, namely the everyday right NOT to have our persons or property seized without reason, or for unnamed reasons.

This point is so fundamental that it is impossible that Sen. Graham fails to understand it. Lindsey Graham is an attorney, and every law student is required to take a Constitutional Law course in law school.

Only the most ignorant or gullible person, and Mr. Graham is neither, could honestly believe that accused terrorists should be treated differently from other accused persons. An accusation is still an accusation. Only to the abjectly ignorant, and Mr. Graham is not that, does the word “terrorist” mean “someone with magical powers.” Only a pitiably ignorant, rabidly bigoted or quasi- illiterate individual could seriously believe that accused terrorists have such telepathic powers, like Johnny Carson in his turban reading an envelope through his forehead, that our security is undermined by — by what? By merely telling them the charges against them.

Any infringement on habeas corpus is a straight-out, cynical taking advantage of ignorance.

But worse than that, it is a practice that puts all of us in danger of the same fate as accused terrorists. Make no mistake. This is not a practice that can be limited to one category of individuals. The basis of the right of a writ of habeas corpus is humanity. You don’t have to be some special kind of person; you just have to be a person. Therefore, since we are all people, any law or procedure that takes it away, takes it away from all of us.

If anyone can be detained without even being told the charges against him — then, anyone can be detained without being told the charges against him or her.

It is small consolation that Sen. Graham himself could become a “detainee.” By the time things get so horrendous, so overt, that even individuals like him rebel, the damage will be irretrievable.

Anyone concerned about the events of September 11, 2001, owes a debt of gratitude to writer Craig Unger, who posted the manifests of those Saudi flights online.

http://www.houseofbush.com/bush_saudi_files.

The flights referred to were several commercial aircraft leaving the country with Saudi nationals aboard, immediately after September 11.

According to the report of the independent commission,

Reading the White House web site (www.whitehouse.gov) is a lesson in history, especially for the early months of 2001. Sometimes it does look as though the Bush administration was directed by evil stars, before 9/11, to do everything richly wrong.

Take one day in history, May 3, 2001. On that date, we find “Remarks by the President, Secretary of Energy Abraham and Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz After Energy Advisors Meeting” in the Roosevelt Room:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/05/20010503-4.html.

It’s almost funny:

“This administration is deeply concerned about California and its citizens. We’re worried about blackouts that may occur this summer. And we want to be a part of any solutions. Since I became sworn-in [sic], we’ve been working with the state of California to provide regulatory relief to encourage an increase in the amount of supplies available for the consumers in that state.”

Obviously, any remarks by GWBush addressing energy problems in California then, given what we now know about Enron manipulations at the time, tend to arouse sardonic humor. Steps proposed were modest, aside from the deregulation: 

First, “Today, I am instructing all agencies, federal agencies, to reduce their peak hour electricity use in the state of California. And the Secretary of Energy will be traveling to the state today to consult with the governor of the state of California, as well as work with our respective agencies in that state.” [Reducing peak hour use is a good idea, especially if you couple it with flex time for government employees. But why did Secretary Abraham have to waste jet fuel by traveling to California personally, rather than coordinate by videoconference call from DC?]  

“Secondly, I am pleased to report that the Secretary of Defense, after a careful review, believes that this Department, which has got a large presence in the state of California, can reduce peak hour usage by 10 percent — and can do so without harming military readiness.” [Paul Wolfowitz goes on to explain that the DoD uses one percent of California’s peak energy load, so a 10% reduction in DoD use would presumably reduce peak use 1% over-all, in California. This reduction seems not to have occurred.]

In the White House press briefing the same day, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was on message with the same proposal:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/briefings/20010503.html#NationalEnergyPolicy.

In line with White House energy concerns on May 3, the GOP-led House of Representatives held a hearing on “Geothermal Resources on Public Lands,” one of a series of GOP-instigated attempts to move public opinion in favor of drilling in national parks and other federal land.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_house_hearings&docid=f:72134.wais

[So far as is known, Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park has not yet been harnessed for steam energy.]

A few items of information, for context:

May 3 is also the date of a transcript from the ongoing federal terrorism trial, in New York:

http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/us/terrorism/cases/background.html

On this particular trial date, in the US Court for the Southern District of New York (New York, NY, Honorable Leonard B. Sand, District Judge, presiding), one finds the prosecutors reviewing statements by terrorist suspect Wadih El Hage, about when he became aware of Usama bin Laden’s declaration “that America should be attacked.”  Throughout the early months of 2001, during which time the Bush administration including Bush, Cheney, and Condoleezza Rice have repeatedly said they had no idea blahblahblah, federal servants were combing over defendants from the bombing of the World Trade Center influenced by UBL’s fatwa against America, in federal court in New York City. No wonder New Yorkers have doubts about Bush.

Also on May 3, the CIA sent a Senior Executive Intelligence Brief (SEIB) around to the top people in the Bush administration: title: “Bin Ladin Public Profile May Presage Attack.” (http://pocket-pc-ebook-reader.com/911/15.08.NOTES_TO_CHAPTER_8.htm)

Meanwhile, in other action that month — May 2001 — the administration introduced the “Visa Express” program in Saudi Arabia, allowing any Saudi Arabian to obtain visas for entry into the US through a travel agent rather than through a US consulate. 

Also on May 3, Bush appointed one of the administration’s remaining counter-terrorism experts as Ambassador to Yemen:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/05/20010504-3.html.

Also on that date, by coincidence, Tennessee’s GOP governor, Don Sundquist, “signed SB 1266 authorizing a person without a social security number to receive a driver’s license if the person submits an affidavit affirming that they have never been issued a social security number. The act further allows noncitizens to be given a driver’s license if they provide proper documents demonstrating identification.”

http://www.house.gov/transportation/highway/09-05-02/waters.html

[It is hard not to notice the almost magically poor judgment so often exercised by GOP officeholders when it comes to genuine public health and public safety issues. They tend to be Johnny-on-the-spot about awarding big corporate contracts, though.]

May 3, 2001, seems to have been a busy day for misfeasance.

[This is an edited version of a column from 2004, still applicable.]

John F. Kerry wanted terrorism to be reduced to a nuisance.  George W. Bush was and is hyping and nudging terrorism to become a world war. 

That, in a nutshell, is the monstrous situation facing ordinary people in America today. We have someone in the White House doing something so demented, dementia with a case of giantism to boot, that normal public discourse almost contains no words to characterize it.

As time passes, Bush faces an increasing possibility of impeachment. More and more information is coming out that demonstrates that every argument used to justify invading Iraq was a pretext. The pretexts, furthermore, were developed and coordinated both inside and outside the administration, with private individuals including media persons as well as government officials.

Meanwhile, prudent undertakings that could improve safety or reduce vulnerabilities are being neglected at best and actively undermined at worst. Rather than adopt intelligent diplomacy, the White House has thrown gasoline on the flames, partly by making offensively provocative personnel appointments. Rather than secure domestic sites, the administration has neglected to safeguard borders and ports, nuclear and chemical sectors. Genuine security experts still point out major gaps in aviation security, with AVSEC breaches continuously reported.

Rather than adopt consistent measures to stop up security breaches including financial chicanery from top to bottom, the administration turns a strangely blind eye to managerial ties that bind contractors in even our most sensitive sectors to foreign businesses and foreign governments.

That anyone like Bush could pretend to protect and defend the American people is Orwellian, although not merely Orwellian. He’s using his biggest weaknesses as weapons, the old guerrilla tactic in reverse (without being an underdog), since in “wartime” genuinely patriotic individuals are reluctant to point out lapses. Like envious Iago the petty, he traps critics with their own virtues.

The tactic is an assault on the polity, penalizing most those people who most care about participatory democracy. It benefits someone who wishes to undo every achievement left by the New Deal and producing a large and self-confident middle class, including a strong Social Security system, corporate regulation including a Securities and Exchange Commission, and retirement pensions and health insurance for ordinary people.

Domestic policy and foreign policy are often discussed as though they were separate. In this administration, the two are blatantly part of one picture. The objective of treating 19 skyjackers as though they were the late Soviet Union is the same as the objective of tearing down the economic safety net at home:  these guys are pocketing our peace dividend.

One ironic result is that immense pressures have been piled upon the general public, the press and the loyal opposition, to sweep 9/11 under the rug. Vice President Cheney said many months ago on Meet the Press that we should put 9/11 behind us (a statement overlooked by major media outlets). The White House opposed forming any investigative commission as long as it could, stonewalled every congressional and commission request for key information, and is opposing 9/11 litigation to prevent discovery. Individuals willing to enrage the public by undermining every kind of investigation, through any avenue, are not going to give up easily.