Cons

“The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so that they will believe they are as clever as he.” — Karl Kraus (1874-1936)

“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” — William Casey, Director CIA (1981)

This page will serve as a repository for proof that the American motto has become:

Fool me once, shame on you. Please — fool me, again!

posted 24th May 2009

posted 8th March 2009

George Bush is now a member of another unique club, ex-presidents of the United States. Members of the ex-presidents club also happen to be millionaires. It is a club that has plenty of perks that weren’t available until after Harry Truman left office.

Truman was not a wealthy man. After he left office, he was living on his World War I pension. However by 1958, Truman told Congress he couldn’t even afford stamps for official business. Congress immediately passed the Presidential Pension Act and gave him $25,000 salary benefits and staff.

Bill Clinton has earned more than $29 million in book revenues and $52 million from speeches since he left office, but taxpayers are picking up tab for many presidential perks. In addition to the $191,300 Clinton and the other ex presidents receive as a pension, taxpayers pick up office expenses — $102,000 for Jimmy Carter, $175,000 for George H. Bush and $516,000 each year for Bill Clinton.

But the office expenses are just the beginning. We pay their phone bills — $10,000 for Carter, $17,000 for Bush and $79,000 for Clinton. Postage is included in the perks averaging about $15,000 for each ex president. When you consider $15,000 at 42 cents a letter that’s 35,714 letters we are paying for.

Then there are the miscellaneous charges. We pay for things like the Wall Street Journal subscription for Bush 41; Bill Clinton gets satellite TV in his office, complete with eight separate receivers and all the movie channels that come with the “entertainment package.” Your cost for that is $1,800 per year.

The perks include travel, that runs as much as $ 56,000 a year; staff $96,000; other services up to $83,000; printing can cost $14,000 per president; supplies cost $26,000 and equipment up to $69,000.

And now with Bush 43 joining the ex president’s club, that cost is going to go up even more.

Click Here to read the Federal Pension and Retirement Benefits [pdf]

posted 1st March 2009

Freeing Up Resources…for More War: Hours after Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress, the New York Times printed the news that he plans to gradually withdraw “American combat forces” from Iraq during the next 18 months. The newspaper reported that the advantages of the pullout will include “relieving the strain on the armed forces and freeing up resources for Afghanistan.”

The president’s speech had little to say about the plans for escalation, but the few words will come back to haunt: “With our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat Al Qaida and combat extremism, because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people from safe havens halfway around the world. We will not allow it.”

Obama didn’t mention the additional number of U.S. troops — 17,000 — that he has just ordered to Afghanistan. But his pledge that he “will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people” and his ringing declaration, “We will not allow it,” came just before this statement: “As we meet here tonight, our men and women in uniform stand watch abroad and more are readying to deploy.”

Get the message? In his first speech to Congress, the new president threw down a 90-month-old gauntlet, reaffirming the notion that committing to war halfway around the world — in Afghanistan and now in Pakistan too — will make Americans safer. With drumrolls like that, the mission could outlive all of us. Full article here.

posted 21st February 2009

[Google News told me Obama backs (and emulates) Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners (and Friday is the best day to slip something by the sheeple)] Obama, siding with Bush, contended Friday that detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights. In a two-sentence court filing, the Justice Department said that detainees at Bagram Airfield cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detention. The filing shocked human rights attorneys.

After Obama took office, a federal judge gave the new administration a month to decide whether it wanted to stand by Bush’s legal argument. Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd says the filing speaks for itself. It’s not the first time that Obama has used a Bush legal argument after promising to review it.

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[Project Censored] The Obama administration is continuing the neo-conservative agenda of US military domination of the world — albeit with perhaps a kinder-gentler face. While overt torture is now forbidden, and symbolic gestures like closing Guantanamo are in evidence, a unilateral military dominance policy, expanding military budget, and wars of occupation and aggression will likely continue unabated.

The US spends as much on war as the rest of the world combined, making Americans the highest war-tax payers in the world. Obama’s election brought a moment of hope for many. However, the Obama administration is not calling for decreased military spending, or a reversal of US military global dominance. Instead, Obama retained Robert Gates, thus making Obama the first president from an opposing party to keep in place the outgoing administration’s Secretary of Defense/War. Additionally, Obama is calling for an expanded war in Afghanistan and only minimal long-range reductions in Iraq.

[Open Secret] According to the most recent reports, 151 members of Congress in 2006 had up to $195.5 million of their personal assets invested in defense companies.

posted 20th February 2009

[Justin Raimondo] Heaven forfend that the Americans should lose control of their conquered province – or of anything, for that matter. Liberal, conservative, left or right, when you’re talking about America, it really makes no difference – Yankee arrogance is a well-nigh universal trait no matter where one sits on the political spectrum.

It’s astonishing how quickly this administration’s supporters have taken up the cudgels in defending Obama’s war. Although perhaps Walsh did not choose the title of her piece, surely the editors of Salon.com know what they’re about: “This war is our war.” It sure is, and it’s amazing how well it suits them – the role of apologists for mass murder and military occupation.

posted 18th February 2009

[Politico] Obama cited a direct threat to the United States from Al Qaeda as part of the rationale for his decision [to send another 17,000 invading occupiers to Afghanistan]. “The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan demands urgent attention and swift action. The Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan, and Al Qaeda supports the insurgency and threatens America from its safe haven along the Pakistani border.”

[Really, Obama? They’re a threat to America? Or they’re a threat to our occupation(s) and continued pursuit of empire…rb]

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[NY Times] Afghan Civilian Deaths Rose 40 Percent in 2008. That’s what you get for choosing to be born in Afghanistan, suckers! You’ll pay for your stupidity in ways you never dreamed:

Obama said Tuesday that he would send an additional 17,000 American troops to Afghanistan this spring and summer, putting his stamp firmly on a war that he has long complained is going in the wrong direction.

The order will add nearly 50 percent to the 36,000 American troops already there. A further decision on sending more troops will come after the administration completes a broader review of Afghanistan policy.

Obama said that the increase was “necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires.”

Obama said, “the fact that we are going to responsibly draw down our forces in Iraq allows us the flexibility to increase our presence in Afghanistan.”

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