From today’s New York Times, "Bush Looks to U.N. to Share Burden on Troops in Iraq":

President Bush agreed today to begin negotiations in the United Nations Security Council to authorize a multinational force for Iraq but insisted that the troops be placed under American command, according to senior administration officials.

Is "insist" the way to go here, George? Because, really, after your bullying, blowhard, "with us or against us" rhetoric, something like this is probably more appropriate.

Bush's radio address for Labor Day extols the virtues of American workers whose "spirit of hard work and enterprise" and increasing productivity have made the country strong in these crucial economic times.

He congratulated himself on the Jobs and Growth Act providing tax relief "at just the right time" so workers can "keep more of their hard-earned wages."

He also pointed out that millions of American workers with children received checks for up to $400 per child as a result of an increase in the child tax credit.

Finally, Bush focused on the need for tort reform and trade agreements.

What he didn't mention is that more than 9 million Americans are currently unemployed, 700,000 more than last year. This year alone, "6.4 million new workers have qualified for unemployment insurance."

Slashed taxes and tort reform aren't going to do a thing for these individuals unable to find work. And Bush's self-heralded tax cuts will only hurt them more by further cutting the service network they depend on. Happy Labor Day indeed.

We let this pass back in July, because as offensive behavior goes, autographing flags isn’t nearly as bad as alienating our allies, poisoning the environment, or even dressing up and playing soldier when real soldiers are dying. But when his administration decides to support an unnecessary and pandering constitutional amendment "to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States," that’s enough to put it over the top.

More dire economic news, via the New York Times.

Even if the economy rebounds strongly over the next few years, the federal budget deficit could climb for the rest of the decade if Congress adopts proposals strongly supported by President Bush, the Congressional Budget Office said today.

Offering a sharp contrast to recent projections by the White House, which had said the budget deficit would hit $475 billion next year and decline significantly after that, the Congressional report warns that annual deficits could rise rather than fall.

The nonpartisan office said the deficit would be $480 billion next year but could reach a cumulative total of $5.8 trillion by 2013.

Administration officials quickly dismissed the Congressional projections as too speculative to take seriously, noting that long-term budget projections have been notoriously inaccurate.

But the new analysis is nonetheless based on fairly cautious assumptions. It assumes that economic growth will surge next year and remain solid for the rest of the decade. The biggest reason for potentially much higher deficits is the added cost of legislation that both the White House and the Republican majority in Congress support.

Last month, the White House Office of Management and Budget projected that the deficit would peak at $475 billion next year and decline to just $62 billion in 2008.

The President is quick to point out that he inherited a slumping economy. But once he took over, he drove the economy into the ground with unnecessary tax cuts and a costly invasion of Iraq - all while slashing social services that protected the poorest of Americans. And now, once again, he's lying about the effects of his own mismanagement.

So much for all the recent touting of his environmental record (via the New York Times).

The Bush administration relaxed its clean air rules today to allow thousands of industrial plants to make upgrades without installing pollution controls, arguing that other regulations were in place to reduce emissions.

Utilities, which sought the new rule, said it would allow them to make improvements that would ensure the reliability of the power supply, a prominent issue after the Aug. 14 power failure that led to the biggest blackout in the nation's history.

In one of its most far-reaching environmental actions, the Bush administration signed a rule that will allow thousands of power plants, refineries, pulp and paper mills, chemical plants and other industrial facilities to make extensive upgrades that increase pollutants without having to install new antipollution devices. The rule, for which industries have lobbied the administration for two years, could save them billions of dollars. The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that more than 17,000 plants will be affected.

Critics, including several state officials, took fierce exception to this rationale, insisting that the new rule would allow increased emissions and vowing to fight it in court.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Bush no-show is ‘downer’ for enlistees set to be sworn in":

Some 40 soldiers-to-be showed up at America's Center bright and early Tuesday, thrilled that they would be sworn in by none other than the nation's commander in chief.

The enlistees - each of whom hails from the area and is on the verge of beginning service with the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy or Coast Guard - were instructed to arrive at the convention center by 8 a.m., with plans for taking the oath of enlistment at about 9.

But President George W. Bush's plans didn't allow for the ceremony. The president didn't arrive in St. Louis until Tuesday afternoon, not long before his scheduled address at the American Legion Convention.

"I was definitely fired up, so it was a downer," said Aaron Darnell, 19, of St. Charles, who will begin a career in the Navy in March.

Based on the Fundraiser-in-Chief's recent behavior, it's hard not to suspect he would have found the time if the enlistees had been paying $2,000 each.

His latest outrage - and we do mean outrage - as articulated in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Citing a national emergency that has existed since the 2001 terrorist attacks, President Bush said Wednesday he will cut the pay raises that most civilian federal employees were to receive in January.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Bush said he was using his authority to change the pay structure in times of "national emergency or serious economic conditions" to limit raises to 2 percent.

Federal employees covered by the government's general schedule pay system were to receive a 2.7 percent across-the-board boost of basic pay and also an increase based on private-sector wages in the areas where they work, called locality pay.

About 1.2 million of the 1.8 million civilian federal work force are under the general schedule system and would be affected by the change, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

Bush said granting those full raises would cost about $11 billion more than he had proposed in his budget.

Why don’t we have that $11 billion? Yes, we spent it on three months’ worth of fighting in a war his administration insisted on and falsely associated with the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But let’s not forget the revenue lost in that $330 billion tax cut - a tax cut that barely applies to same people whose pay raises he’s so quick to reduce.

From yesterday’s Guardian, "GAO: EPA Lacked Data for Pollution Claims":

Congressional investigators say the Environmental Protection Agency relied on anecdotes from industries it regulates, not comprehensive data, when it claimed that relaxing air pollution rules for industrial plants would cut emissions and reduce health risks.

The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said in a report Monday that EPA lacked scientific evidence for its claims that the Clean Air Act's "new source review" program needed revising because it discourages energy-efficiency improvements at plants.

EPA eased pollution-control requirements for utilities, oil companies and manufacturers in December but is reconsidering parts of those final rules now.

"Because it lacked comprehensive data, EPA relied on anecdotes from the four industries it believes are most affected," the GAO said. "Because the information is anecdotal, EPA's findings do not necessarily represent the program's effects across the industries subject to the program."

EPA planned to announce more changes to the program Wednesday to allow many of the nation's dirtiest coal-burning power plants and other industrial facilities to claim more upgrades as "routine maintenance" that do not require more emissions-cutting devices.

What’s next, letting representatives of oil, coal, nuclear, and electricity corporations write energy policy?

Oh, wait, that's right..."next" has nothing to do with it.

Another broken campaign promise, via the New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 — President Bush is running for re-election as a "compassionate conservative" who has sought to bring a new Republican approach to poverty and other social ills.

But supporters, some administration officials among them, acknowledge that Mr. Bush's "compassionate conservative" agenda has fallen so far short of its ambitious goals, in a number of cases undercut by pressure from his conservative backers, that they fear he will be politically vulnerable on the issue in 2004.

At issue is Mr. Bush's willingness to demand financing from Congress on his signature "compassionate conservative" issues, like education reform and AIDS, with the same energy he has spent to fight for tax cuts and the Iraq war.

Critics say the pattern has been consistent: The president, in eloquent speeches that make headlines, calls for millions or even billions of dollars for new initiatives, then fails to follow through and push hard for the programs on Capitol Hill.

AmeriCorps, AIDS, education, religious charities, tax breaks for the poor - all have suffered as Bush talked big but failed to live up to his promises.

"...This is calculated conservatism, and they calculate just as much as they can get away with. You can dress it all up, but at the end of the day he broke his promise. It's not much more complicated than that." (Rep. George Miller, D-CA)

After all of Bush’s environmental posturing over the previous week, let’s not forget how his administration really operates.

From Tuesday’s Washington Post, "Bush Revises Views On 'Combat' in Iraq - 'Major Operations' Over, President Says":

President Bush, revising his earlier characterization of the fighting in Iraq, said in an interview released yesterday that combat operations are still underway in that country.

In an interview with the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service given on Thursday and released by the White House yesterday, Bush interrupted the questioner when asked about his announcement on May 1 of, as the journalist put it, "the end of combat operations."

"Actually, major military operations," Bush replied. "Because we still have combat operations going on." Bush added: "It's a different kind of combat mission, but, nevertheless, it's combat, just ask the kids that are over there killing and being shot at."

In his May 1 speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush declared: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country." The headline on the White House site above Bush's May 1 speech is "President Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended."

Since then, a search of Bush speeches on the White House Web site indicates, the president had not spoken of the guerrilla fighting in Iraq as combat until this interview; he had earlier spoken of the "cessation of combat" in Iraq.

A White House spokesman said Bush was not making a distinction between combat and military operations. "What the president declared on May 1 is that major combat operations were over," he said. "He did not say that combat was over."

Way to split hairs, unidentified spokesman.

Two private studies released this week have found that police officers, firefighters, public school safety officers and other emergency response workers believe that nearly two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, they are unprepared if terrorists strike again.

The larger of the studies, prepared for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and made public today by the Rand Corporation, found that police officers and firefighters agreed that "they do not know what they need to be protected against, what form of protection is appropriate and where to look for such protection."

The report, which surveyed 190 emergency workers in 40 cities and towns in the nation, said a "majority of emergency responders feel vastly underprepared and underprotected for the consequences of chemical, biological or radiological terrorist attacks." (via the New York Times)

He created a department for homeland security, bombed the bejesus out of the Taliban, went after the Iraqi regime, and still - still - we are not any safer.

Incumbent Candidate Bush is in our neighborhood today, but he won’t be visiting Seattle. Instead, he’ll attend a private, $2,000-a-pop fund raising event in nearby Hunts Point, not-so-coincidentally in the only district in the county he won in the 2000 election. It’s also the sixth richest city in Washington.

But really, we should be grateful: like so many other cities saddled with the cost of security during his restricted access re-election campaign, Seattle can’t afford to have him visit, anyway.

Update: His 96 minute visit with donors - not the general public - cost up to $75,000, and now the city of Hunts Point is trying to find someone to pay the bill.

From “Magnet for Evil” by Maureen Dowd, via the New York Times

The Bush team has now created the very monster that it conjured up to alarm Americans into backing a war on Iraq.

Rushing to pummel Iraq after 9/11, Bush officials ginned up links between Saddam and Al Qaeda. They made it sound as if Islamic fighters on a jihad against America were slouching toward Baghdad to join forces with murderous Iraqis.

There was scant evidence of it then, but it's coming true now.

Since America began its occupation, Iraq has become the mecca for every angry, hate-crazed Arab extremist who wants to liberate the Middle East from the "despoiling" grasp of the infidels.

From Remarks by the President on Bombing in Baghdad, via the White House
Bush Ranch, Crawford, TX
August 19, 2003

The terrorists who struck today have again shown their contempt for the innocent. They showed their fear of progress and their hatred of peace. They are the enemies of the Iraqi people. They are the enemies of every nation that seeks to help the Iraqi people. By their tactics and their targets, these murderers reveal themselves once more as enemies of the civilized world.

It is indeed a tragedy that terrorism continues to destabilize Iraq and the innocent continue to die. But Bush is dead wrong when he says that those bent on continuing to disrupt the rebuilding of Iraq fear progress and hate peace. What they fear and hate is the United States of America. They are not enemies of the Iraqi people, the U.N. or the other nations in Iraq. They are enemies solely of America, and there is a reason they hate us that has nothing to do with freedom or peace.

America acts like a charging elephant in its foreign relations: demanding, ordering, ignoring, bullying. The Bush administration in particular has informed the world that might makes right, that because we purport to be lovers of freedom, we have everyone’s best interests in mind. And dissent is simply not tolerated.

These are the reasons that bombs are going off in Iraq. They are the same reasons why Washington and the World Trade Center were targeted. Bush failed to look at least partially inward after the tragedies of September 11, 2001. It is now two years later, and the killings continue.

Maybe it's time for something other than war.

The Bush/Cheney re-election website is officially online today.

You can take a quiz on the President's accomplishments, add Bush/Cheney headlines to your blog, sign up to be a Bush team leader, and read snippets of why "everyday, more people support President Bush!"

We have to admit, it's a pretty good website. Heavy on the grassroots, visually stimulating, full of talking points you can email to your friends or local radio stations.

But we cringe when we start reading things like this:

I came to office to solve problems, not to pass them on to other Presidents and other generations. I came to seize opportunities and not let them slip away. (Bush editorial, "A Charge to Keep")

In Iraq, a dictator was arming to threaten the peace. And he defied the demands of the world. He didn't defy just the demands of the United States, he defied the demands of the United Nations Security Council -- not once, but many times. And so, for peace and for the security of the free world, we removed that regime. And the Iraqi people are now free. (Compassion News)

It is clear that the future of freedom and peace depend upon the actions of America. This nation is freedom's home and freedom's defender. We welcome this charge of history and we are keeping it. (Applause.) Our war on terror continues. The enemies of freedom are not idle, and neither are we. This country will not rest, we will not tire, we will not stop until this danger to civilization is removed. (Applause.) (Homeland Security News, "President Says America Will Expand Realm of Freedom and Peace")

Sure, in a campaign, you have to talk big. But when you're an incumbent, you also have to back up your bold words with real accomplishments. And this is where Bush/Cheney '04, Inc. falls short.

The Bush administration rushed to defend itself yesterday from accusations that reluctance to upset its friends in the energy industry was to blame for the regulatory chaos leading to last week's massive power blackout across the north-eastern United States and Canada.

Writing in the New York Times, President Clinton's energy secretary, Bill Richardson, accused the Bush White House and the Republican-controlled Congress of stalling on legislation to force power companies to take measures guaranteeing grid reliability.

Deregulation of the power industry has left energy companies with insufficient incentive to invest in new transmission lines or enough generating capacity.

Investigators have narrowed down the origin of the blackout to a number of high-voltage transmission lines near Cleveland, Ohio. Just over an hour before the lights went out, the first 345-kilovolt power line went down. A parallel line that automatically picked up the slack then overloaded, sagged and hit a tree, causing it to shut down.

Those failures apparently initiated a chain reaction throughout the vast area administered by the North American Electric Reliability Council. FirstEnergy, the utility responsible for the downed Ohio lines, said it did not become aware of the problem fast enough because its alarm system did not kick in. (The Independent UK)

Interesting note: The President of FirstEnergy Corp., Anthony Alexander, is a Bush Pioneer who raised over $100,000 for Bush's 2000 race.

We're thinking he's going to need to raise a whole lot more this year.

President Bush is taking a 35-day vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Meanwhile, the rest of us tough it out and head to work every day.

Here's what David Letterman has to say on Bush's unAmerican-like vacation:

You folks get 35 days off a year?

No, you don't get 35 days off a year, and you know why you don't get 35 days off a year?

Because at your job they need you. (via Media Research Center)

Bush is spending his 35-day summer vacation collecting money and offering photo-ops and light banter on issues that may be a liability for him come election day. Yesterday, it was again the environment:

RANCHO SIERRA VISTA, Calif., Aug. 15 -- President Bush today hiked a dusty trail, lifted a few shovels full of dirt into an irrigation ditch, and sought to bolster his faltering environmental credentials by promoting his administration's plan to complete neglected maintenance work in the country's national parks.

This morning, with a backdrop of a dramatic peak called Boney Mountain towering above him in this Ventura County spot, the president sought to project an outdoorsman's image. He was jacket-less, his shirt was open at the neck, and his face was shiny with sweat when he reached an outdoor lectern after his hike along the crest of a hill.

Bush's outdoor adventure in the wilds of Ventura County brought out the ire in a number of former National Park Service employees:

Their charge: that the president and his Interior Department have not put their money where their mouths are when it comes to funding the National Park system. And that their policies -- from privatizing more park functions to allowing gas and oil drilling near park boundaries -- are threatening the system from inside and out.

"I've spent 32 years in the National Park Service, and I'm not a particularly partisan person," said Don Castleberry, a retired NPS regional director from Omaha. "But in recent years, it appears that support for the National Park Service has been politicized to a degree that I never saw when I was working."

And maybe next time the President's handlers could take a poll on going ahead with that sweat thing.

With detachable integrity, just like the real thing!

(Political favors sold separately, weapons of mass destruction not included.)

President's Radio Address
August 9, 2003

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Friday of this week was the 100th day since the end of major combat operations in Iraq. For America and our coalition partners, these have been 100 days of steady progress and decisive action against the last hold-outs of the former regime. And for the people of Iraq, this has been a period like none other in the country's history, a time of change and rising hopes after decades of tyranny.

Every day we are working to make Iraq more secure. Coalition forces remain on the offensive against the Baath Party loyalists and foreign terrorists who are trying to prevent order and stability. More and more Iraqis are coming forward with specific information as to the whereabouts of these violent thugs, enabling us to carry out raids to round them up and seize stockpiles of weapons.

We are working with Iraqis to establish a new Iraqi army and a new civil defense corps. In the city of Baghdad, 6,000 Iraqi police are patrolling the streets and protecting citizens. More than 20,000 more police are on duty in other towns and cities across Iraq.

Every day, Iraq is making progress in rebuilding its economy. In Baghdad, the banks have opened, and other banks will open across the country in the coming months. This fall, new bank notes will be issued, replacing the old ones bearing the former dictator's image. And Iraq's energy industry is once again serving the interests of the Iraqi people. More than a million barrels of crude oil and over 2 million gallons of gasoline are being produced daily.

Every day, Iraq draws closer to the free and functioning society its people were long denied. We're recovering hundreds of millions of dollars from the old regime and are using those funds to pay civil servants. Teachers, health care workers, police and others performing essential services are also receiving salaries from our coalition. In fact, teacher pay is four times higher than under the old regime.

Life is returning to normal for the Iraqi people -- hospitals and universities have opened, and in many places, water and other utility services are reaching pre-war levels. Across Iraq, nearly all schoolchildren have completed their exams. And for the first time in many years, a free press is at work in Iraq. Across that country today, more than 150 newspapers are publishing regularly.

Most important of all, the Iraqi people are taking daily steps toward democratic government. The Iraqi Governing Council, whose 25 members represent all of that diverse country, is meeting regularly, naming ministers and drawing up a budget for the country. Soon, representatives of the people will begin drafting a new constitution and free elections will follow.

At the local level, all major Iraqi cities and most towns have municipal councils. Freedom is taking hold in that country, as people gain confidence that the former regime is never coming back.

One hundred days is not enough time to undue the terrible legacy of Saddam Hussein. There is difficult and dangerous work ahead that requires time and patience. Yet, all Americans can be proud of what our military and provisional authorities have achieved in Iraq.

Our country and the nations of the Middle East are now safer. We're keeping our word to the Iraqi people by helping them to make their country an example of democracy and prosperity throughout the region. This long-term undertaking is vital to peace in that region and to the security of the United States. Our coalition and the people of Iraq have made remarkable progress in a short time, and we will complete the great work we have begun.

Thank you for listening.

END

From today's Washington Post, "Bush Tries to Boost Environment Image":

President Bush today opened a three-week drive to bolster his environmental image by drawing attention to conservationist elements of White House policies embraced by the oil, gas and logging industries.

Republican strategists said the swing through the West is designed as insurance against expected campaign portrayals of Bush as a negligent steward of the air, water and land....

Bush's mountaintop visit today, and his three upcoming environmental events, were staged in connection with campaign fundraisers. Bush carried Arizona by 6 points, but he has slipped in recent polls there. He lost Oregon by less than half a percentage point and lost Washington by 5 points. Karl Rove, Bush's senior adviser, has singled out both states as likely to be in play next year.

A member of Bush's campaign team, who declined to be named, called the environmental tour "vintage Rove -- take it to the other guy, and close as many gaps as you possibly can."

Another member of Bush's team said the focus on what GOP strategists call a "second-tier issue," or one that is not among those most likely to motivate voters, shows the flexibility Bush has because of his popularity with his base voters and his ease in raising money.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Former Vice President Al Gore on Thursday lambasted the Bush administration for its handling of the war in Iraq, the economy and the environment, accusing the president of giving short shrift to "basic honesty." (via CNN)

And nobody wants that.

From The Washington Post, October 22, 1999, "Bush: Marijuana Laws Up to States":

Campaigning in Seattle on Saturday, Bush answered questions about medical marijuana laws by saying, "I believe each state can choose that decision as they so choose."

From today’s Kansas City Star, "Bush Lawyer Blasts State Marijuana Laws":

The Bush administration has asked the Supreme Court to settle the latest fight by agreeing that Washington has the power to revoke medical licenses of doctors who invoke state laws and recommend pot for their patients.

States cannot choose when to abide by federal law and when not to, Justice Department lawyer Mark Quinlivan said Saturday.

From today’s Washington Post: "President Meets Privately with Top Fundraisers":

President Bush huddled privately at a neighboring ranch today with the most prolific of his campaign fundraising partners -- the inner circle that raised $50,000 or more in six weeks and promised to raise at least $100,000 each by next summer.

Damn, if only we’d known, 5,000 of us could have chipped in ten bucks each and sent one person to ask him how much he'd charge to let us spank him while Dick Cheney watched.