Because what we need is more exposure to Bush speeches

By GottaLaff

With all that spare cash we all have lying around, we're always looking for ways to spend it, right? No? Oh. Well, apparently Bush thinks we are:

The Dallas Morning News reports that he’s charging $150,000 per speech and demanding a private jet to take him to the speech venue:

President George W. Bush may have left office with a historically bad 22% approval rating, but he’s still eager to impart his wisdom — for $150,000 a speech.

The former president will charge that hefty fee per pep talk — plus first-class or private jet transport for four — when he hits the lecture circuit next month with stopovers in Canada, the U.S. and other spots around the globe, sources told The News.

::Brakes scre-e-e-eching to an abrupt halt:: A private jet? Like the ones these guys used? Then again, he'd probably be barred from boarding any commercial airline. He might be mistaken for a terrorist.

Undoing BushCo: Buh-bye drill, baby, drill edition

By GottaLaff

First Secretary Ken canceled leases to drill in Utah. Now this good news story:

US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday moved away from "drill-only" energy policies as he blocked a last-minute attempt by the administration of George W. Bush to push through the sale of offshore leases to gas and oil companies.

"On January 16, the last business day of the Bush administration, the administration proposed a new five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing," Salazar told a news conference.

What Salazar called a "midnight action" by the previous administration favored big oil while ignoring developers of renewable energy. [...]

Salazar also decried the previous administration's decision to give the public just six weeks to comment on the proposal.

"It was a process rigged to force hurried decisions based on bad information ... a process tilted toward the usual energy players while renewable energy companies and the interests of American consumers and taxpayers were being overlooked," Salazar said.

"We need to set aside the Bush administration's midnight timetable for the plan," he said, ordering a six-month extension for the public hearings, putting the deadline back from March to September.

The administration of President Barack Obama, who has pledged to make government transparent and inclusive, would hold meetings in the four regions affected by the offshore lease proposal, Salazar said.

And the new interior secretary has commissioned a report from the US Geological Survey and the Minerals Management Survey (MMS) which would "assemble all the information we have about offshore resources, conventional and renewable."

Salazar's promises to change the way the United States forges its energy policies followed on from action he took last week to block the sale of exploration contracts to gas companies on wilderness land in Utah.

At least it's a step away from the onslaught of those last minute ugly Bush stains. Let's remember these welcome departures from BushCo's destructive policies when we stress over some of the ObamAdministration decisions that disappoint us.

He's gone. Good riddance.

By GottaLaff

"A cheer went up in the bus, and there were tears in their eyes." That's what Al Roker just said about the high school students he was with today.

Former President George W. Bush has left Washington

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama saw former President Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush off Tuesday afternoon as the Bushes left Washington.

They are now en route by helicopter to Andrews Air Force Base, where they will board a flight to Midland, Texas. The plane was used by the former president as Air Force One, but does not have that designation for this flight, since he no longer holds office.

See video.

Doonesbury: Good riddance to Bush edition

By GottaLaff

Nobody says good riddance like Trudeau:

(click on image to enlarge)

Write Bush A Farewell Letter

By GottaLaff

Everyone loves getting letters, and Georgie, if he could read, would feel so much more, um, popular, if we all wrote to him. Then again, he might lose them all:

Yesterday [on Twitter, Karl Rove] wrote:

Send a farewell letter to President Bush—Email gwbfarewell@gmail.com [no attachments] and I’ll give him your note

He later followed up and said that all messages are due by 6:00 p.m. ET on Jan. 19, and he will deliver them to Bush on Jan. 20.

Go ahead, pour your hearts out.

Eradicating the ugly Bush stain: Lawsuits filed over "right of conscience" regulation

By GottaLaff

We knew this was coming (original post here). Kudos to the seven states and organizations that are trying to eradicate this particularly horrendous ugly Bush stain:

Seven states and two organizations have sued the Bush administration in an attempt to block a federal regulation that would protect health-care workers who refuse to perform abortions or other medical procedures because of religious or moral reasons.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island.

Blumenthal said the regulation would put women's health care at risk and would undercut state contraception laws. [...]

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American Civil Liberties Union, which was acting on behalf of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, also filed separate suits Thursday.

"Hard Work" Bush is proud of his accomplishments

By GottaLaff

It's "hard work" screwing up an entire country planet. And the really ironic part is, the Chimpenfuhrer still believes that people trust him:

President Bush in his New Year’s message to the nation vowed to keep working hard in the less than three weeks that he remains in office.

Bush, who has held several interviews in recent weeks that looked back at his presidency, used his last New Year’s message to “thank the American people for trusting me with the honor of serving our great country.

“It has been a tremendous privilege, and together we have accomplished a great deal,” he stated.

Oh-h yeah, he's responsible for a "great deal", alright. Among those accomplishments:

• Patient neglect at Walter Reed Army Hospital
• US Attorney firings
• Outing a CIA agent
• Iraq war (occupation)
• Iran saber rattling
• The War on Terror (failure to capture Osama bin Laden, dubious allies)
• Military Commissions Act (torture, kangaroo courts, indefinite detention, and loss of habeas corpus)
• Hurricane Katrina and the drowning of New Orleans
• NSA warrantless wiretapping
• Black sites and rendition
• Cheney Energy Task Force (and hiding info about it)
• Tax cuts for the richest of the rich, Subprime mortgage bubble
• Global warming (denial and stalling)
• Budget deficits and a greatly increased national debt
• Stacking of the Supreme Court (Roberts and Alito)
• Healthcare general mess
• Preventive war doctrine
• Loss of US prestige
• Karl Rove
• No Child Left Behind (an uneducated President’s predictable approach to education)
• White House email on RNC servers (in contravention of White House Records Act)
• Inaction on Israeli-Palestinian peace process
• Signing statements
• Unilateral Executive
• Abuse of the National Guard, Breaking the Army
• Patriot Act and its Extension
• War on Science, Vetoing stem cell research
• False military reporting (Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch)

Many, many more here. That's some big ol' legacy.

“Among other things, we have advanced the cause of human freedom; we have strengthened our military and our Nation's security; we have empowered parents to demand educational excellence for their children; and we have revolutionized the fight against poverty, corruption, and the scourge of disease around the world.”

Bush also stressed that he was not yet done working.

Good for him! Keep up that momentum! Nose to that environmentally-destroyed grindstone! Continue your great work! It's not as if you haven't already indelibly and malodorously stained everyone and everything with your stench-laden, toxic Bush-infested waste matter.

Be proud.

The Bush pardons: On Donor, on Blitzen! edition

By GottaLaff

In another post, I listed the most recent Bush pardonees. Now RealityChex clarifies:

Surprise! Not all of Bush's pardons were acts of altruism. The New York Daily News zeroes in on the pardon of one Isaac Toussie, an infamous real estate developer who scammed hundreds of minority homebuyers. Why pardon Toussie? His father gave $28,500 to the Republican party in April.

He's all heart, that Georgie.

The ugly Bush stain: Nuclear waste edition

By GottaLaff

Get out the Shout, Bush is splattering us with another despicable blot on his already-miserable legacy. Mother Earth is being raped... again:

NEVADA

End of nuclear waste limit urged

The Bush administration said there are no technology constraints to a major expansion of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site near Las Vegas, calling for possibly tripling the amount of highly radioactive used reactor fuel that could be stored there.

In a report to Congress, the Energy Department asked that the current capacity limit of 77,000 tons of waste be removed to accommodate all of the waste expected to be generated at commercial power plants, many of which are likely to operate for at least four decades.

No further comment. I'm running out of acceptable language.

The ugly Bush stain: Guns 'n' parks edition

By GottaLaff

The slimy, scummy, toxic Bush stain spreads to our pristine, quiet, formerly-safe national parks. Someone please explain why this was necessary, and please pass that info on to Nancy Reagan:

People will now be able to carry concealed firearms in some national parks and wildlife refuges.

An Interior Department rule issued Friday allows an individual to carry a loaded weapon in a park or wildlife refuge — but only if the person has a permit for a concealed weapon, and if the state where the park or refuge is located also allows loaded firearms in parks.

The rule overturns a Reagan-era regulation that has restricted loaded guns in parks and wildlife refuges. The previous regulations required that firearms be unloaded and placed somewhere that is not easily accessible, such as in a car trunk. [...]

The National Rifle Association hailed the rule change, which will take effect next month before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. [...]

A group representing park rangers, retirees and conservation organizations said the rule change will lead to confusion for visitors, rangers and other law enforcement agencies.

"Once again, political leaders in the Bush administration have ignored the preferences of the American public by succumbing to political pressure, in this case generated by the National Rifle Association," said Bill Wade, president of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees.

"This regulation will put visitors, employees and precious resources of the National Park System at risk. We will do everything possible to overturn it and return to a commonsense approach to guns in national parks that has been working for decades," Wade said.

The park rule will be published in the Federal Register next week and take effect 30 days later, well before Obama takes office Jan. 20. Overturning the rule could take months or even years, since it would require the new administration to restart the lengthy rule-making process.

I didn't realize those pesky squirrels and chipmunks were so threatening. I'll start packing a sidearm pronto.

Golly, I hope I don't shoot anyone in the face by accident. That would be so embarrassing.

The ugly Bush stain: Coal mining edition

By GottaLaff

The U.S. needs some effective detox:

Coal Mining Debris Rule Is Approved:
The White House on Tuesday approved a final rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys. The rule is one of the most contentious of all the regulations emerging from the White House in President [sic] Bush’s last weeks in office.

The reek is nauseating. Let's hope the Obama administration can eradicate most of the malodorous, hideous Bush stain on what was once a beautiful, healthy country.

Ex - Generals to Urge Obama Action on Torture Issue

By GottaLaff

President Obama has so many wrongs to right:

Barack Obama should act from the moment of his inauguration to restore a U.S. image battered by allegations of torturing terrorism suspects, said a group of retired military leaders planning to press their case with the president-elect's transition team on Wednesday.

"We need to remove the stain, and the stain is on us, as well as on our reputation overseas," said retired Vice Adm. Lee Gunn, former Navy inspector general.

Gunn and about a dozen other retired generals and admirals, who are scheduled to meet Obama's team in Washington, said they plan to offer a list of anti-torture principles, including some that could be implemented immediately.

They include making the Army Field Manual the single standard for all U.S. interrogators. The manual requires humane treatment and forbids practices such as waterboarding -- a form of simulated drowning widely condemned as torture.

Other immediate steps Obama could take are revoking presidential orders allowing the CIA to use harsh treatment, giving the International Red Cross access to all prisoners held by intelligence agencies and declaring a moratorium on taking prisoners to a third country for harsh interrogations.

Despite the fact that these abhorrent practices will finally come to an end, it's beyond gut-wrenching that so many have suffered and/or lost their lives at the hands of our present sadistic, waterboard-happy administration.