skippy the bush kangaroo

hastert's decision to give the commission until july 26 to complete its work clears the way for congress to approve the extension and could resolve a dispute that has held up action on an unrelated highway bill.

hastert, r-ill., in a letter to the two chairmen of the commission, former new jersey republican gov. thomas h. kean and former rep. lee hamilton, d-ind., acknowledged that he had been “reluctant to support this extension” because of the need for congress to move quickly on the findings of the report.

the panel investigating the sept. 11 attacks on the united states will get one hour to ask president bush what he knew about events leading up to the suicide airline hijackings, the white house said on friday.

"they are looking at an hour as you pointed out," white house spokesman scott mcclellan said when asked by a reporter whether he could confirm reports that bush was limiting the meeting to an hour.

rather than sitting down with all 10 members of the so-called 9/11 commission, bush and vice president dick cheney have only agreed to meet privately with its chairman, thomas kean, and the vice chairman, lee hamilton.

the panel would prefer that bush meet with all of the members.

according to mr. bush, reporters conducted a thorough investigation of his time in the texas national guard when he ran against ann richards for governor in 1994, and again when he ran against al gore in 2000. the complete guard records, the president told tim russert on "meet the press," were "scoured."

this came as news to me, as i lived in and reported from texas during those times and feel that questions about the story — mr. bush's life story — linger 10 years after his first political victory. why they linger is a more complicated question, one that has as much to do with the press as it does with the president.

as patrick woodson, one of ms. richards's campaign consultants, told me earlier this month, "we were unofficially told that because of [sen. lloyd] bentsen's kid the guard thing was not on the table."

some reporters got their information from time-consuming freedom of information act requests, others took what they were handed by opposition researchers — in my experience, the unfortunate norm in most modern campaigns. if there was a release of documents comparable to the one made by the administration earlier this month, no one around here recalls it.

perhaps 2004 will be the year that details of george w. bush's time in the national guard — indeed, his life in the early 1970's — finally get filled in. this time around, there are certain factors that might put added pressure on reporters, editors and news organizations to complete the story. after all, the questions about mr. bush's service are being raised while we are at war and while the president is facing a genuine war hero as a potential opponent. maybe this year, 10 years after mr. bush's first political victory, the lingering questions will finally disappear.

fifty-six-year-old peggy law collapsed during the first public showing at the warren theater in east wichita. she suffered a heart attack during a climactic scene in the film, kmbc reported.

"it was during the time that they were crucifying christ, and putting the nails in his hands and feet," one witness said.

the growing furor over president bush's vietnam-era national guard service - or lack thereof - is fraught with consequence and should be of more than passing concern to all veterans. i'm reminded why by my experience at a veterans reunion two years ago.

…most of those who go to war, draftee and volunteer alike, are average folks, of average (or below average) means, from average backgrounds. they make it possible for society's political and social elite to continue being elite. despite that, i'm proud to have been one of those average guys. by the same token, i don't take kindly - and i would hope other veterans don't take kindly - to those in power who didn't answer the call when it was their turn, but who thereafter have no compunctions or pangs of conscience about sending average sons, daughters, husbands, and wives off to die for ulterior political motives.

on monday, doonesbury creator garry trudeau offered a $10,000 reward in his syndicated newspaper comic strip for anyone who "personally witnessed" bush reporting for drills at dannelly air national guard base in alabama between may and november 1972. trudeau explains in strips later this week — and on his web site, doonesbury.com — that the reward money will be given to the uso in the witness's name.

"sounds like a stunt worthy of a comic strip," republican national committee spokeswoman christine iverson said monday.

trudeau, responding in an e-mail monday, said the issue matters. "how well george w. bush handled his air national guard service — and how honestly he answered questions about it — have become frequently asked questions in the 2004 presidential campaign," he said.

"it's a legitimate offer," said comics historian r.c. harvey.

rebuking "the president and his henchmen" for their criticism of him, kerry took particular aim at republican senator saxby chambliss of georgia for his remarks earlier yesterday attacking the massachusetts senator's opposition to some missile defense systems and intelligence spending programs.

"i don't know what it is about what these republicans who didn't serve in any war have against those of us who are democrats who did," kerry told reporters upon arriving here for two campaign events in georgia today. "but i'm tired of their trying to divert attention from the real issues that confront america," kerry added.

asked if his rebuke was aimed at president bush, who has faced questions recently about his vietnam-era service in the national guard in texas and alabama, kerry said: "no, that's not what i'm saying. saxby chambliss, [vice president] dick cheney, and a whole bunch of people are very busy challenging the patriotism of democrats who question the policy in iraq, and question the course of our nation."

kerry also released a letter that he sent to bush yesterday charging that the white house was challenging the patriotism of vietnam veterans like himself and former senator max cleland, and seeking "to reopen these wounds for your own personal political gain."

in his letter, kerry wrote, "over the last week, you and your campaign have initiated a widespread attack on my service in vietnam, my decision to speak out to end that war and my commitment to the defense of this nation."

"if you want to debate the vietnam era, and the impact of our experiences on our approaches to presidential leadership, i am prepared to do so," the letter added.

the challenge from kerry is the latest indication that if he emerges as the democratic nominee, the vietnam war will figure prominently in the campaign between him and bush.

cheney's openly lesbian daughter is the target of a new website urging her to use her political visibility to protect the rights of homosexual couples. the 9-day-old site, dearmary.com , features virtual postcards written by visitors exhorting her to publicly oppose a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

"we very much launched this as an effort of psychological warfare against the vice president," said john aravosis, a washington political consultant and writer who helped create the site.

"my intent was for him to wake up monday morning and see this in the newspapers, and say, 'oh my god.' this battle's gotten personal."

this sort of online grass-roots movement is nothing new to aravosis. four years ago, he and los angeles activist and comedian robin tyler launched a successful internet advertising boycott of talk show host dr. laura schlessinger — http://www.stopdrlaura.com — in response to anti-gay comments she made on her radio show.

organizers aravosis and tyler explain on the dearmary site's home page their reasoning for leveling criticism at mary cheney: "as an open lesbian who has worked for years as a public advocate for gay civil rights, you are in a unique position to defend yourself and your community in this dire hour."

the conference board, a business research group based in new york, said its closely watched index of consumer confidence fell to 87.3 from a revised 96.4 in january. it was the lowest level since 81.7 in october 2003.

economists had expected the confidence index, based on a survey of 5,000 households, to fall to 92 from the originally reported 96.8, according to briefing.com.

"the most important factor [in this survey] is labor market, labor market, labor market," said anthony chan, chief economist at banc one investment advisors, who had one of the lowest forecasts for tuesday's number on wall street.

among the questions bush had to answer on his application forms was whether he wanted to go overseas. bush checked the box that said: "do not volunteer."

bush said in an interview that he did not recall checking the box. two weeks later, his office provided a statement from a former, state-level air guard personnel officer, asserting that since bush "was applying for a specific position with the 147th fighter group, it would have been inappropriate for him to have volunteered for an overseas assignment and he probably was so advised by the military personnel clerk assisting him in completing the form."

president bush distanced himself wednesday from white house predictions that the economy will add 2.6 million jobs this year, the second embarrassing economic retreat in a week and new fuel for democratic criticism.

the jobs controversy came on the heels of white house economist n. gregory mankiw's assertion that "outsourcing" american jobs overseas was
good for the u.s. economy in the long run. bush, house speaker dennis hastert and other republicans quickly disavowed mankiw's remarks, and the economist had to apologize for a "lack of clarity."

jobs are a sensitive political issue for bush as he fights to keep his own job in a second term. the economy has lost 2.2 million payroll jobs since bush took office, the worst job-creation record of any president since herbert hoover.

protesters at this summer's democratic national convention in boston may be confined to a cozy triangle of land off haymarket square, blocked off from the fleetcenter and convention delegates by a maze of central artery service roads, mbta train tracks, and a temporary parking lot holding scores of buses and media trucks.

under a preliminary plan floated by convention organizers, the "free-speech zone" would be a small plot bounded by green line tracks and north washington street, in an area that until recently was given over to the elevated artery. the zone would hold as few as 400 of the several thousand protesters who are expected in boston in late july.

attorneys are challenging a preliminary security plan for this summer's democratic national convention that would limit protesters to a small patch of land virtually out of sight of the convention hall…

if protesters are restricted only to the small pen without fear of arrest or harassment, attorneys will take their challenge to court, said carol rose, executive director of the american civil liberties union of massachusetts. the aclu has joined with the lawyers guild to ask police to change the plan so delegates will have to walk past protesters…

a similar situation arose during the 2000 democratic national convention in los angeles, where protesters were initially restricted to an area blocks from delegates. a federal judge ruled the protest area was unconstitutional and ordered that protesters be allowed to demonstrate in a parking lot across the street from the convention's entrance.

"i think it will be central," delay, r-texas, told reporters before addressing the knox county republican party's annual lincoln day dinner at rothchild's. "every now and then, an issue that is central to who you are and what your world view is comes along."

americans "have been tolerant of homosexuality for years, but now it's being stuffed down their throats and they don't like it," delay said.

california and new york, two of the 10 march 2 super tuesday states, were no. 1 and 2, respectively, for the last three years, with 549,717 jobs lost in california and 481,684 in new york, according to job-placement firm challenger, gray & christmas. illinois, which votes march 16, ranks third with 411,431 layoffs. texas, which has a march 9 primary, ranks fourth with 324,111 jobs lost over the last three years.

it appears that karl rove and karen hughes, as far back as mr. bush's first governor's race in texas, did not have faith in the neoconservative right's ability to forgive the young george w. for "things undone" as a younger man.

suffice it to say that this writer believes that president bush could have very well told the entire truth about his military pilot service in alabama and texas, even if it was splotchy, and would be no worse off today.

after all, the rumors about his bachelor past abound with all titillation -- including women, drugs, liquor, a possible felony gone lost, and drunk driving to boot. the mere fact that he was beneficiary of his family's influence to keep him alive might not have rendered politically impotent - even running against albert s. gore in 2000.

the real issue, painful in a society that prides itself on being egalitarian, is privilege - who got to serve in the guard's "champagne unit" as his unit was called, and who went to vietnam, perhaps to die.

it was all inside and cozy back in texas then. lloyd bentsen iii, son of a future senator, got a coveted slot in the houston-based guard unit. john connally iii, son of the former governor, got another. and in 1968, george bush, son of houston's congressman, made it after ben barnes, speaker of the texas house, talked to the head of the national guard on the young man's behalf. bush's first solo flight made headlines in the houston papers.

no one expresses himself more passionately about this kind of favoritism than colin powell, who came up from the streets of the bronx and is now president bush's secretary of state. in his 1995 memoir, "my american journey," general powell wrote: "i particularly condemn the way our political leaders supplied the manpower for that war [the vietnam war]. the policies determining who would be drafted and who would be deferred, who would serve and who would escape, who would die and who would live, were an anti-democratic disgrace.... i am angry that so many sons of the powerful and well-placed ... managed to wangle slots in reserve and national guard units. of the many tragedies of vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to our country."

no white house has ever come out and bluntly said that an event on the president's schedule was a public relations ploy orchestrated for the incumbent's re-election campaign.

no one expects them to, either.

but, we do expect the press to report relevant facts that stand in contradiction to official statements made by the white house.

this is exactly what william douglas of knight ridder newspapers and maura reynolds of the los angeles times did while reporting on president bush's visit to fort polk, la.

both reporters challenged white house press secretary scott mcclellan's cookie-cutter statement -- "this event has been in the works for several weeks" -- by simply picking up the phone and calling a few military officials at fort polk.

"found herself transferred in the spring of 2002 to a post as a political/military desk officer at the defense department?s office for near east south asia (nesa)? just as war fever was spreading, or being spread as she would later argue, through the halls of washington. indeed, shortly after her arrival, a piece of nesa was broken off, expanded and re-dubbed with the orwellian name of the office of special plans. the osp?s task was, ostensibly, to help the pentagon develop policy around the iraq crisis." she was speaking out against the travesty of bu$hco's iraq adventure while still inside the machine, and since her retirement has been a most illuminating source of the truth hidden deep in the neocon forest of bullshit.

i have a novel idea - why don't you go out and get your own job. you are so pathetic that you have to look to the president for a job. i hate to break the news to you but the president doesn't have any ability to create jobs. as i said a few years ago, yes bill did a great job with the economy - bill gates that is not bill clinton who had nothing to do with it. - realistic

still carrying on like a fool, aren't you?

get a life kid?

you are one ignorant son of a bitch. and, yes, you are unpatriotic... as well as just plain stupid.

look in the mirror. you don't have the iq of a potato. dumb as a brick. and proud of it, too. what a combination. you are simply too stupid to understand a man with the experience and wisdom of president bush. - stephen

"inexperienced soldier who had incorrectly set the pin for a hair-trigger detonation."

sir,
pins on hand grenades are not set for anything, by anyone, you are a full of shit liberal. been there done that. some stupid ass in san francisco might believe it, not a veteran. do some research you won't look as dim.

sir,

i didn't write that, i quoted that. you are writing to the wrong person. do some research, you won't look so dim.

sorry, i guess its the crap you "quote", that makes you look dim.

the advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending feb. 7 was 3,186,000, an increase of 106,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,080,000. the 4-week moving average was 3,122,750, an increase of 16,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,106,000.

bush arguably has committed the greatest strategic blunder in modern memory. to put it bluntly, he attacked the wrong target. while he boasts of removing saddam hussein from power, he did far more than that. he decapitated the government of a country that was not directly threatening the united states and, in so doing, bogged down a huge percentage of our military in a region that never has known peace. our military is being forced to trade away its maneuverability in the wider war against terrorism while being placed on the defensive in a single country that never will fully accept its presence.

there is no historical precedent for taking such action when our country was not being directly threatened. the reckless course that bush and his advisers have set will affect the economic and military energy of our nation for decades. it is only the tactical competence of our military that, to this point, has protected him from the harsh judgment that he deserves.

at the same time, those around bush, many of whom came of age during vietnam and almost none of whom served, have attempted to assassinate the character and insult the patriotism of anyone who disagrees with them. some have impugned the culture, history and integrity of entire nations, particularly in europe, that have been our country's great friends for generations and, in some cases, for centuries.

bush has yet to fire a single person responsible for this strategy. nor has he reined in those who have made irresponsible comments while claiming to represent his administration. one only can conclude that he agrees with both their methods and their message.

with the controversy over his military service still simmering, president bush came to one of the army's premier training bases tuesday to declare that he will never relent until the terrorist threat to america is removed.

several thousand troops, most dressed in battle fatigues, heartily cheered bush's remarks and showed no visible signs of protest over democratic claims that he had not shown up for part of his service in the national guard.

but bush's military record was clearly a subtext to his appearance at this military base where, after his speech, he also had lunch with an arkansas national guard unit that will soon be dispatched to iraq.

many troops would not talk on the record when asked about the controversy, but some privately expressed doubt about the president's service while others supported him. after the speech, one soldier jested, "well, i guess we will all go out and vote for john kerry now."

this week's newsweek cover in particular was devastating for the gop and the president. it showed bush and kerry, side by side as they were more than 30 years ago when vietnam was still raging. the inside story was not biased or unfair to the president in any way. it did not have to be.

with u.s. gis still dying by the week in iraq in a war that increasingly looks to have been unnecessary, bush's national guard record of 30 years ago has become an albatross around his neck. he served in the guard safely at home. but now he has sent thousands of guard members to danger and even death because of a war that may not have been necessary. and in kerry, he now faces a foe all too eager to take advantage of it.

this is not the campaign bush and rove planned for and expected…

as a result, bush and rove are now on the defensive. they have already been driven off their planned main theme of "the war president." now they have been forced back to "running on the record." but with all those 2.2 million plus job losses since january 2001, that is meat and drink to kerry. job creation may indeed soar over the next nine months, but it will have to do so in the most spectacular way to wipe out all those losses, and recovery has especially lagged in the manufacturing/industrial sectors, which means the president has a big and growing problem in the big industrial states where this election will likely be decided.

none of this means the president must lose in november. but for the first time since they emerged on the national scene four years ago, bush and rove are truly on the political defensive, forced to respond to an aggressive, efficient, fast-moving enemy team that is suddenly calling the shots.

their strategic offensive has always been so good the country has never had the chance to see how they play on defense when the heat is on. but it may be we are about to find out.

howard dean is like the old reel-to-reel tape in “mission impossible.” he gave the rest of the candidates their instructions and then self-destructed. in doing so, he may have helped save the party and the country. thanks howard.

the sweeping charges were later discussed in a conference call with some of the scientists that was organized by the union of concerned scientists, an independent organization that focuses on technical issues and has often taken stands at odds with administration policy. the organization also issued a 37-page report today that it said detailed the accusations.

together, the two documents accuse the administration of repeatedly censoring and suppressing reports by its own scientists, stacking advisory committees with unqualified political appointees, disbanding government panels that provide unwanted advice, and refusing to seek any independent scientific expertise in some cases.

"other administrations have, on occasion, engaged in such practices, but not so systematically nor on so wide a front," the statement from the scientists said, adding that they believed the administration had "misrepresented scientific knowledge and misled the public about the implications of its policies."

"i don't see it as a partisan issue at all," said russell train, who served as administrator of the environmental protection agency under presidents richard m. nixon and gerald r. ford, and who spoke in the conference call in support of the statement. "if it becomes that way i think it's because the white house chooses to make it a partisan issue," mr. train said.

gibson has now cast himself as a main character. he plays a sinful imperial (but not native roman) centurion, whose job is trying to police the desert against anti-roman jewish terrorists. (danny glover once again plays his partner, here named mvrtavgh.) mel is depressed by his wife's death, and in one scene he actually puts his own sword in his mouth and threatens to kill himself. he is stopped by the sudden appearance of a vision.

"i've been looking forward to the time when this is a two-person race and people will focus on senator kerry and myself," edwards said. "it now appears that we're very close to that place, and maybe even there."

instead of answering the questions, the documents, most of which were simply duplicates of already released public records, confirmed what skeptics have been saying for some time: there's simply no data available to knock down the assertion that for months at a time bush failed to show up for required guard duty. instead, a picture continues to emerge of a trained guard pilot who in 1972, two years before his six-year commitment was up, decided to not only walk away from his flying duties completely, but to serve as little as possible in the guard, before getting permission to leave in order to enroll in harvard business school…

the most glaring omission from the stash released by the white house is bush's 1973-'74 officer effectiveness report. commanders are required to fill one out for every officer who serves. the last oer on record for bush was completed on may 2, 1973, and covered the period from may 1, 1972, to april 30, 1973. but according to bush's payroll and retirement records, he was credited for serving 38 days after may 2, 1973, which means he should have been evaluated. yet his officer rating seems to have simply disappeared.

unlike bush's routine guard pay stubs, which would have shed light on his whereabouts but seem to have also been lost sometime during the last 30 years, oer's are among the most important personnel reports generated inside the guard. "i've never met a commander in 28 years that didn't take oer's seriously," burkett told salon last week. "they review oer's in excruciating detail and probably take them more seriously than pay documents."

last week calhoun told the atlanta journal-constitution that bush asked for weekend drills. but according to the documents released by the white house one week ago, only five of the 12 days bush was credited for serving in alabama were for weekend days.

specifically, calhoun told reporters bush was assigned to his command at the 187th tactical reconnaissance group, and he saw bush serve between eight to 10 times for about eight hours each from may to october 1972. but those may-to-october dates do not correspond with the payroll records the white house released last tuesday. they indicated bush was credited for doing guard duty in alabama during the months of october, november and, presumably, january.

secondly, when bush moved to alabama to work on the blount campaign, he first asked to be transferred to the 9921st air reserve squadron (the postal unit). there's no evidence bush ever showed up at the 9921st. instead, bush in september 1972 asked to serve with a different alabama unit, calhoun's 187th tactical recon group, for the months of september, october and november. so why would calhoun have seen bush signing in at the montgomery base during may, june, july, august and september, if bush didn't even ask to be transferred there until sept. 5? and according to the recently released white house documents, bush didn't actually show up at the montgomery base until october 28-29.

like so many of the mysteries surrounding bush's guard service, the white house account and calhoun's simply do not add up, and the questions are unlikely to go away.

although i will vote against president bush, i will never hold his serving in the guard against him. he was honorable in exercising another service option.

what offends americans is not the quality of president bush's service, but that he used family connections to secure a reserve post that was extremely difficult to obtain -- with no rotc or officer candidate experience to qualify him. he then was slack in fulfilling his relatively minor obligations and has lied about taking the easy way out...

it would be an affront to worthy military men to be commanded by a man without honor...

regardless of the alleged time gaps in president bush's guard service, the real issue is that his father used political connections to keep him out of harm's way.

"the white house finally found one guy who says he remembers serving with president bush on national guard duty in alabama. isn't that amazing? now if they can find someone who remember bush working on an economic plan!"