i-sako.com

Well, I haven’t quite yet gotten started on that category in full, though I have put several posts into that category. My plans are to make a list this weekend on the various points, and then make less-verbose-than-usual posts which cover Bush’s failings in that category; I also have a companion category, “Reasons to Vote for Kerry,” and I would at the same time post an entry telling why I think Kerry is right in that category, or at least much better than Bush. Recent events have kind of filled my time and so I have not yet started it.

My idea was to make a list like: Iraq War, Foreign Policy, Economy, Jobs, Honesty, Character, Military Service, Civil Rights, Social Programs, Education, and so on. On any given day of blogging, I will choose a topic, do some research, then write up a pair of blog entries, one in the Bush category, one in the Kerry category, maybe even cross-linking them.

As for information on Bush and how he has failed America, that information is pretty readily available, I’d think! Some days it is hard to blog just because there is so much stuff out there, I can’t decide what to say.

How about today, where right-wingers are claiming that Nick Berg was an al Qaeda operative? Did you know that his father signed his name to a protest list at A.N.S.W.E.R., and that Freepers at the Free Republic used that as an “Enemies List,” which got wideley distributed in Iraq just a few days before Nick Berg was arrested? I was just blogging on that one right now, in fact.

One good way to get fodder is to go down the LinkBoard I have on my site and skim through many of the sites (the ones related to politics, that is), and see what’s being discussed; that may present ideas. The first thing I do, however, is to go to Google News, scan for articles, and do specific searches (that’s how I found out about the Enemies list, doing a search for “Nick Berg").

Or better yet, tune into Air America Radio; Japan Time, Franken’s repeat show is on from noon to 3pm, and Randi Rhodes is on from 3pm to 7pm--but the whole schedule is good, and these people are extremely well-informed. Go to http://www.airamericaradio.com and visit their individual pages and blogs, and you’ll get info that way too. But I hear a lot of stuff on AAR before I see it on the web, or even later, hear it on the news.

Hope this helps.

Oh, wait. I just re-read the post, and I’m supposed to suggest actual stuff!

Okay, here’s maybe a top-five list:

1. War in Iraq, both the lead-in and the war. That’s an easy one. He lied like hell to get the war started, didn’t plan well enough, and now we’re in an unholy mess. The reasons for going in are likely as varied as they are corrupt, and probably mostly had to do with the Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld and others who had this as a priority for a very long time. Of all the reasons for going in, bringing freedom and Democracy were without doubt last on the list. Controlling the region, feeding the megacorps, controlling oil output, and even religious reasons were likely at the top of the list. Bush knew he was going to try to invade in 2000 and lied about it; he was not given intel that bad on the WMD, he sexed it up, spun it, and lied outright to get the people to go along; they lied about how we’d be greeted, or else were massively incompetent; they chintzed and dissed the soldiers on the ground every chance they got while using the soldiers’ courage and sacrifice as a political weapon; and they let politics lead the war, which meant using fewer troops than needed, letting chaos arise instantly and fester, and completely messing up diplomatically because they only cared about perceptions back home, not anywhere else. There’s so much more, of course, but I can’t stay here all day.

2. The Economy: how long can we support massive deficits when we already spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year servicing the debt? How can America survive the ultra-class warfare Bush is waging, sending huge amounts of subsidies to the wealthy, while sticking it to the poor? Massive tax cuts for the rich, huge breaks for business, slashed regs for environmental cleanup, and a business environment that almost begs corps to avoid paying what little taxes they owe by getting a mailing address in the Caymans. For the poor: a minimum wage with the lowest spending power ever, slashed social services and entitlements, an administration which encourages shipping better jobs overseas, and so on. Ready for serfdom?

3. Civil Rights. Bush & Co. seem determined to push these aside whenever convenient. They are building a new system of “justice,” subverting the system even more significantly than the GOP did with the Paula Jones case--this time it’s from the inside. Rework civil liberties so they don’t get in the way of the police state. Try to redefine what rights we do and do not have, not through constitutional means, but by passing a bit here and a bit there. Finding every way possible to weasel around laws and regulations, and where necessary, ignoring the law outright. Patriot I was scary enough, but Patriot II? When political opposition stopped it, they started cutting it up and sneaking it into other legislation as riders and amendments. And already we have them trying to do stuff that hasn’t been passed yet, like arresting U.S. citizens and stripping them of any and all rights by calling them “enemy combatants,” and then shipping them off to Guantanamo. You know about Jose Padilla, of course, right?

4. Class Warfare. Why not make this its own category? It ties into so much else, but is a prevalent theme in the Bush administration. Economy? Push down the poor, strengthen the rich. (this also serves the war purpose, encourages poor kids to join the military, where they can be indoctrinated into the right political ideology). Education? Cheapen and degrade public education, offer privatized version with vouchers, which will essentially vaporize any meaningful education for the poor while getting the middle class to pay for privatized education which favors the wealthy, and all the profits wind up in the hands of Bush’s business backers. Foreign policy? Start wars which take the poor kids out of country, chintz them every chance you get, whip the country into a nice Republican furor, and get the excuse to make billion-dollar payoffs to megacorp backers.

5. Information Warfare and Divisiveness. Control the media, then claim the opposition does. Control the tone of public discussion; make dissent against you unpopular. Define “patriotism” as whatever you do, and whatever the opposition does “helps the enemy.” Redefine words (like “liberal") to have meanings which help you. Brashly deny anything you don’t like; when caught doing something wrong, find a way to blame it on your opponent. Use those in the media who support you to spread disinformation that makes you look good and your enemies look bad, and stick to the story vehemently until it becomes “common knowledge.” This administration has mastered the art of information control and lying through the media.

OK, there’s five. For starters.

Hugh, why is Bush’s disregard for the law number four on your list—it’s at the very top of mine!