Of all the facts on display in this chart from the Democratic Caucus regarding the quality of life for Americans now compared to when Bill Clinton left office, the most damming is the percentage of foreign oil the U.S. now imports. Bush could have used his presidency to call for increased research in renewable fuels, but instead we now import 60.38% of our oil from other nations compared to 52.75% in 2001.

Despite Bush’s war of choice in Iraq, this single fact, has decreased the national security of the United States considerably in the last six years. Threats to our economy and stability would have been significantly reduced if we had started to ween ourselves from foreign oil when he took office. Instead, our dependency on oil has grown, as has our national deficit, health care costs & the price of gas.

Bush likes to think that history will eventually judge him and his record favorably once the seeds of his policies have had time to germinate. Given the facts presented here, it seems the only thing sprouting during his time in office were weeds.

Digg It!

So I surfed to CNN.com today to find an absolutely horrendous photo of Barack Obama staring back at me. I’m sure CNN will tell you that it’s Getty Images’ fault, but really, is there any excuse for Obama’s case of super jaundice? If I was the tin-foil hat type, I’d say someone is trying alter our perceptions of Hillary. But who’d be stupid enough to try and pull that crap? Oh yeah.

The numbers are in for one of the red stronghold states, namely South Carolina, and the results are not pretty for either Rudy Giuliani or Fred Thompson. Thompson came away with less than half of the votes that McCain did, which is bad considering he was supposed to clean up in SC. Rudy did even worse and again came in behind “fringe candidate” Ron Paul, 15,773 to 9,112. In fact, Paul has managed to beat Rudy Giuliani in 5 of the 7 states that have held caucuses or primaries so far. Quite a feat when you consider that, as Rudy is constantly reminding us, he was the mayor of New York during 9/11. The guy who was center stage during the greatest disaster in our country’s history is being beat by a man who some say is in the pocket of the KKK. Ooouch!

What’s happening on the GOP side is that true conservative Republicans are being pushed towards candidates that they are loathe to support. Rudy and Feddo were their go-to guys, but both will most likely be out of the race come Super Tuesday. Ron Paul represents libertarian ideals and has stated that he’s anti-war. Mitt Romney’s religious background and record in Massachusetts puts him outside the “comfort” zone of most right-wingers. And while McCain is the stand-up ex-veteran that would seem to be just the GOP’s type, he still has moments of unpredictability that makes voting for him risky.

The net result is that there is no “good” choice on the Republican side of the isle and GOP voters (so far at least) are staying home in droves because of it. From Crooks and Liars:

“In 2000 McCain took 237,888 votes in South Carolina. Tonight he has just over half those number of votes with 134,474 as I write this. Republican turnout will be well below where it was in 2000. More than 100,000 votes short.”

The evidence is clear that the general populace is sick and tired of Bush’s Republican policies. They really do want change, even if it comes from someone on the edge like Ron Paul. So no matter what happens on the GOP side, it is looking increasingly likely that 2008 will be a rout for Democrats.

There’s only one small problem – Hillary. Nominating her to the ticket would surely throw the balance back to the GOP side of the equation. The vast majority of moderate Dems and Independent voters hate her enough that if she wins the nomination, they’ll be the ones staying home on November 4th, I know I probably will. I think this is why we’ve seen a rash of right-wing news organizations suddenly supporting Hillary. The only viable GOP strategy is to make sure that McCain goes up against Clinton and not Barack, hence the “new love”. No matter what happens, I have to say that this year’s election is shaping up to be one of the most memorable and exciting of the last quarter century. It’s about time.

UPDATE: Want more proof that the far-right hates John McCain? Look no further than this article from the Washington Post which reports on Rush Limbaugh and Tom Delay’s attempts at derailing his campaign. The right’s getting nervous and desperate and I’m loving every minute of it. Hat tip to Ed Cone.

UPDATE II: Why wait for Super Tuesday? CNN reports that Thompson is officially hanging up his hat in the race. He never really had a chance anyway, despite what some people though. As my friend David Miller points out, one half of the “Frudy” team is gone. I wonder how long Mr. Unbeatable himself has left.

Not only is he way behind in the race for the GOP nomination, but Rudy Giuliani won’t be paying campaign staffers for the entire month of January. There seems to be some disagreement from CNN whether this was mandated or voluntary:

“Two sources in the campaign, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted the campaign was not in dire financial straits. A third campaign source, however, said “things are starting to get tight” and that “it was more telling than asking” the senior staff to forgo paychecks beginning the first of the year.”

The way I look at it, either you have enough money to run a proper campaign or you don’t. It appears that Mr. Unbeatable doesn’t. Maybe he should just pack it in now and save all those would-be campaign donors their hard earned cash.

Media outlets are reporting tonight that Barack Obama has won the Democratic Iowa caucuses by a definite margin over his rivals Senator Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. I had been keeping my fingers crossed for Barack for months leading up to this night, but didn’t dare to hope until all the votes were in. Although the true race for the 2008 Presidency is just getting started, this small victory for Obama is a signal of hope for all of us progressives that want to break the cycle of Bush/Clinton that this country has been caught up in for almost two decades.

I’ve admired him ever since his inspiring 2004 Democratic National Convention speech. Like so many other Americans, I’m ready for change in this country and for me, Barack is the very embodiment of what is possible. All eyes now turn to my home state of New Hampshire and then onto states like South Carolina, Florida and others. If Obama can continue to appeal to young, fresh voters and find his voice on matters like foreign policy and national security, he might just pull this thing out.

Yet, in the midst of my hope, I also feel fear. I fear for the safety of Barack Obama because of what he represents. He is a man with a background and upbringing that some twisted individuals feel threatens their patriotism or social status. These extremist views have no place in a true democracy, but I sense they might be heard by others who refuse to sit by while Barack ascends the ranks.

I pray to God that he will keep Mr. Obama safe under his mantle and help those who feel hatred towards him for racial or religious reasons, see Barack for what he really is… a person just like you and me. His family raised him with love and respect for other’s beliefs, determination and a sense of self-respect that has given him unique vision. He is the embodiment of the American dream, a United States senator born to a Kenyan father and an American mother. He is a role model for young adults of all colors, religions and creeds, and he deserves a chance to show us how he would lead this country into the next decade. I only hope we all, every single one of us, give him that chance.

With the Iowa caucuses only a few weeks away, comes two separate reports that Rudy Giuliani, the favorite child of certain conservative Greensboro blogs, is all but done. Giuliani who was the clear GOP front runner just months ago, is now tied with Mitt Romney at 20 percent polling. It doesn’t get any better for Rudy’s invincible sidekick, Fred Thompson, who’s campaign peaked before he announced his entry into the race.

What’s obvious in all of this is the more the public gets of Mr. 9/11, the less they like. I’m sure this comes as a shock to certain people who thought the Dems should have just transferred the Presidency directly to Rudy months ago. I for one am glad this early campaign season has cast the light of truth on someone who has stood on the backs of the brave souls lost on 9/11 to further his pathetic political career. Stick a fork in Frudy, they’re done.

This little ditty put out by The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) sure is a hoot. For one thing, the performers can’t sing to save their lives, and for another they waste entire stanzas on issues next to no one has even heard of. I mean, if you’re going to resort to hijacking a beloved holiday favorite to promote bitter partisan agenda at Christmas, at least make the effort count. But “Two liberal Udalls”? and “Four bucks a gallon”? Evidently the reference to Udalls only makes sense if you live in New Mexico, and if the GOP is trying to blame high gas prices on liberals, then I’ve got some swamp land in Florida to sell you.

If I was a vindictive person, I’d suggest the left whip up their own version of The Twelve Days of Christmas containing such conservative gifts as “GOP health care cuts for kids”, “Waterboards” and “No-bid contracts”, but I’m above that sort of thing. Just to prove how much I’m watching out for you, I’ve provided the “12 liberal gifts” here, so you don’t even have suffer through the entire nauseating video. Consider it my Christmas gift to you.

The GOP’s 12 Liberal Gifts:

• 12 Senators failing (Does that include Craig, Foley, Delay & Lott?)
• Eleven percent approval (takes two to Tango, dorks!)
• Ten paychecks burning (I’d burn it too working for minimum wage)
• Ninety thousand freezing (clever! the only good one on the list)
• No more secret ballots (as opposed to secret prisons?)
• 700 Billion in new spending (including Bush’s little war)
• Six troop funding cuts (before or after the GOP’s Walter Reed?)
• Hillary’s Woodstock Museum (cause she’s the Devil!)
• Four bucks a gallon (Halliburton anyone?)
• Al Franken ranting (way to piss off the next Senator from MN)
• Two Liberal Udalls (um…. HUH?)
• and a tax hike for every family! (Let’s just charge the war, yeah!)

News today that the government possessed an intelligence estimate stating Iran suspended nuclear weapon research back in 2003. Despite this, for the past several months the Bush administration has been drum beating about the dangers of Iran and tossing around terms like “World War III”. Today, President Bush had to face the music regarding the NIE and told reporters he “wasn’t briefed” about the information. For all intents and purposes, the leader of the free world said “My dog ate my homework.”

I don’t particularly like Joe Biden. He’s too much of an attention hound for my taste, but his perspective on this matter is none-the-less dead on:

“Are you telling me a president that’s briefed every single morning, who’s fixated on Iran, is not told back in August that the tentative conclusion of 16 intelligence agencies in the U.S. government said they had abandoned their effort for a nuclear weapon in ’03?” Biden asked in a conference call with reporters.”

If George W. Bush “wasn’t briefed” about the current state of Iran’s efforts or lack thereof to obtain nuclear weapons, who was? Isn’t it the President’s job to know which countries are really a threat and which are just paying lip service? Isn’t he the Decider in Chief?

Bush is lying. Again. Anyone who says differently is selling something.

UPDATE: Joe Scarborough agrees with me. The conclusion is really inescapable.

UPDATE II: Well what do you know? CNN now reports that Bush was informed in August that Iran had indeed suspended their nuclear program. So according to the White House’s own press release, Bush was lying. At the very least, he wasn’t being truthful when he said he “wasn’t briefed”. I am speechless.

I gotta say, I just read the funniest thing on some Greensboro, right-wing blogs. Evidently CNN’s broadcast of the Republican debate was a total farce, some might even say a “setup”, and now CNN should be boycotted. It was so funny, I almost did a spit-take. You know the kind when you’re drinking something and you hear or see something so funny that you literally spit your drink out with that “ppppfffffttt!” sound? Yeah, that.

I never get tired of hearing cries from the right about how the MSM (that’s the main stream media for you less informed out there) is liberally biased. According to those in the know, every major media outlet is slanted left these days. This CNN/YouTube thing is just the latest in a long line of hippy drenched, pot-smoking, birkenstock wearing propaganda all designed to make even more of us hate George W. Bush than the 73% of us that do now.

So ignore the over 250 newspapers published daily by right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the highest rated news network on the planet, Fox News, the most listened to neo-cons on talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Neil Boortz and just remember that CNN can’t ask legitimate questions about Giuliani, an adulterer that spent tax payer’s money to have his love trysts paid for, all the while overlooking the hole in the ground that used to be the World Trade Center. Cause that would be biased.

P.S. – CNN does it to the left too. So as Taylor says “Deal with it!”

From Think Progress:

“Conservative Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who has been “one of President Bush’s staunchest allies,” suffered “a humiliating defeat” in national elections Saturday when the oppositional Labor Party wrested majority control of parliament away from Howard’s coalition by a 53% to 46.7% margin. Labor Party head Kevin Rudd, who is likely to replace Howard as prime minister, “has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and withdraw Australia’s troops from Iraq.”

Looks like the nation Bush and company have been clinging to as an excuse for a number of failed policies is about to abandon him. It’s about frickin’ time. Well done Australia, well done.

You couldn’t pay me enough to live in California. Between the fires, mudslides, earthquakes and ridiculously over-priced cost of living, I think calling the Golden State home would be more hassle than it’s worth. Sure they have the Sequoia National Forest, the Mythbusters and even Disneyland, but you gotta figure that a place that shelters the likes of Britney Spears and lures the Dodgers from Brooklyn can’t all be peaches and cream. Then again, I’m quite jealous of California’s Hollywood actor turned politician for the ages, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Besides the eternal coolness of having The Terminator as your governor, Schwarzenegger has proven he is an effective leader. Arnold has taken small, yet measured steps to turn California 180 degrees and set the tone on a number of issues. His initiatives have helped spearhead a new green economy, worked hard to bring California back from the brink of bankruptcy, provided affordable healthcare for adults and children alike and improved the state’s aging infrastructure. The part I like best about Schwarzenegger however is that he’s not afraid to do what’s best for his state, even though it may not be what his party expects.

CNN recently named him number 8 on a list of 50 people who matter most in business, and it’s easy to see why. Arnold has embraced green initiatives and found that doing what’s best for the environment and our children’s future, doesn’t necessarily mean destroying our economy. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Schwarzenegger recently launched the “Million Solar Roofs” initiative which provides tax breaks and rebates for the installation of 100,000 solar roofs per year in CA, every year for 10 consecutive years. The program will ultimately reduce energy costs for Californians while providing high-tech industry solutions to the masses. While the rest of the nation sits and debates about the merits of alternative energy, in typical action hero style, Arnold jumps in and gets the job done.

His background in body building and fitness has given him a strong commitment to universal health care that may very well become the future model for the country. While some problems persist, Arnold’s initiatives never-the-less have people re-thinking a system that fattens the insurance industry by denying patients coverage. His efforts with the Special Olympics and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports have made him a favorite of educators and health officials everywhere. In short, he is everything I’d like to see in my governor, and probably more.

When all is said and done, Arnold has proved he’s an agile politician. Although his core values sometimes gets him in trouble with his deeply blue state, he also recognizes that compromise wins the day. He is able to effectively separate politics from policy and do what’s best for the residents of CA. Local and federal leaders could learn a thing or two from this humble Austrian import. Despite the skiing accidents and bad one-liners, Arnold Schwarzenegger has helped make California a national policy leader instead of a follower. I wish the same could be said of North Carolina.

How bad can earthquakes be anyway?

President Bush is presented a T-shirt from Lcpl. Isaac Gallegos during a visit to the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, November 8, 2007. REUTERS Photo by Jim Young.

We hear a great deal about the number of our brave men and women who are killed in Iraq, but almost nothing is heard about those who are wounded, either physically or mentally. A photo-expose published this week from REUTERS makes it all too clear why. Go look at these images. They may be hard to take, but it’s vitally important that you do, no matter what side of the discussion you may be on.

A couple of weeks ago, Brad & Britt invited callers to phone in and give their opinions on whether or not the interrogation technique known as “waterboarding” was torture and if the United States should be engaged in it. I listened to the program for about 30 minutes before heading to work and most of the callers who phoned in took the stance that it was not torture and even if it was, it was acceptable in order to save American lives.

Over on The Conservative Alternative (a local Greensboro blog) a similar discussion has broken out on the topic and I find it both fascinating and scary what some people will justify to themselves in the name of security. To them, waterboarding is acceptable because it combats the nature of the “greatest threat” our nation has ever faced – Islamofascism. As if we never faced any greater challenges than a religious mindset.

To the folks over at TCA, and all those who phoned into the Brad & Britt show that morning, I have one simple question:

“If you consider the interrogation technique known as ‘waterboarding’ to be an acceptable form of treatment for prisoners held by the United States, do you then agree that American service men and women, held by our enemies in a time of war, can be subjected to waterboarding themselves as a means to gain information?”

I tried to get several of the conservative commentators over at TCA to give their answer, but no one had the balls to actually come out and say yes or no. The reason why this is so difficult for them is simple. If you believe that waterboarding is okay when we do it, then it has to be okay when they do it to us, and that is something no one would ever agree to. No one in their right minds would try and justify applying “extreme interrogation techniques” to American service men and women held in foreign lands, nor should they. Torture is cruel, inhumane and ultimately self defeating as a means to gather information. Even those in our own government have admitted that waterboarding is torture, and yet somehow, it is considered acceptable behavior for the greatest nation on Earth.

I don’t know about you, but from where I’m standing we’ve lost the moral high-ground on issues like torture. The United States I grew up in didn’t lock people up without representation, it didn’t didn’t try to silence dissent and it sure as hell never tortured people. We’ve lost a great deal in the last six years, not the least of which is a true sense of what we’re fighting for. I have no desire for this nation to become like those who would seek to destroy us. But sadly in many ways, it appears we already have.

I don’t always concur with Will Shipley’s take on things, but after reading his latest post entitled “Bush & Sons, General Contractors.“, I found myself shaking my head in total agreement. His clever allegory for the war in Iraq is all too true. I especially like this bit:

“I know I threw that party for my boys and said we were “done” years ago… but that really needs to be put into context, you see. When I said “done” I meant “done with the hard part,” which was convincing you to let us tear up your bathroom. I mean, we knew once we got in there wasn’t going to be any finishing for years. No, in retrospect, I guess I could have been clearer about that. But that’s ancient history, now. I mean, you’ve got a new toilet to look forward to, someday! Right, and a shower, if we get to it.“

The comparison of the Bush Administration to an inept bunch of pseudo-plumbers is an apt one. They scared us with false threats of leaks that could become floods at any second. When no cracked pipes were found, they justified further “repairs” with feeble arguments that they said weren’t apparent until they ripped up the floor. Unlike Will however, I believe the worst part of the entire affair isn’t the cost involved, but rather the horrendous number of people who have lost their lives on the “job”. Iraq long ago became the ultimate fixer-upper from hell for all involved.

Hat tip to Airbag for this post.