SMU is pursuing the George W. Bush presidential library but the faculty says, in effect, “That crook? Hell no!”
SMU is pursuing the George W. Bush presidential library but the faculty says, in effect, “That crook? Hell no!”
Historical rankings of US presidents. Honest Abe is number one with a…well, he’s just #1. George W. Bush comes in at a respectable 22nd, just behind Bill Clinton. (via fakeisthenewreal)
Tyler Cowen takes a closer look at the recent “600,000 deaths in Iraq” claim. “We all know that the political world judges Iraq by the absolute badness of what is going on (which means Bush critics find a higher number to fit their priors), but that is an incorrect standard. We should judge the marginal product of U.S. action, relative to what else could have happened. In that latter and more accurate notion of a cost-benefit test, U.S. actions probably appear worst when deaths are rising over time, and hitting very high levels in the future.”
Abridged version of Bob Woodward’s State of Denial, which “details the infighting, disarray, and mistakes made by the Bush war council during the Iraq war”.
Letters to George W. Bush from German citizens attempting to affirm their rights to moon land they have purchased for $19.99 an acre. “If you intend to use my area within the bounds of your intention, to build a moon base or something else on, over, or under the surface of this moon area, you have to contact me personally. This must be absolutely, to clear up under which special conditions I will leave the rights of use to you or the United States of America.”
Sources cited by The Independent say that George W. Bush is planning “astonishing U-turn” on his global warming policies, which, as Elizabeth Kolbert notes in this week’s New Yorker, have been anything but helpful. Those who oppose Bush will give him a lot of crap for doing this just so he can salvage something from his shoddy Presidency, but if something genuinely gets done on the issue, I’ll be happy…who gets credit for what and when needs to take a backseat here.
David Remnick on the Bush Administration’s sustained assault on the press. “You begin to wonder if the Bush White House, in its urgent need to find scapegoats for the myriad disasters it has inflicted, is preparing to repeat a dismal and dismaying episode of the Nixon years.”
A group of designers (National Design Award finalists and winners) recently declined to be honored at a White House breakfast. “It is our belief that the current administration of George W. Bush has used the mass communication of words and images in ways that have seriously harmed the political discourse in America. We therefore feel it would be inconsistent with those values previously stated to accept an award celebrating language and communication, from a representative of an administration that has engaged in a prolonged assault on meaning.”
George W. Bush, dissident president? “Now that President Bush is increasingly alone in pushing for freedom…” The WSJ editorial page is laughably bad sometimes.
Somewhat related to this, parallels between my living through two years of middle school and the two terms of the Bush presidency.
George W. Bush makes a guest post on Design Observer: “I don’t know much about designing rugs. So I […] delegated. That’s one of the things you do in decision-making.”
A Selection From George W. Bush’s Eavesdropping Tapes: Matthew Barney and Bjork Place an Ikea Phone Order. “Ask if they have an aluminum igloo.”
If Mike Wallace could question GW Bush, he would ask him: “What in the world prepared you to be the commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world? In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were incurious. You didn’t want to travel …. Why do you think they nominated you?”
Our short national nightmare is over, Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination for the Supreme Court (her letter). However, our long national nightmare still has 1181 days to go.
Keith Olbermann wonders if there’s a correlation between the Bush Administration’s times of political trouble and the timing of terror alerts. (via rw)
A complete list of nicknames that George W. Bush has for people. A lot of people think the nicknames thing is stupid, but really it’s the only sign of Bush having any sort of personality aside from that of Bad Speech Bot.
Perfect for those long Security Council meetings when your Secretary of State won’t let you go potty.
Kerry supporters barred from international telecom meeting by Bush Administration. This type of thing makes me *so* angry. It’s the fucking **US** government, not the Republican government or Bush government. So! Angry!
Is some of the music on Bush’s iPod stolen?. This is “exactly the kind of behavior the music industry characterizes as theft”.