Devil’s Grip, the Iron Fist

When the GOP and Karl Rove decided to run George W. Bush for president, they did so with specific goals in mind. The first and most obvious one was their desire to remove Saddam Hussein and his sons from power in Iraq. September 11th, 2001 was one of the worst days in American history but for gold traders and the Bush Administration, it was a blessing in a fiery, disastrous disguise. If you’ve read “The Price of Loyalty” by Ron Suskind (the Paul O’Neil book), you would know that the Bushites had planned a military “adventure” in Iraq from the start. The problem was they didn’t have sufficient cover. It has been reported that Saddam Hussein gave aid, comfort and money to terrorist organizations such as Ansar al-Islam, Hamas, the Palestinian Liberation Front and the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, but there has been a suspicious lack of strong connections between Hussein and al Qaeda. That didn’t stop the administration from asserting there were rock solid connections between said parties and thus they got to have their much-ballyhooed war. It would appear that Cheney and company’s whole plan consisted of removing the Hussein family from power and the rest would sort it self out…as if Iraq was going through political puberty. Their strategy for winning the post-war resembled the business plans for underpants gnomes:

Phase 1: Collect underpants.

Phase 3: Profit.

Failing to understand Arab reality wasn’t the Bush administrations only goal however. Item 2 on the agenda was to pass a tax cut. “To pay for his tax program, Bush raided Social Security Trust Funds and made off with $500 billion, eroding our protections for the elderly. Then he borrowed another $500 billion from foreigners, putting our future in their hands. For every $100 you got back in tax cuts, $40 was borrowed from foreigners, $20 was borrowed from Americans, and $40 was taken from Social Security.” (Credit bushtax.com)

For those keeping score, this would be why in season 2 of the GW reality show; they are taking on Social Security reform. The reason why President Bush and the gang are so high on private Social Security accounts is they figure if you invest half your funds and then come up bust, it’ll provide cover for the federal government not having the money to properly fund Social Security in the first place. I’ll bet a Basic Income Guarantee is looking pretty good now isn’t it?

The third item on the to-do list was to pass an energy policy that would be a boon for the oil and oil related industries that have been propping up the GOP for oh so many years. According to the Sierra Club, the Energy Policy Act of 2003:

• Threatens our coasts and other public lands by allowing new fossil fuel exploration all along the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and more public lands. This will destroy some of our nation's most unique wilderness areas and critical fish and wildlife habitats.

• Puts consumers at risk from electricity markets. Power companies will be allowed to set up multiple subsidiaries and blur their financial reports, leading to market manipulation similar to that seen during the California energy crisis.

• Funnels billions of dollars to polluting industries. This bill gives away 10.7 billion dollars in tax breaks to polluters and 30 billion dollars in subsidies to the nuclear industry.

• Ignores the property rights of farmers and ranchers and provides incentives for destructive coal-bed methane drilling that threatens thousands of acres of sensitive lands in the West and its scarce water resources.

• Opens Native American lands for mining and drilling by preventing the nation's hallmark environmental law, the Environmental Protection Act, from applying to Native American lands.

• Allows automakers to sell more gas guzzlers by failing to raise fuel economy standards.

• Fails to increase our use of clean, renewable energy by excluding a Renewable Energy Standard (RES) that would ensure that more of our electricity comes from clean, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

This monstrosity passed in November of 2003. Thank your Republicans kids!

One can only assume that a second Bush term would inevitably lead to the White House unleashing Cheney like the river on Saruman’s tower (if you understood that reference, you too are a Lord of the Rings nerd). However, according to the Associated Press by way of MyWay.com, Cheney may actually be limiting his role as Emperor Palpatine to GW’s Darth Vader.

“WASHINGTON (AP) - Like the man behind the curtain working the levers in the "Wizard of Oz," Dick Cheney has been called the real power in President Bush's administration, perhaps the strongest vice president in U.S. history.

But as Bush enters his second term, Cheney's role is in flux. His chief task in Bush's first administration - mentoring a novice president with little foreign policy or legislative experience - has been accomplished. He remains dogged by heart disease and an FBI probe of a subsidiary of Halliburton, the company he once ran.

Indeed, some wonder whether Cheney, with no ambition to succeed his boss in the White House, will serve out his second term. And while he has redefined a job that traditionally involved attending ceremonial and campaign events or undertaking thankless policy assignments, there is speculation Cheney's influence is waning…”

With no international axes to grind, economies to flummox, environments to irrevocably corrupt or Dalmatians to skin for a nice coat, just what does Dick Cheney have to offer? Not much besides stereotypical villain fare this side of Osama Bin Laden, and that’s the truth. At this point I’m hoping the Republican’s in Congress realize they can still win elections without propping up the Bush Kingdom and restore the iota of sanity in government they are capable of restoring.

On the other hand, maybe the plan is to let President Bush wreck the country so badly that they can sell what’s left to Rupert Murdoch. Stranger things have happened.