By: Stephen Barr  

When political control of the White House changes, the transition is never long enough to completely educate all of a President's new team. But the Bush White House hopes to leapfrog transition boundaries by going online to package basic information for political appointees.

Using money left over from the transition, the White House has created a new Internet site (www.results.gov) aimed at its appointees. "This allows us to stay in the orientation and team-building business", presidential personnel director Clay Johnson said.

Johnson says President Bush needs this extra avenue to reach out to his appointees because it's possible that a third of them will never get a chance to be in the same room with the President during their time in Washington.

"We cannot give them enough of their leader", Johnson said.

"You've got an economy that is in shambles as a result of decisions made by this administration, you have virtually no attention to domestic issues, you have a far greater and more poisoned political environment than we had two years ago. It's too bad that the promise of the new administration wasn't realized."

- Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD)

By: Tom Diaz  

President Bush has finally found his voice on the slow motion sniper terrorism that is wracking the capital city in which he temporarily resides. The President grimaces that he is "just sick to my stomach" and professes to "weep for those that have lost their loved ones".

Unfortunately, neither Mr. Bush's teary moments nor his cranky stomach has inspired him to take any sort of preventative, preemptive action that might actually save lives before they are taken. The President's prescription for dealing with America's domestic gun mayhem sticks line for line to the script written for him by the National Rifle Association. Better 100 funerals than a single new law that the NRA fantasizes touching in any way, shape, or form on the alleged "right" of every crackpot in the country to own and use any murder-friendly weapon the gun industry cranks out.

In all fairness, such inspiration may be too much to hope for from this President. After all, thought is father to deed. And like Bush 41, Bush 43 has a problem with "the vision thing"...

By: Doreen Miller  

1. Take a bunch of self-righteous, egomaniacal, power-hungry individuals wrapped in a layer of morally bankrupt religious fanaticism.
   
   
2. Add the world's most extensive arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.
   
   
3. Toss in absolute, unchecked control over the deadliest of military forces.
   
   
4. Pour in some half-baked ideas about dominating and ruling the world.
   
   
5. Stir vigorously until thoroughly mixed up.
   
   
6. Keep the mixture at a steady boiling point over a constant, pseudo-patriotic flame of fear-mongering, and what have you cooked up?
   

Bush's latest recipe for disaster, otherwise known as "The National Security Strategy of the United States".

By: Paul Krugman  

What we've learned over the past year is the extent to which the modern business game is rigged in favor of insiders. Self-dealing has become pervasive: incredibly generous executive compensation, sweet-deal loans, and preferential access to IPO's were standard practice in many companies that have not yet become targets of SEC investigation.

And deceptive accounting, which lured the public into buying stock even as insiders were bailing out, must have been very widespread indeed. In the last three years of the bubble reported corporate profits soared, but the overall measure of profits calculated by the U.S. Commerce Department, which is unaffected by the maneuvers companies use to cook their books, hardly grew at all.

In short, the fix was in. If we're to have a real recovery, it's urgent that ordinary investors be reassured that those days are over. Yet it may be hard for our current leaders to understand that urgency: all their lives, the fix has been in on their behalf.

From:  

It must be pretty bad when your own mother, brother, and sister won't vote for you.

Relatives of Connecticut State Rep. Dennis Cleary said they are voting for his rival on Nov. 5, and they are urging others to so as well. They've even taken out a newspaper ad and put up signs supporting Cleary's Democratic rival.

By: William Rivers Pitt  

The dichotomy could not be more clear. The Bush administration has been calling for war against Iraq based upon the rumor of the existence of deadly weapons there. But when North Korea comes right out and flaps the same weapons right in Bush's face, the response is flaccid vacillation and hedging.

Do not for one second think that this is a coincidence. North Korea has demonstrated to the world that Bush's martial bombast, his with-us-or-against-us rhetoric for war in Iraq, has no basis in any moral absolute. North Korea has the bad weapons for sure, and is not threatened, while Iraq has no confirmed possession of those weapons, and faces threats of war. Bush's black-and-white has been washed gray, and two despots from Pyongyang and Baghdad have tied him in knots.

It is distressing in the extreme to realize that the sitting President of the United States is not among the top five smartest leaders on the planet, or the top ten, or the top twenty for that matter...

By: Molly Ivins  

Have you had a terrible stomach illness lately? It's quite likely you should blame the Bush administration. I know, that sounds like some demented spoof of left-wing paranoia, but it's actually an especially visceral example of one of life's iron rules - you can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to.

Consumer advocates put the blame on Bush's "industry friendly" USDA. Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America, said that since Bush took office: "there has been a message from USDA that they would give the benefit of the doubt to the industry... Bush administration officials at USDA have consistently made clear they do not believe meat processors must be held accountable for the safety of meat coming off the end of the line. Since November 2001, the undersecretary for food safety has denigrated pathogen testing and zero tolerance. Both the industry and government have put profit ahead of public health."

	Iraq	N. Korea
Member of the "Axis of Evil"?
Has a rogue nuclear weapons program?
Ruled by a ruthless dictator?
History of aggression against its own people?
History of aggression against neighboring countries?
Threatens American allies with weapons of mass destruction?
Could supply terrorists with weapons of mass destruction to use against the U.S.?
Sits atop the second-largest oil reserves in the world?

U.S. Lawyers Admit Not Fully Reviewing Cheney Documents

By: John Heilprin  

Government lawyers admitted yesterday they hadn't completely reviewed documents from Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, despite claiming that the documents "all involve sensitive communications between and among the President and his closest advisers" that should be kept secret.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered task force documents to be made public by Nov. 5 and said he was shocked the Justice Department lawyers had not examined all the documents after asserting for more than a year that each of them involved confidential information.

"That is a startling revelation", Sullivan said, after rejecting the Bush administration's claim that he lacks authority to order the release of the task force papers.

	Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
	Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
	Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have, or sleep all you want.
	When you say: "I love you", mean it.
	When you say: "I'm sorry", look the person in the eye.
	Be engaged at least six months before getting married.
	Believe in love at first sight.
	Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.
	Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
	In disagreements, fight fairly. Please no name calling.
	Don't judge people by their relatives.
	Talk slowly but think quickly.
	When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask: "Why do you want to know?"
	Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
	Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.
	When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
	Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.
	Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
	When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
	Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
	Spend some time alone.

From:  

So much for the war. Dubya's planning on spending most of the next three weeks raising money for the Republican machine - all on the taxpayer's dime of course, which earns him the number one spot this week. But there were some worthy challengers to the throne - witness Bill Simon (2) who is just getting really, really embarrassing, and the Illinois State Rifle Association (3), who are just really, really evil. Meanwhile Harvey Waite (5) is just trying to help out his wife, and Mike Taylor (6) is floating in a sea of sleaze. Jeb Bush (9) and Dick Armey (10) round of this week's list with the kind of conservative idiocy that only comes with years of practice.

California Alert!

Editorial from:  

The Bush administration has taken another step backward in the fight against air pollution. Last week, it joined the automobile industry in a lawsuit charging that a California program encouraging manufacturers to sell cleaner, more fuel-efficient "hybrid" vehicles - cars powered by a combination of gasoline and electricity - usurped federal authority.

The suit is a direct challenge to California's longstanding authority to set emission standards tougher than the federal government's. More broadly, it is further evidence of President Bush's unwillingness to offend his political allies by pushing the industry to develop cleaner cars and thus lessen urban smog and the dangers of global warming.

"[Kilgore Trout, the science fiction writer] wrote a story one time about an optimistic chimpanzee who became President of the United States. He called it 'Hail to the Chief'. The chimpanzee wore a little blue blazer with brass buttons, and with the seal of the President of the United States sewed to the breast pocket... Everywhere he went, bands would play 'Hail to the Chief'. The chimpanzee loved it. He would bounce up and down."

- from Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, published in 1973

By: Thomas L. Friedman  

The fact that the President speaks only about Iraq, while his neighbors down the street speak only about the shooter, reinforces the sense that this administration is so obsessed with Saddam it has lost touch with the real anxieties of many Americans. Mr. Bush wants to rally the nation to impose gun control on Baghdad, but he won't lift a finger to impose gun control on Bethesda, six miles from the White House.

Personally, I'm glad Mr. Bush is focused on disarming Iraq's madman and tracing Iraq's Scud missiles and weapons of mass destruction. It's a worthy project. I just wish he were equally focused on disarming America's madmen, and supporting laws that would make it easier to trace their .223-caliber bullets and their weapons of individual destruction. A lot of us would like to see more weapons inspectors on the streets here, and in the gun shops here, not just in Baghdad.

Unsolicited American responses to a critique of last week's Cincinnati national address by Bush published on the Guardian's website and on U.S. links (from an article by Simon Tisdall).

"I have never seen so much bullshit thrown at the American public in my lifetime, with too many people thinking it may be true if the President says it."

- a 77-year-old from Manchester, NH

"We are being rail-roaded into war over here. I am astounded by our President and his tactics utilising fear."

- an unnamed source

"When I voted for Bush, I had no idea what he would unleash."

- another unnamed source

"[Bush is] a complete and pathetic idiot... I think enough Americans are beginning to see that the real regime change needs to take place at the White House."

- a resident of Arizona

"The Bush presidency should have been nipped in the bud by the Supreme Court. We've been bamboozled and Congress doesn't seem to know what to do."

- an Illinois resident

"As an American I am totally speechless at whatever emanates from Bush's mouth - I mean, my 12-year-old son would make a better President."

- a resident of Maryland

"To attack with so little proof is ghastly... As someone who smelled the World Trade Center and its human occupants burn every day for three months, I do not wish that fate on the long-suffering Iraqi people."

- a resident of New York City

"All he is trying to do is divert attention from his failure as a leader... under Bush we are giving up all our civil rights in the name of fighting the war on terror. If we do not agree with him, we are anti-American."

- an e-mailer from Bush's Texas

"The American media shows complete indifference to... the opinions of many if not most Americans [of whom] a majority are against this stupid adventure."

- a Californian

"As an older American who loves her country, I am terrified. Younger Americans just do not seem to realise the dangers of this arrogant, stupid little man. I pray God will help us - because our main press glorifies him and few congressmen oppose him."

- Katie Redd

"[Bush is beginning to sound like a] movie trailer for Creatures with an Atom Brain."

- a resident of lower Manhattan

"This man is destroying our nation piece by piece. We, the unheard American public, pray that the world realises that we have a fool in charge and he does not speak for us."

- Jewel from Missouri

Why the 'Best American' Is a Misinformed American

By: Maureen Farrell  

Keep educating yourself, and while you're at it, ask: Who stands to gain by having citizens believe the avalanche of lies we're fed? Sooner or later, you'll realize that what amounts to anti-Americanism these days is often an affinity for truth. As a Vietnam veteran, Congressman McDermott has every reason to question the government's official line before the bloodshed commences. All of us, each and everyone, should have an idealized vision of what America can be - and work towards that goal. The neo-cons who've stolen America can't comprehend that. To them, and their benefactors, the best American is a misinformed American. But whose country is this? Theirs? Or yours?

"The enormous gap between what U.S. leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominant political mythology", author Michael Parenti wrote. Push that mythology aside and endure the howls of anti-Americanism. Because though truth is the enemy of the state, it's the only thing that will set you free.

By: Judith Gorman  

Nearly two years ago, the President put his right hand on the Bible and promised to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. By any reasonable standard, the arrest and indefinite detention of individuals who are denied the right to legal counsel, as well as the labeling of anyone who disagrees with him a traitor, should qualify as gross violations of the President's oath of office.

The chief executive still works for us, and it is therefore incumbent upon us, as his employers, to hold him to his promises, to rein in his excesses, and to remind him that he serves at our pleasure. We need to inform the President that our primary concern is not whether or not he gets the guy who "tried to kill" his dad. We are more interested in the fact that he is running the country into the ground.

We stockholders have a meeting coming up on Tuesday, Nov. 5, at which time we will have the opportunity to express our opinions about the chief executive's record. Those of us who are dissatisfied with the President's performance should voice our displeasure by going to the polls and ensuring that his hands are tied for the next two years, retaining the Democratic majority in the Senate and returning control of the House to the Democrats.

Hey 'Monkey Boy'!
When are ya' goin' after your bro' 'Kenny Boy' Lay?

By: Stan Cox  

We have led by example, and now, in Johannesburg, we are leading by obstruction.

At the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, the United States has been far out front in opposing action on renewable energy, prevention of global warming, biodiversity protection, and decent sanitation for people who don't have it. One senior European delegate was dumfounded: "We cannot understand why the United States, being a world leader, is taking such a harsh stance."

I'm afraid that the answer is a simple one. We and other wealthy nations are committed to the global pyramid scheme we call capitalism. That means we are committed to infinite economic growth on a finite planet. And that puts us on a collision course with Mother Nature.

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