washingtonpost.com: Bush Approval Ratings

CBS News | Poll: Iraq Taking Toll On Bush | May 24, 2004 23:51:30

The President’s approval rating has dropped to a new low of 41 percent, and more than six in ten say the country is heading in the wrong direction. …

DIRECTION OF THE COUNTRY
Right direction
30%

Wrong track
65%

The last time the percentage that said the country was on the wrong track was as high as it is now was in November 1994, as Republicans swept into control of both houses of Congress for the first time in decades. …

WAS U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN IRAQ A MISTAKE?
Yes 50%
No 46%

Lots more figures in this poll (see link above; link below it to a separate Washington Post poll). mjh

Washington Post/ABC News poll

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?

Approve STRONGLY 31%
Approve SOMEWHAT 17%
Disapprove SOMEWHAT 14%
Disapprove STRONGLY 36%
DK/No opinion 3%

Report: al-Qaida Ranks Swelling Worldwide By BARRY RENFREW

[International Institute of Strategic Studies said in its annual survey of world affairs] that the two military centerpieces of the U.S.-led war on terror — the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — may have boosted al-Qaida.

Driving the terror network out of Afghanistan in late 2001 appears to have benefited the group, which dispersed to many countries, making it almost invisible and hard to combat, the story said.

And the Iraq conflict ”has arguably focused the energies and resources of al-Qaida and its followers while diluting those of the global counterterrorism coalition that appeared so formidable” after the Afghan intervention, the survey said.

The U.S. occupation of Iraq brought al-Qaida recruits from across Islamic nations, the study said. Up to 1,000 foreign Islamic fighters have infiltrated Iraqi territory, where they are cooperating with Iraqi insurgents, the survey said. …

The London-based institute is considered the most important security think tank outside the United States. Its findings on al-Qaida’s expanding structure and growing support by allied terrorist networks around the world track with similar assessments from governments and other experts.

Are you safer than you were 4 years ago? Of course not! Given unprecedented power and money, Bush has made things far worse. You want 4 more years of this? mjh

Question: who has more responsibility for the horrors of Abu Ghraib? Duhbya Bush or Gloria Steinem? mjh

Nightmare of Iraq prison abuse is rooted in coed basic training by Cal Thomas

From the ”don’t ask, don’t tell” policy pertaining to homosexuals in the military, to the politically correct assignment of women at the most sensitive levels, politicians, military and civilian commanders pretend that the powerful sex drive can be controlled and made irrelevant in the pursuit of military objectives. …

Congress and the Pentagon need to do something about coed basic training and the assignment of women to certain jobs that put them and what should be the military’s primary goals at risk. If they do, they are likely to find a connection between the disciplinary breakdown at the jail of ill repute in Iraq and the sexual politics of people who think the military is just one more sociological playground which can be changed into something it isn’t.

I knew gays and feminists were to blame for 9-11. Now, thanks to the deep thinking of Calcified Cal, we know Abu Ghraib is also their fault.

Suddenly, I’m reminded of the General Turgidson in Dr Strangelove, with his obsession over the purity of his personal bodily fluids. Cal Thomas’s column must actually be written by Al Franken — surely a conservative can’t be such an idiot. mjh

I got these images as an email attachment from a friend and decided to turn them into a rotating display.mjh

Bush Bumper Stickers

Add this code to your own page:
<iframe src="http://www.RooftopRevolt.com/stickers/index.htm" width="405" height="105" scrolling="no"><a href="http://www.RooftopRevolt.com/stickers/index.htm">Bush Bumper Stickers</a></iframe>

(just select the blue text and copy and paste into your own webpage or blog) or link directly to these scrolling bumper stickers.

Bush Bumper Stickers, part of my Rooftop Revolt — Overthrow Bush

Civil Libertarians Created ‘The Wall’ That Aided 9-11 By Heather Mac Donald, LATimes

It’s time to connect the dots: Decades of unjustified and unnecessary restrictions — pushed through by hysterical civil libertarians — paralyzed U.S. counterterrorism capacities before 9/11. And despite the terrible price we paid for it on that day, the nation appears poised to repeat those mistakes….

As the recent 9/11 commission hearings showed, no impediment to national security was more deadly or nonsensical than the ”wall” separating intelligence and criminal terrorism investigators.

The wall grew out of the post-Watergate belief that U.S. citizens face no greater enemy than their own government. …

But getting a terrorism wiretap against a U.S. citizen requires virtually the same level of evidence as a criminal wiretap. …

Before 9/11, the specter of civil-liberties violations reliably defeated sound national-security policy. We are heading in that dangerous direction again.

[Heather Mac Donald is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.]

So, who is to blame for 9-11? Civil libertarians, that’s who! Democracy is too hard to defend; it will be easier under fascism.

The 9/11 hearings have shown no such thing about this already destroyed ‘wall.’ That was merely the contention of John Ashcroft, who went beyond shirking responsibility to putting it all on others — the craven coward was as asleep as the rest of us; once awakened, he has rushed to bar the door and blame others. By parroting AssKraft without mentioning him, Mac Donald uses a classic tactic: a lie told many times becomes the truth.

The post-Watergate fears seem to have been justified. Remember that Republican President who won re-election by campaigning on fear (and an enemies list). Remember also the shame in which he resigned.

Finally, to the lie and nonsense that terrorism wiretaps are in any way difficult to obtain, read the following piece. mjh

Use of secret surveillance warrants soars By Shannon McCaffrey, NIGHT RIDDER

The government’s use of secret surveillance warrants to track spies and terrorists surged to a record high in 2003, surpassing for the first time the number of wiretaps sought by law enforcement in traditional criminal cases. …

Federal agents sought 1,727 warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for electronic eavesdropping and physical searches last year, said a Justice Department filing with Congress. Four applications were rejected [mjh: .2%], although two of them were later revised and approved.

The number of so-called FISA warrants jumped by 500 from 2002 and has almost doubled since 2001 when 934 applications were approved.

By comparison, there were 1,442 wiretap petitions in federal and state courts for crimes related to drugs and racketeering, according to a separate report from the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. …

Passed by Congress in 1978 [mjh: Jimmy Carter’s Democratic Presidency], the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) created a new court to oversee highly sensitive law enforcement activities related to espionage or terrorism. The Patriot Act, passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, broadened the government’s ability to seek warrants through the secretive 11-member court by essentially knocking down the once-sacrosanct wall that divided intelligence and law enforcement.

Question: do you think there are more drug crimes or acts of terrorism going on in America at this moment? How can there be so many terrorism warrants? Fewer than a dozen Saudis (not Iraqis) perpetrated the 9-11 crimes. Are there really thousands of terrorists in the country biding their time? Well, maybe, if you call a ”terrorist” anyone who opposes this right-wing power grab. mjh

The Press and Freedom: Some disturbing trends by Bob Edwards, NPR
(Adapted from the annual Joe Creason Lecture at the University of Kentucky.)

It’s kind of a cruel, ironic joke. The rise of cable TV and the Internet were supposed to democratize the media and give us many voices and numerous points of view. Instead, market forces and deregulation have clobbered diversity. The networks and cable channels have the same owners — Hollywood studios, mainly — and the most popular Web sites for news are those of news organizations firmly established before the Web was spun.

We are currently a nation at war and the free flow of information and ideas is never more important than it is at times like these. But monopolies choke that flow, allowing only the information and ideas that facilitate that other flow — the flow of dollars into their pockets. …

A Cleveland company called McVay Media describes itself as the largest radio consulting firm in the world. McVay developed a memo to its client stations advising them on how to use the war to their best business advantage. Called a ”War Manual,” the memo says the stations should ”Get the following production pieces into the studio NOW . . . patriotic music that makes you cry, salute, get cold chills! Go for the emotion. . . . Air the National Anthem at a specified time each day as long as the U.S.A. is at war.” The article also quotes Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers,a journal for the radio talk business. Harrison says, ”It’s counterintuitive for hosts and program directors to pay too much attention to the antiwar movement right now.”

Some months after this speech, Bob Edwards was ”promoted” out of his job on Morning Edition, a few months before his 25th anniversary (thoughtful act). Bob Edwards’ last day on the job was also the day that a media conglomerate that donates to Bush refused to broadcast on all of their stations a news report they felt was anti-war. These bums are shameless. Time to muck out the stables. mjh

Inside Politics – The Washington Times: Inside Politics – April 30, 2004

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, chastised Rep. Jim McDermott, Washington Democrat, yesterday for omitting the words ”under God” while leading the House in a daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance on Tuesday. …

Rep. Pete Sessions, Texas Republican, accused Mr. McDermott of ”embarrassing the House and disparaging the majority of Americans who share the values expressed in the Pledge.”

McDermott spokesman Mike DeCesare said his boss learned the Pledge without the phrase ”under God.” The two words have been in the Pledge since 1954; Mr. McDermott was born in 1936.

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi–

I want an apology. I don’t care what sentiment impelled you to chastise McDermott for leading the Pledge as it was for many, many years. You have exhibited religious intolerance in a public forum and, in a most unDemocratic manner, have punished someone for being different and taken pains to assure it never happens again. Shame on you. mjh

Congressman Pete Sessions–

It is far more embarrassing, and alarming, how intolerant Americans have become. Your party has contributed much to this while reaping power from this ugliness. Shame on you, too. mjh

Congressman Jim McDermott-–

Thank you for saying the Pledge as it should be said. You and I are not the only other people in the country who believe that is the correct form. I imagine you’re getting beaten up right now — I want you to know you did the right thing. mjh

Contact these three and your own Representative:
United States House of Representatives – Member Website Listing – By State

Alpert’s Truth

Since the phrase was added in the 1950s, not one World War II soldier, sailor or flier had pledged allegiance to the nation ”under God.” Yet, somehow, they did what they had to so well that we call them the ”Greatest Generation.” The dead and the living both. May God save us from the religious.