In Part Five of "Kleptocracy, Cronyism and War Profiteers: Too Many Hands in the Cookie Jar", we see how President Bush's behavior reflects on the country as a whole, the GOP cash machine, the return of Henry Kissinger to politics, and scratch around the "show pony cronies" like Harriet Miers, Julie Meyers, and finally review John Bolton's dubious rise to the top of the United Nations in light of his divisive politicing as well as
poor performances on the Israeli-Lebanese war and the situation in Darfur.
The brown nosers have been nothing but a disaster for the Bush Administration, and the country has been, and will be, paying for their monumental mishaps for a very long time. Our financial stability is non-existent. Our policies have sown seeds of hatred. Our politeness has turned to rude and crude behavior unfitting as the leader of the free world.
How can one argue for and from a moral high ground when arguably the most powerful man in the world entertains himself and others with his “inner musical abilities” ? Can we distance ourselves from political allies whom the President amuses himself by describing them as “not be the prettiest person on the block” ? When you're in trouble and need friends, they're apt to grab your hands and legs and toss you head first into the briar patch. “With friends like this, who needs enemies?”
There are countless hacks that are rewarded with cushy ambassadorships to foreign embassies for raising huge sums of cash for Bush and the Republican National Committee.
Why is it this group of Republicans is exceptionally gifted when it comes to raising and spending cash, but have opted to shred the image of being strong on defense and tight fiscal conservatism?
Since Henry Kissinger has made a “comeback” (according to Bob Woodward's new book, “State of Denial”) I'm reminded of his fabulously accurate (and frighteningly autobiographical) observation: “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” The only immediate problem I have in terms of Kissinger are best summed up by a couple of bad country and western songs – “How can I miss you when you won't go away?” and in honor of his name: “Get Your Tongue Out Of My Mouth (Because I'm Kissin' You Goodbye ) ”.
How come we can send an old horse to the glue factory, but we've got to put up with politicians who are well past their expiration dates, getting involved in administrations they're not appointed to. Go out to pasture like a good little glue horse! It's time for someone to file a FOIA on the White House visitor's log and Mr. Kissinger's visits, and find out how many times he's been in giving war advice to President Bush. Anyone else having Forrest Gump flashbacks? “ Stupid is, as stupid does ”?
It's hard to believe Harriet Miers was one of the few crony “show ponies” President Bush's didn't get approved, demonstrating his total lapse of judgment while giving the peasants a royal wave off . He picked a woman with little experience in Constitutional law and reportedly has tort law experience. Did she get into Bush's good graces during the tort reform fights? She has never had the experience of a sitting judge, yet she is being tapped on the shoulder to sit on the most important court. Has she even argued a case in front of the US Supreme Court? Not from what I can see, but in case I've missed something, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. She is unknown among her peers, but what bothered me the most (beyond the cronyism), is that she has no paper trail because according to reports, it was her job to keep clients out of the courtroom. If someone is going to have the opportunity to make new case law, I would prefer it if they had experience on both sides of the bench first.
A good litmus test in this case is to determine how other sitting judges view such controversial nominations . Keep in mind I'm no fan of Judge Bork for one reason: he's consider a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research – AKA, a conservative think tank that makes no apologies regarding their extreme Christian Zionist bias. Otherwise, the man is correct in this case: not even the ultra far Right would consider her qualified to sit on the nation's highest bench.
The President must have absolutely no confidence whatsoever in the ability of his cronies to perform their jobs or else he wouldn't consistently skip the nomination process by appointing people during the recess periods .
One good “quagMier” deserves another (Julie) Meyers . This recess appointment is well connected – the niece of Gen. Richard Meyers, and married to the chief of staff for the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff. The job description for the Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security spells out some very specific qualifications:
"Section 442 ( Page 116 STAT. 2193, item #2B ) of Public Law 107-296 , which created the Department of Homeland Security required the assistant secretary responsible for border and transportation security: ‘Shall have a minimum of 5 years professional experience in law enforcement, and a minimum of 5 years of management experience.'” It seems cronyism has its guardian angel in high places. In a signing ceremony in Scottsdale, Arizona , President Bush signed into law a document that establishes minimum requirements on new hires for FEMA as a measure to protect the American public from “Brownie cronyism” in light of a horrifically botched Hurricane Katrina emergency response. After the fanfare had gone away and the press organizations retired for the night, the infamous “presidental signing statement” slithered silently onto the corkboard for the main stream media to ignore. Also on that signing day is a terrifying little nugget the President hoped wouldn't be spotted:
