No, this is not an April fool joke (the headline, not Bush).  George W. Bush, in his fruitless effort to make something of his presidency, is on the road trying to flex his foreign policy muscles.  Why just last week he invited former soviet states Kiev and Georgia to become NATO members.  He gave a singing endorsement that the US would not oppose such a membership, thereby pissing off the rest of NATO.

On it’s face it seems to be a nice little gesture, but as usual he speaks before he thinks.  No that the US has such a dastardly reputation, when you are invited to join NATO, you are invited to be occupied by the US.  The rest of NATO does not think it is a good idea.  If fact, George’s buddy, Putin (dictator of Russia), said if Kiev and Georgia become members of NATO and host the US, he will point his nukes at them (see CNN article).

Grand Jury Transcripts have been released that state Scooter Libby testified in March of 2004 that President Bush was the one who told him to leak Plames name in July of 2003. Given that, a lot of the past timeline that never made any sense starts to fall in place. The incredible boldfaced lies of this evil administration are becoming terrifying. Let’s review:

July 03 – Valerie Plame is outed in press as an undercover operative.

September 03 – Bush stands up in front of the American people and lies his ass off when he makes the false promise that anyone involved in the leak will be fired. What he was really saying was that anyone who leaks the truth about how this evil administration deliberately leaked her name in order to go forward with a selfish war would be fired.

March 04 – Scooter testified. The Bush finds out that he has told the Grand Jury that President Bush directed him to leak Plame’s name.

June 04 – Bush meets with a private lawyer. Bush knows he was named and is going to try to cover his ass. Everyone at the time is baffled as to why he is doing this, but alas, we won’t know this until April 06.

July 05- After Bush conspires with his lawyer, they decide since he was the one who told Scooter to leak Plame’s name, then no law was broken. After all, the President is above the law. Bush then changes his original statement from “anyone involved will be fired” to “anyone breaking the law will be fired”. The press notices, but again since the truth was hidden, nobody really knew why he was doing this.

October 05- Rove testifies to the Grand Jury. Rove already knows what Scooter has said to them. Rove “leaks” to the press that he has testified that Scooter was the original source. Also this month Scooter is indicted for lying during the investigation.

April 06 – Grand Jury Papers are filed in court and become public record. It is found out that President Bush has been lying to the American People and the World for the last 3 years.

Brian Doyle, 56, a Bush appointee to Deputy Directof of Homeland Security, was nailed in an internet porn sting today.  Wickipedia reported it best (although as of today, someone has requested the article be deleted - hopefully the NeoCon revisionist do not get their way):

On April 4, 2006, Doyle was arrested at his Silver Spring, Maryland home on 23 charges related to the use of a computer to seduce a child and transmitting harmful materials to a minor. Polk County, Florida investigators say that the incident began March 14, 2006; Doyle initiated contact with an undercover detective who was posing as a 14-year-old girl, and allegedly began engaging in sexually explicit conversation, and sending "hard core" pornographic movie clips to her over the internet. Authorities say he sent pictures of himself, but that they were not sexually explicit. In one photo, Doyle’s DHS security picture identification tag was clearly visible, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. Authorities also believe he could have held similar conversations online with others, Judd said, because at some points during online chats he would address the detective by the wrong name.

During discussions between Doyle and an undercover deputy who he believed to be the teenage girl, Doyle revealed that he worked for the Department of Homeland Security and gave his office phone number and his government-issued cell phone number.

Doyle has confessed to police and agreed to waive extradition to Florida.

Perverts and incompetance abound in the Bush adminstration.  He will go down in history as the worst president in history.   I feel safe, don’t you?

The matriarch of evil has poked her head out of the cave to take care of her son, Neil.  The Associated Press reports:

Former first lady Barbara Bush gave relief money to a hurricane relief fund on the condition that it be spent to buy educational software from her son’s company.

The chief of staff of former President George H.W. Bush would not disclose the amount earmarked for purchases from Ignite Learning.

Since Barbara Bush’s gift, the Ignite Learning program has been given to eight public schools with high numbers of Hurricane Katrina evacuees, the Houston Chronicle reported.

"Mrs. Bush wanted to do something specifically for education and specifically for the thousands of students flooding into the Houston schools," the former

President Bush’s chief of staff Jean Becker said Thursday.

The money was donated to the Bush-Clinton Houston Hurricane Relief Fund, said Steve Maislin, president of the Greater Houston Community Foundation, which administers the fund. That fund has no connection to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, he said.

Barbara Bush chose to promote Ignite because she supports her son and has genuine enthusiasm for his company’s program, Becker said.

Two years ago, the Houston school district board wrestled with conflict of interest concerns over the Ignite program. Neil Bush had helped raise $115,000 for the district’s philanthropic fund from donors who insisted the money be spent on his company’s software.

The district accepted the donations and used them to pay half the costs of new Ignite software, about $10,000 per school.

Currently, Houston public schools use 15 Ignite programs and the Houston area has 40 programs, said company president Ken Leonard.

Neil Bush founded the Austin-based company in 1999.

Since the AP released this story it has been picked up in the US, UK, and Australia.  As time goes by the story is getting watered down by some news agencies in an attempt to spin Mrs. Bush as caring about the children affected by Katrina. 

When the Queen of Mean visited these children stuck in the New Orleans Superdome back in December she audibly chuckled as she said: "So many of the people here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.  What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. Almost everyone I’ve talked to says: ‘We’re going to move to Houston’."

And the ever popular: "Why should we hear about body bags and deaths," Barbara Bush said on ABC’s "Good Morning America" on March 18, 2003. "Oh, I mean, it’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

This is the woman that bore the evil seed of the Bush Administration, the pinnacle of family values.  Too bad she didn’t give him any intelligence to go with that indifference.

The latest Bush appointee to be engulfed in scandal is Claude Allen, 45, arrested by Montgomery County, Md, police for allegedly claiming refunds for more than $5,000 worth of merchandise he did not buy.  This particular even happened at a neighborhood Target store, but it was not the first time Allen has engaged in this type of scam.

The winner of best headline on this one is from the Ottawa Sun, “Bush crony charged with retail rip-offs”.  There is also an interesting article on black Republicans (which in itself should be an oxymoron) in the Huffington Post.

Allen got his early hate training as a young Republican while working just out of college as a press aide to the infamous North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms.  In 1984 when Helms was running against North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, Allen was quoted by a North Carolina reporter saying then Gov. Hunt was vulnerable because his campaign could be "linked with the queers." Allen went on to say that the Hunt campaign could be connected with homosexuals, labor unions, radical feminists and socialists.

He went on to earn his JD from Duke University in 1990, then went on to a career in private practice in the early 90’s and served in the Virginia Attorney General Office in the late 90’s.  In 2001, Allen was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

In 2003 Bush nominated Allen to become a federal judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Allen was classified as under qualified by American Bar Association standards.  He only had 2/3’s of the minimum requirement of 12 years legal experience and had only served as lead attorney on one court case ever. 

During his confirmation hearing, Allen was questioned about his use of the word "queer" when he was a press aide to Sen. Jesse Helms.  Allen told the Senate Judiciary Committee he meant the word in the sense of "odd, out of the ordinary, unusual" instead of as a slur against gays.  Nobody bought it – the remark was even called “insincere” by  Marcia Kuntz, director of the Judicial Selection Project at the Alliance for Justice.

Democrats (back when they had a spine) filibustered the nomination. Allen eventually asked that his name be withdrawn from consideration.

After the failed the judicial appointment attempt, in January 2005 Bush engaged some corporate welfare and hired Allen as a domestic policy adviser.  That same month Allen was nabbed at a Target store in Gaithersburg, Maryland, for returning unpurchased goods.  After this confrontation at the store, Allen called White House chief of staff Andy Card that night and told him what had happened.   The Republicans then began their usual cover-up procures by having Scott McClellan explain away the incident as simple confusion with his credit card.

Then abruptly he resigned abruptly on Feb. 9, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. 

Of course there was more to this resignation than meets the eye.  Authorities said Allen has been under investigation since at least January for alleged thefts on 25 occasions at Washington-area stores.  Goods included everything from clothing to stereo equipment and items worth as little as $2.50.  Allen was not formally charged on the January 2 incident until after a thorough review of security video and credit card activity going back to 2005.

President Bush said when he learned of the March arrest, he was shocked to learn of the arrest, and deeply disappointed that the White House had not been "fully informed." 

The emperor still has no clothes.

Jay Bennish is a teacher at Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado.  After one many vanilla state of the Union Addresses was broadcast, Bennish told his class, in no uncertain terms what he thought of the Bush Administration. 

"Sounds a lot like the things that Adolf Hitler used to say," Bennish told students at the suburban high school. "We’re the only ones who are right, everyone else is backward, and our job is to conquer the world."

Bennish then qualified the statement saying he was not comparing Bush to Hitler, but that the administration’s rhetoric is “similar to the tones they use”. 

Little Sean Allen, rabid young Neocon, eager to gain recognition, taped the teacher saying these things then turned over the recording to a right wing radio show.  The rest is history, and the Southpark Episode is no doubt underway.

The school district put Bennish on unpaid leave causing over 150 students to walk out of class Thursday to protest freedom of speech violation.  They heckled Allen for being a narc and demonstrated outside the school with signs and by covering their mouths to show their freedom of speech had been violated.

The Neocon’s are not taking this lightly.  The backwards New York Post reported the story in an  article titled “The Case of the Commie Teacher” and encourages students to grab their tape recorders to nail other teachers.  The West Virgina Gazette thinks Bennish should be fired as well as whomever gave his his teaching certificate (Light up the Cross, Boys!).

Bennish’s lawyer, David Lane went on the Mike Rosen Show (that originally aired the recording) Friday and said, “Maybe it’s not mainstream, middle-American opinion, but the rest of the world agrees with him."

Lane added that if Bennish had spoken strongly in support of Bush, he would not be under investigation.  He also said he was looking forward to teaching the school district a lesson in Constitutional Law.

This brings us back to Red Scare of the 40’s and 50’s and McCarthyism.  The slogan “Better Dead than Red” ruled the planet and there was a witch hunt for teachers suspected of teaching the doctrine.  Read about it on the Learn History site, and watch out for it in your neighborhood.

Former Republican Congressman, Duke Cunningham,  pleaded guilty last Nov. 28 to conspiracy, evading more than $1 million in taxes, and taking up to $2.4 million in bribes.  Today he was sentenced to 8 years and 4 months in Federal Prison (this ain’t no country club, boys).  Cunningham has held office in Congress in the affluent Rancho Santa Fe district, located in the San Diego burbs, since 1990.

Prosecutors recommended a 10-year prison sentence for the Dukester saying he "bullied" Pentagon officials to award contracts to defense contractors who bribed him. He extorted millions of dollars from contractors for his vote in Congress.

Prosecutors did not recommend the maximum 20-year sentence because Cunningham is cooperating in an investigation that has identified 4 co-conspirators not yet identified.  More corruption is to come.

Cunningham’s attorneys argued 10 years was unreasonable since no member of Congress has ever received a sentence as long as six years, however the judge has sense enough to make the punishment fit the crime.

A yacht, the mansion deal, a Rolls Royce, and other items were brought in court as evidence against him.  Cunning even had the balls to concoct a “bribe menu” scribbled on a note card detailing how much money would get what.  Guess he didn’t guard his napkins as closely as he should have.

The NY Times reported the Dukster said, "I made a very wrong turn," as he faced Federal District Judge Larry Alan Burns.  Even bleeding-heart liberals can’t squeeze out a drop for this thief. 

Yesterday Bush vowed to veto any legislation from Congress that would block the sale of operations at six top U.S. seaports to a company controlled by the government of Dubai (CSX Corporation).  Quite a strong stance considering that the decision was made without Bush’s knowledge.  When initially asked about the deal two days ago, Bush said he was not aware of it.  Now he’s touting the indepth process behind the decision. 

Not only does Bush want to jepordize our port security by handing it over to a company from a country that produced two of the 9/11 hijackers, some democratic senators are raising concerns about a link between the treasury secretary’s former employer and the Arab company.

Treasury Secretary in the Bush Adminstration since 2003, John Snow, worked for about 20 years at the CSX as chairman and CEO. In December 2004, after Snow had left CSX, that company’s port business was sold to Dubai Ports World in a deal worth more than $1 billion. Snow received $72.2 million in compensation from CSX in 2003, including $33.2 million from a special retirement pension, Dodd said, citing press reports. Dodd said the press reports also said that Snow had a stake in a CSX deferred compensation plan worth between $5 million and $25 million.

Reminds me of Cheney and Halliburton.

 The Congress (and I mean ALL of the Congress) is not happy with this deal.  Neither are the American people.  It’s about time we grew another branch of government. 

The moral-free Republicans passed a measure today that will cut student loans, medicare by $40 billion over the next 5 years, and cut education spending by $16 billion.  The vote was 216 to 214 and largely down party lines.  The poor will now have to pay for the Bush’s fantasy war on Iraq oil by giving up government services, while the rich still enjoy their new tax cuts.

As if your constitutional rights were not already in enough jepordy with the confirmation of Alito to the Supreme Court, the Capitol Police arrested Cindy Sheehan in the House chamber today just before Bush was to speak tonight.  Her only crime was wearing a t-shirt that depicted the number of dead soldiers from the Iraq war.  The following is and exerpt from a Reuters report:

Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested in the House chamber on Tuesday shortly before President Bush gave his State of the Union address because she refused to cover up an anti-war slogan on her shirt.

Sheehan, who was attending the speech as the guest of Democratic Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California, was taken from the Capitol in handcuffs and charged with unlawful conduct, said Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider.

A Reuters photographer said Sheehan entered the House gallery a few minutes before Bush was to speak and was directed to her seat. She had been seated for less than a minute when a plainclothes Capitol Police officer took her by the arm, said, "You’ve got to leave," and rushed her from the gallery.

Sheehan did not resist and left with a smile. Rather than hearing Bush say in his speech that there would be no sudden U.S. withdrawal from Iraq,Sheehan was being processed at the Capitol Police headquarters near the Capitol.  Schneider said Sheehan was arrested because she was wearing a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan and refused to cover it up.

So much for freedom of speech - even in a peaceful way.  Next the Bush Police will be roaming from house to house, looking for "bad" t-shirts in your private dresser drawers.  You will be pulled over for offensive bumper stickers.  The IRS will audit you if you are not a registered Republican.

How can Americans take such blatent oppression?  Did the Republicans tack on a provision onto the Alito vote to change Washington’s name to Beijing?  Google that….oh, just forget it….it’s probably filtered out by now.