Past is Prologue

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

"As America moves through the second Bush term, few aspects of life in this country have not been affected by Karl Rove, and his profound influence on the president and his policies. He is the political mastermind of an administration that has preached compassionate conservatism, but has practiced something considerably different. If Karl Rove were not sitting in his office in the White House, there might not have been no war in Iraq; there would be underprivileged children still attending Head Start programs, which have been reduced or eliminated; there would be low income families getting health care from the Children's Health Insurance Program, instead of going without because of federal cutbacks in funding; there would be competitive bidding contracts to rebuild Iraq instead of delivery of deals to Halliburton and other companies that are GOP fund-raisers; there would have been no California recall; there would be congressional districts with lines drawn to help elect minorities; there would be a complete and honest report from the 9/11 Commission; there would be real accounting of Saudi Arabia's involvement in acts of terrorism; there would be real funding for Homeland Security's First Responders; there would even be more people with jobs; half of $87 billion requested for rebuilding Iraq might be used to implement full coverage health care for every man, woman, and child in America. And sadly, none of this is overstatement." (Source: Rove Exposed: How Bush's Brain Fooled America)

Meanwhile, back in Prague the almighty Commander Guy is bloviating about things like "democratic reforms", "sum-zero worlds", and other assorted ironies. SSDD. Operation Enduring Nightmare continues...

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It's all about power and money

it's been a while since i've posted something by robert parry, but that's not because he hasn't been an active investigator and reporter... he's got a nice summary up on the justice department/white house incestuousness and the appalling politicization of virtually everything in the executive side of our government...

Watching the painfully inept testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales brought to mind the memorable comment in 2002 by ex-White House insider John DiIulio, who described how politics dominated everything in George W. Bush’s government.

“There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus,” said DiIulio, who had run Bush’s office of faith-based initiatives. “What you’ve got is everything – and I mean everything – being run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis.”

The American people are finally waking up to the consequences of what DiIulio observed during his one-year stint on the inside. Everything is about the building and maintenance of power, not via sound policies but through political tactics – ranging from the conduct of the Iraq War to the handling of federal prosecutors.

[...]

The larger picture appears to be that the Bush administration is still subordinating almost everything – from longstanding traditions on prosecutorial independence to the protection of intelligence officers – to President Bush’s political needs.

there is a key element that parry neglects... yes, "everything is about the building and maintenance of power," but the inextricable companion to that overarching goal is the building and maintenance of the massive amounts of money necessary to keep the power machine turning... then there are the correlates: contractor cronyism and unparalleled corruption using an endless war as a money machine, the building and maintenance of the fear of terrorism in order to sustain a compliant populace and as the rationale for a steady abrogation of civil liberties, an unholy alliance with extremist christian groups as an additional means of social control, and the nullification of any implied or explicit social contract, thus diverting even greater rivers of cash into the "right" pockets... it's a many-faceted plan, has been executed slowly, inexorably and comprehensively for six-plus years, and will continue to be rolled out until bush and his criminal posse are removed from office... it goes without saying that 20 january 2009 may be too late...

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