ANTE RAISED AT WORLD SERIES OF TERROR TOURNAMENT

WITH HALLOWEEN A MONTH AWAY, THINGS ARE GETTING SCARY IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE ON CAPITAL HILL
Yesterday, the Senate endorsed President Bush's plans to prosecute and interrogate terror suspects, all but guaranteeing congressional approval for legislation that Republicans intend to use on the campaign trail to assert their toughness on terrorism. The legislation could let Bush begin prosecuting terrorists connected to the Sept. 11 attacks just as voters head to the polls. It will also allow the GOP to claim that any Democrats who are opposed to the bill are soft on terror. The bill would create military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects. It also would prohibit some of the worst abuses of detainees like mutilation and rape, but grant the president leeway to decide which other interrogation techniques are permissible (allowing Dubya to interpret the Geneva Conventions, the treaty that sets standards for the treatment of war prisoners). The bill would also eliminate some rights common in military and civilian courts. For example, the commission would be allowed to consider hearsay evidence so long as a judge determined it was reliable. Hearsay is barred from civilian courts. This is supposed to show a level of toughness on terrorism? The only thing that this bill achieves is to provide more fodder for our enemies. The Senate is giving Dubya the right to interpret the Geneva Conventions? I wouldn’t even feel comfortable letting him interpret Dr. Seuss. “According to this brief, if the Grinch stole Christmas he’s obviously against Jesus and Jesus loves freedom. We better find this Grinch and torture him. While we’re at it, let’s build a few military bases in Who-ville”. This business of allowing hearsay as long as a judge determines that it’s reliable is just plain scary. How does a person determine how reliable hearsay is? I’ll field a guess. If the information allows us to further detain, jail, or torture a suspect, it will be determined to be reliable. If the hearsay information can in any way help prove a suspect’s innocence, it will be deemed unreliable. Democrats contended that the legislation could set a dangerous precedent that might invite other countries to mistreat captured Americans. Their opposition focused on language barring detainees from going to federal court to protest their detention and treatment (the right known as "habeas corpus").
"The habeas corpus language in this bill is as legally abusive of rights guaranteed in the Constitution as the actions at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and secret prisons that were physically abusive of detainees," said Sen. Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Armed Services panel. The saddest part of this bill passing is that there are millions and millions of Americans who will actually view this as a positive step in the “war on terror” and vote for the GOP because of it. That’s why they rushed to have this bill passed so quickly. It isn’t because it makes the American people safer from terrorist attacks as they claim. It’s because it makes their job security (with elections in less than two months) and stranglehold on capital hill safer. I’m not fooled. I hope the rest of you readers aren’t fooled either. Democrats need to take back capital hill in November to insure that there is a check for this renegade President who may have already started world war three.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN
The al-Qaida leader in Iraq, in a chilling audiotape released Thursday, called for nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war. The leader said experts in the fields of "chemistry, physics, electronics, media and all other sciences (especially nuclear scientists and explosives experts)" should join his group's jihad, or holy war, against the West.
"We are in dire need of you," said the speaker, who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir (also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri). "The field of jihad can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and the large American bases (in Iraq) are good places to test your unconventional weapons, whether biological or dirty, as they call them." A U.N. report released Wednesday said al-Qaida "has gained by continuing to play a central role in the fighting and in encouraging the growth of sectarian violence; and Iraq has provided many recruits and an excellent training ground." Basically, since the U.S. blindly invaded Iraq, we have provided fodder for many new enemies and the perfect place for them to train. Seems to contradict what Bush has been telling the American public…I wonder who’s telling the truth? This isn’t going to end well. Martyrdom is revered among Islamic fundamentalists. By calling scientists to holy war, they have opened the door to many new levels of attacks. We might be looking at the end of the days of suicide bombers as the main tool of attack and the dawn of much larger scale atrocities. The military bases we have built in Iraq (one of our biggest reasons for invading the country, although Dubya would never admit to that) are now being lined up as targets for radicals to test their weapons on. If our soldiers don’t have body armor to protect against bombs, what’s the likelihood that they have proper equipment to protect against chemical or radioactive weapons? Once these weapons have been tested on American military bases in Iraq, how long will it be before they make their way to American soil? Either way, we lose. We are either attacked on a massive scale, or we are forced to completely give up the freedoms we have here at home in order to attempt to better protect ourselves. Bush will try to use this as yet another reason that we need to get “tough on terror” but all he has done since taking office is make this entire situation worse, not better. Sadly, I do not think there is a way to realistically end this whole thing in any sort of peaceful manner and I fear it’s going to get much worse before anything gets better. I don’t think that the real effects of George Bush’s actions in his time as president will be felt for years and years to come.
LET’S LIGHTEN THE MOOD BEFORE THE WEEKEND KICKS OFF
With the Senate elections looming, it’s only another year until we vote for a new President and finally get Dubya out of office. After leaving office most former Presidents lend themselves to humanitarian efforts of some degree. As we all know, George Bush is incapable of bettering society and therefore will need some other job to occupy his time once he leaves office. As luck would have it, late last night, while working on today’s post, I received a package here at the Spoon, Full of Truth. The package contained a copy of Bush’s resume. I decided it was my obligation to share this information with my readers. Here is a copy of the resume I received which I have verified to be 100% accurate (verification process not verified).
George W. Bush's Resume
The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20500
Past Work Experience
*Ran for congress and lost.
*Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
*Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas; company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
*Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox.
*With father's help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.
Accomplishments in Previous Positions
*Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union.
*Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog-ridden city in America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
*Set record for most executions by any governor in American history.
*Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of my father's appointments to the Supreme Court.
Accomplishments As President
*Attacked and took over two countries.
*Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
*Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
*Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
*Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
*First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
*First president in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
*First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in U.S. history.
*After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
*Set the record for most campaign fundraising trips than any other president in U.S. history.
*In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
*Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in U.S. history.
*Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
*Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in U.S. history.
*Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
*Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in U.S. history.
*Presided over the biggest energy crises in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
*Presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
*Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
*Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
*Dissolved more international treaties than any president in U.S. history.
*My presidency is the most secretive and unaccountable of any in U.S. history.
*Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history (the 'poorest' multimillionaire, Condoleezza Rice, has an Exxon oil tanker named after her).
*First president in U.S. history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt.
*Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
*First president in U.S. history to order a U.S. attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation.
*Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
*Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in U.S. history.
*First president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the human rights commission.
*First president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the elections monitoring board.
*Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in U.S. history.
*Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
*Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
*Refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
*First president in U.S. history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. elections).
*All-time U.S. (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
*My biggest lifetime campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
*Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in U.S. history.
*First president in U.S. history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
*First president to run and hide when the U.S. came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
*First U.S. president to establish a secret shadow government.
*Took the biggest world sympathy for the U.S. after 9/11, and in less than a year made the U.S. the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in U.S. and world history).
*With a policy of 'disengagement' created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
*Fist U.S. president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability. *First U.S. president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the U.S. than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
*Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
*Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated U.S. law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
*Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive.'
*Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capital building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.
*In the 18 months following the 9/11 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.
*Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in U.S. history.
*In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the U.S. has ever been since the Civil War.
*Entered office with the strongest economy in U.S. history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
Records and References
*At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available)
*AWOL from National Guard and deserted the military during a time of war.
*Refuse to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
*All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my father's library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
*All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
*All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
*Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. ***For personal references please speak to my daddy or uncle James Baker (they can be reached at their offices of the Carlyle Group for war-profiteering.)
FRIDAY AGAIN? DIDN’T WE JUST HAVE ONE OF THOSE LAST WEEK? That’s all for today folks. Have a great weekend and check back next week to feed your need for the truth and intelligent writing (it’s like one stop shopping here at the Spoon). I’d also like to wish a quick Happy Birthday to my mother who will be turning a year older tomorrow. Happy Birthday Mom, I love you. I love the rest of you too.