I’ve been doing some serious retroflecting now that we’re nearing the end of the George W. Bush era, and I’m thinking that maybe we who consider ourselves to be environmentalists should actually be grateful to the man for the way that he’s dealt with climate change.

Now stay with me on this.

I don't know if there are many football fans here.  I'm a huge Chicago Bears fan.  Tough sledding last year but maybe we'll be back this season!  Maybe not.  I love the sport.

During the NFL draft this year, there was a sidebar human interest story.  A guy named Caleb Campbell played at Army last year.  He was drafted by the Detroit Lions this season, an NFL football team.

As USA Today said today:

Just what is up lately with John McCain?  One has to wonder if his campaign is sabotaging him on purpose.  Surely it can't be the case that the candidate of a major American political party is completely without access to a basic fact checker?

Even a college-aged intern (with the Google or other basic Internet skills) ought to be able to help a guy out for next to nothing, without putting undue stress on McCain's budget.

After I helped give it wide attention yesterday, media commentators started weighing in on the brief video captured (probably via cell phone)  at a private fundraiser in which President Bush joked about Wall Street getting "drunk" and making light of the U.S. housing crisis. Dan Froomkin at The Washington Post called it Bush's "YouTube Moment," which makes you marvel - yes, he has had relatively few of them, at least of the "whoops, that was private" variety.  

Amazingly, earlier that same day - last Friday - at another fundraiser in Tucson, Bush, according to Daniel Scarpinato of the Arizona Daily Star had fretted about this eventuality.  "So sensitive were Republicans about information getting out about the goings-on at the Tucson fundraiser . . . even W. himself," he wrote, "made sure to ask the 400 or so people at the event to turn off any recording devices.  'I don't know a lot about technology,' the president said, according to one insider, 'but I do know about YouTube.'"

At least he didn't say "the YouTube" or "the Tubes."

I almost fell out of my seat when I read this one. McCain claims Bush is to be thanked for lifting the offshore oil drilling ban, because it caused a $10.00 drop in the price of a barrel of oil.

Some of you may have seen the hideous new campaign poster for Ole Grumpy... er, John McCain over at TPM. Just when you think his campaign couldn't get more desperate or clueless, they prove us wrong.

In case you haven't seen the latest triumph, here it is in all it's glory:

Nothing over the top about that, is there?

Well, I've improved it a little:

That's really much better. Should appeal to McCain's base.

Will the Constitution survive?  

Fox today does is part to help the Republicans by parroting McCain's attacks on Senator Obama, and reminding people we still have the other President in office. On the Live Desk today, Fox ran a couple of stories back to back which illustrate the desperation of Republicans to appear important, both results are pure propaganda brought to you by an hucksters pretending to be real journalists, at Fox News.

Hasn't America been in a perpetual state of drunkenness since Reagan was elected by virtue of the Iranian hostage crisis?

Bush says Wall Street ‘got drunk’
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published: July 23 2008 01:19 | Last updated: July 23 2008 01:19
President George W. Bush said Wall Street had "got drunk" and was experiencing a hangover at a recent closed-door fundraiser in Houston in which he also made light of the US housing crisis....

http://www.ft.com/...

But... is drunkenness the real problem?

Of course we knew this all along. When President George W. Bush is with his cronies behind closed doors and the cameras are (supposedly)turned off, sometimes he lets a little truth slip out.

Greg Mitchell of The Huffington Post reports that Houston's ABC affiliate has produced embarrassing footage of Bush at a local fund-raiser for Pete Olson, blaming Wall Street for "getting drunk" and screwing up the American economy.

John McCain claims he is an honorable man.

And now he has directly impugned the patriotism of Barack Obama.

It's been a very busy week for war crimes and war criminals.  In some good news for the cause of justice and the upholding of international law, Bosnian Serb mass murder Radavan Karadzic was finally captured in Belgrade, just days after the International Criminal Court charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with crimes against humanity in Darfur.  But for Americans, those positive developments were offset by news that the Bush administration's own war crimes trials - and potential pre-emptive pardons - put the United States in the same discussion with Sudan and the Republica Serbska.

"We need to focus not on middle-east oil, but on mid-west innovation. ~ Senator Major John Boccieri(D-Alliance)

In July, John spoke about high gas prices and his energy solutions at a Canton gas station. You can watch video excerpts below:

More below the fold!

FINALLY – IT’S ALL OUT IN THE OPEN  !!!  
We can all relax – the pressure’s finally off.  Thank God.

JUST THIS LAST WEEK, all those fears that Americans have been burdened with have been calmed, with the solutions provided.  What a relief!  I for one am totally relieved, and thankful that the government spokesmen have laid it all out.  God, what took them so long ?

Who could forget this visual that is widely credited with helping to sink Michael Dukasis' 1988 presidential bid?  He looked silly, out of place and out of touch with America and justifiably, he was ridiculed for it.  And Daddy GHW Bush (also cutely known in some quarters as "41") was the heckler-in-chief, using the photo in relentless political ads.

The WaPo has a front page story today about efforts at the Labor Department to screw up anything that might benefit American laborers.  It’s a damning indictment of the way the Labor Department has functioned under Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, aka Mrs. Mitch McConnell.

My Senator, Norm Coleman, was sworn in on January 7, 2003, just before the start of the Iraq War, when the price of oil was $31.08 per barrel. On July 21, 2008 the price of oil had risen to $131.04 a barrel, $100 higher. That's an increase of 320% in five and a half years. My Congressman, John Kline, began his career in congress at the same time, and like Norm, he still serves.

Nobody should blame any politician for normal market forces working on commodity prices. Most politicians rightly keep their hands off a well-regulated market. But there is one exception to this rule: if a currency is considered a commodity, then we must remind ourselves that politicians control the economics that underlie the currency of a nation.

As the Bush Presidency mercifully draws closer to its end, the question of Pardons has started to appear. Given the criminal nature of the administration, many feel like the mass pardons are coming. I find it hard to disagree with this sentiment. Like every other aspect of power under President Bush’s purview, this too will be abused. The question becomes in what way? The power of the pardon is a sweeping one derived from the powers of the English monarch and so it has many possibilities. It is hard to imagine that Bush, who already believes himself a King, will forgo this temptation to insulate him and his henchmen from any criminal repercussions.