Strollerderby : george w bush

Morning News: Bush Acknowledges Crappy Presidency ... Yet Leaving With Head Held High

Madeline Holler — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Last night in an interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson, the man who is barely still president (big sigh of relief) owned up to a few of his failures as president. He said the Iraq war exceeded his expectations (and not in a good way) and that he was unprepared for war. He also took a bit of the blame for John McCain's election loss. The biggest regret of his presidency?

Intelligence failure in Iraq, he said. He wishes the intelligence "had been different." It was, Bush, it was! Also, no mention of regrets RE: Katrina or Dick Cheney.

Hey, drop the confetti! The U.S. has officially been declared in recession! In fact, the U.S. economy has been secretly in recession for an entire year! What sneaky, debt-ridden, lay-offing, over-extended little devils Americans are. On mention of this stealth-now-real recession, the Dow plunged nearly 700 points. In case you're wondering, President Bush is sorry about the economy too.

Is it shame? Economic realities? Good ol' Alaskan consignment store shopping attitude? Sarah Palin is rewearing clothes from the campaign (and not even the cutest stuff, which, we're left to believe she did, indeed, give back)!

The Obamas are headed to Hawaii this Christmas! It's actually not news, since they spend every Christmas there, but back in August, when he took a week off in Hawaii before the convention, there were calls for him to go somewhere "normal," like Pebble Beach, S.C. Nevermind that when you grow up in Hawaii and your only living relatives live in Hawaii, going to Hawaii for Christmas is normal. (And nevermind when you grow up anywhere west of the Mississippi -- or is it west of I-95? -- going to Pebble Beach is not normal.

Some doctors don't want to scale back on vacations, so they're dropping -- yes, DROPPING! -- vaccines from their caregiving offerings to families with kids. Apparently, private insurers don't reimburse enough to make it worth it for the doctor. Plus, there's gotta be a whole lot of profit in caring for kids with measles, ear infections and meningitis! We'll file this one under "Pros" in the Universal Healthcare: Should We/Shouldn't We debate.

MSNBC has a list of the 20 Top Medical Breakthroughs for Women. So you think it's going to be about detecting heart disease early or studies determining correct dosages of common drugs. Nah. It's stuff like "liposuction is great because there are stem cells in belly fat." And also, "anti-aging products really work!"

Somebody, cut this guy off! No, not literally. But this Dutch man has fathered 46 kids through sperm donation and he's nowhere near ready to stop. He sounds altruistic (even hosting a party recently for all his children), but should his genes really be so over-represented in the population?

Photo: ABCNews.com

White House Sends Chanukah Card With Christmas Tree On It

Brett Singer — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:00:00 GMT

The Bush family really can't win these days.

Not only is the sitting President receiving blame for Republican losses on Election Day, but first lady Laura is getting flak for a farkakteh (pronounced "fuh-kahk-tuh") Chanukah card that had a picture of a Christmas tree on it.

While its fun to make fun of this kind of thing, I have to admit that I don't really care. It certainly is a mistake and shows certain cluelessness on the part of the First Lady's staff, or at least a lack of organizing skills (shouldn't someone have looked at the card first?). But this isn't exactly Hunter Gibson (Mel's dad) denying that the Holocaust actually happened. Also, the card didn't have a picture of the Baby Jesus on it. It was just a tree. (For the record, apologies were quickly offered. Faces, already covered with egg, were red. Feet were in mouths.)

So was it a bit dense for the White House to send a Chanukah card that didn't have a Chanukah image on it? Sure. But is it really that offensive? I don't think so. I'm Jewish, and I happen to like Christmas trees. That's a topic for another post, but for now, I'm not ready to add CardGate to the list of Bush Administration screw-ups.

Source: NY Post via HuffPo

Make Your Own Religious Doll

Daughter's Homework Assignment Leads to Presidential Pardon for Dad

First Black President Triggers Rise in Hate Crimes

Alex Rodriguez Writing Love Poems To Madonna

Will The First Granny Move To The White House?

World Famous Atheist To Write Children's Book

Bush Wants to Fund Religious Schools with Your Tax Money

Shannon LC Cate — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:30:00 GMT

The White House Domestic Policy Council issued a report last week, called “Preserving a Critical National Asset: America’s Disadvantaged Students and the Crisis in Faith-based Urban Schools” Among other things, the report calls for considerable increases of public funding to private, religiously affiliated schools through vouchers, tax credits and other forms of tax aid at both federal and state levels. it also recommends the establishment of religious charter schools.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State pointed out that such a move would require "rewriting the First Amendment."

I've said here before that I plan to home school my children, at least for a few years. I myself attended a private, religious school for twelve years. But at that time, my parents did not support early attempts at government funding of private education, in the form of tax credits. They knew that not only is such government support unconstitutional, but it would be unethical to pull their own support from universal public education when the vast majority of U.S. children need and use it.

Parents who make private choices to educate their children outside the public system are no less responsible for all children than are child-free people. High quality free education for all is our obligation in a democracy.

Xtina and Max Rock the Vote

Brett Singer — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:04:00 GMT

Remember Rock the Vote? How it was supposed to be a game-changer, bringing all these young people to the polls? And then George W. Bush got elected two times in a row?

Well, that hasn't stopped celebrities from using their fame to get us to the polls. Christina Aguilera literally wraps her son Max in the American flag and sings about those Purple Mountains Majesty.

I'm a big fan of voting, and I agree with Rock The Vote's mission. I just wonder how much it really does. I mean, is someone going to say, "Well, Xtina told me I should Rock The Vote. Well, dammit, I'm going to!"?

I guess every little bit helps. Here's the video. It's way better than Puffy's "Vote or Die" campaign.

image: RockTheVote

When Cynthia called Cindy

Mrs. And Mrs. DeGeneres, and a male perspective on the name game

Christie Brinkley's Ex Paid Off His 18-year-old mistress

Denise Richards still trying to prove she's insane

Photos from Nicole Kidman's Nursery

When Celebrities Say Stupid Stuff

Christina Aguilera Rocks Vote and Baby

Dick Cheney whispering hush: Goodnight Bush

Brett Singer — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:00:00 GMT

"Goodnight Bush" is a new take on an old classic, but probably not something you'll be reading (and reading, and reading, and reading – what is it about "Goodnight Moon"?) to your kids at bedtime.

According to the New York Times, the book was an unsolicited manuscript received by Little, Brown, who noticed it in the pile because it was mailed in a clear envelope. Good move – the package stood out, and the book is now on sale; it currently holds the #1 spot on Amazon.com in the Political Humor category.

"Goodnight Constitution. And goodnight evolution."

Hee hee.

The authors actually take their parody more seriously, with one of them saying, "We wanted it to be the definitive requiem for everything they've done." Um, okay. Can I just think it's funny?

image: sfgate.com

The Human Element of War

Brett Singer — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:00:00 GMT

No matter what you think of the Iraq War (or any war for that matter) I think it's important to remember the human side of things. The soldiers aren't only fighters, they're people.

Some of them are even parents. In her terrific Personal Essay titled "Return to the Home Front", Korinthia Klein tells us what it was like when her husband Ian came home from "over there." It's all worth reading, but here are a couple of highlights:

"By the time I got my arms around Ian, all I could do was sob."

"Ian marveled at the quiet as we went to sleep, because he'd lived so long with mortar fire and the constant whine of generators and military jets. I kept forgetting that he didn't know where things belonged and that he still had to be introduced to some of the people and places the kids and I know best."

"The children adjusted remarkably well. It's hard to believe Quinn's daddy was a stranger to him only a few weeks ago."

Look – support the war, don't support the war. But no matter what, always support the troops.