Mock, Paper, Scissors

Chuck Todd asked Pelosi if there was a statute of limitations on placing responsibility on President George W. Bush.

“Well, it runs out when the problems go away,” Pelosi replied.

More, please.

NYTimes

“…and that would be exactly zero.“

When you go to your town hall meeting or health care rally, ask the deathers wrapped in the flags and the swastikas if they ever came to Texas to protest W’s death panels here?

For those who don’t like Wikipedia as a source (bravo, actually), here is the relevant section of the Texas Health and Safety Code that essentially allows a medical facility to decide whether it wants to continue giving life-sustaining treatment, even against the wishes of the patient or family.

Focus on Section 166.046, Subsection E, which allows:

If an attending physician refuses to honor a patient’s advance directive or a health care or treatment decision made by or on behalf of a patient, the physician’s refusal shall be reviewed by an ethics or medical committee. The attending physician may not be a member of that committee. The patient shall be given life-sustaining treatment during the review.

So if a patient or his/her family don’t agree with the physician, it goes before a board to decide the patient’s fate.  But wait, there’s more:

If the attending physician, the patient, or the person responsible for the health care decisions of the individual does not agree with the decision reached during the review process under Subsection (b), the physician shall make a reasonable effort to transfer the patient to a physician who is willing to comply with the directive. If the patient is a patient in a health care facility, the facility’s personnel shall assist the physician in arranging the patient’s transfer…

So what happens if these Texas death panels end up winning – against the wishes of the family?

A person does not commit an offense under Section 22.08, Penal Code, by withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment from a qualified patient in accordance with this subchapter.

Immunity from civil or criminal prosecution.

via clammyc at Kos

Did Sarah Palin care at all for the fate of Sun Hudson, a desperately ill and poor (but non-white) baby here in Texas?  He was killed under the “Texas Futile Care Law,” which sounds a whole lot worse than a proposal for medicare recipients to be able to discuss advanced directives.

Pro-life my granny’s big toe!

Chimpy?  Is anyone taking this man’s opinion seriously?  Really?

Bush says businesses will lead economic comeback (AP)

from Yahoo! News

AP – The country will emerge from the recession on the backs of businesses — not the government, and the private sector will thrive as long as the United States continues to promote free-market expansion, former President George W. Bush said Wednesday night in one of his rare appearances since leaving office.

Chimpy:

Bush Spent 487 Days At Camp David, 490 Days At Texas Ranch During

via Huff Po in Jan ’09

Barack Obama:

Our Romantic President

By Jeralyn, TalkLeft (Sunday)

Props to President Obama for taking Michelle out on a romantic date to New York last night.

It was exciting not just for the Obamas, but for the New Yorkers who got to view them, the restaurant chef and staff who served them, the diners in the restaurant who applauded as they left, the actors in the Broadway show they attended — and the one that struck me the most, the surprised guy sitting next to Obama at the play. [More...]

“I couldn’t think for the first 10 minutes of the show because the president was sitting right to me,” said seatmate Lloyd Lederkramer.

The Obamas also got a standing ovation from the audience at the show.

I think it’s great we have such a popular president and first lady — it’s been a very long time. (And to the grinchy Republicans out there who are griping about cost, the Obamas paid for their show tickets and dinner. Who paid all those times Bush flew to his ranch in Crawford? Do you think Bush would have told America he was foregoing his vacation to Crawford because GM was filing for bankruptcy? )

And yet …..

(more…)

image via Cagle.Com

Doncha just love it when their own words come back to bite them on the waterboard?!

Bush’s Promise On Torture

Andrew Sullivan for The Atlantic

From al Arabiya, after Abu Ghraib:

It’s important for people to understand that in a democracy, there will be a full investigation. In other words, we want to know the truth. In our country, when there’s an allegation of abuse … there will be a full investigation, and justice will be delivered. …  It’s very important for people and your listeners to understand that in our country, when an issue is brought to our attention on this magnitude, we act. And we act in a way in which leaders are willing to discuss it with the media. … In other words, people want to know the truth. That stands in contrast to dictatorships. A dictator wouldn’t be answering questions about this. A dictator wouldn’t be saying that the system will be investigated and the world will see the results of the investigation.

Bush personally authorized every technique revealed at Abu Ghraib. He refused to act upon the International Committee of the Red Cross’s report that found that he had personally authorized the torture of prisoners, in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention on Torture and domestic law against cruel and inhuman treatment. A refusal to investigate and prosecute Red Cross allegations of torture is itself a violation of the Geneva Accords.

h/t Peanut Butter

New jobless claims rose more than expected last week, while the number of workers continuing to filing claims for unemployment benefits topped 6.1 million.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment compensation rose to a seasonally adjusted 640,000, up from a revised 613,000 the previous week. That was slightly above analysts’ expectations of 635,000.

Reuters

“…Drinkies!”

(Chimpy will always be welcome wherever Human Rights are not.)

Taking our cue from feministe, a few of the beach bumz over at relaxed politics have sent in shoes for us to throw at Chimpy on his way out. Grab one and join in!

Shoes still being collected at relaxed politics at gmail.

Not respecting America and the world is bad enough —- Chimpy doesn’t even respect his own father.

Bush says his dad a ‘nut’ to plan another sky-dive (Reuters)

from Yahoo! News

Reuters – President George W. Bush said on Sunday he thought his father, the former president, is a “nut” to plan to celebrate his 85th birthday with another sky-dive.

that the Palestinian authority is in charge the West Bank, but not Gaza? Do they have a phone number for Hamas anywhere? What do they think the PA is going to do?

Is that better than the regular normal access? So it seems.

From food

From NYT via Huff Po:

Four Felons Gained Special Access To Bush To Win Clemency

People with the wherewithal to do so have always tried to use special access to power to win clemency. And none of Mr. Bush’s decisions have been as controversial as President Bill Clinton’s last-minute pardon of the fugitive-financier Marc Rich.

But over the last few presidencies, the incentive to try to go around the normal process has increased, said P. S. Ruckman Jr., a political scientist who specializes in clemency.

A huge backlog at the Justice Department’s pardon review office combined with the relatively small number of clemency grants by recent presidents, Professor Ruckman said, “encourages people to try to end-run the process — to try to cheat, for lack of a better word, to gain access to the White House directly.”

Although the Bush administration has repeatedly said clemency-seekers should go through the Justice Department review, a White House spokesman, Tony Fratto, said anyone was free to send a petition directly to the White House, which “at a minimum requires the cost of a stamp.” Mr. Fratto added that “it is immaterial to us who delivers a petition for a pardon” because the president makes such decisions “on the merits.”

But Professor Ruckman said that people without connections could not walk into the White House, and that under ordinary circumstances, any letter would be forwarded to the Justice Department, where about half a dozen lawyers had 2,172 pending cases as of Dec. 4.

OK, maybe not.

Limits on Executive Pay May Prove Toothless

from washingtonpost.com – In Congress by Amit R. Paley

Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that break the rules.

But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision, congressional aides said. The change stipulated that the penalty would apply only to firms that received bailout funds by selling troubled assets to the government in an auction, which was the way the Treasury Department had said it planned to use the money.

Now, however, the small change looks more like a giant loophole, according to lawmakers and legal experts.

A loophole that favors corporate execs? A loophole inserted by the Bush mal-admin? REALLY?!?

(more…)

Well LIE of course!

Video: Cox on leaked memo on revised Bush legacy

from MSNBC.com: Source/Rachel Maddow Show

Dec. 9: Lame Duck Watch: Rachel Maddow keeps an eye on President Bush, because somebody has to do it. Rachel talks to Ana Marie Cox about a leaked memo from the White House that outlines talking points for talking up the Bush legacy. (MSNBC)

And why isn’t this located in easy reach of the Hague?

Bushes Settle On a Home in Dallas

By Michael Falcone

10141 Daria Place in Dallas. (Photo: L.M. Otero/Associated Press)

As hard as it may be to leave 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush have settled on a new home.

The White House announced today that after the president leaves office next month, the first couple will be moving to the upscale Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas.

Anyone gonna send them love letters there?

Sorhum Crow! (Contest was here.)

I added a line.

that this man is sober?

pic from Huff Po

Oy!

h/t Huff Po

or is he saying this?

President George W. Bush addresses the APEC CEO Summit 2008 Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008, at the Ministry of Defense Convention Center in Lima, Peru. The President told his audience, “I believe it is important for the world to recognize, and for our country to recognize, that the United States is a Pacific nation. And over the past eight years… I made APEC a priority.” White House photo by Eric Draper

from WhiteHouse.Gov

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

“…bury mah preznentzy?”

President Bush listens to a question during a bilateral meeting with Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper (unseen) at the North American Leaders’ Summit between the U.S., Mexico and Canada in New Orleans, Louisiana April 21, 2008. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Chimpy visits the scene of the crime.

I welcome you all to say a few comments to the TV, if you care to do so.

– Chimpy McStagger (to a delegation from Ireland — I think he was trying to say they could talk to the press), Dec. 7, 2007

REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES)

“…as Benadryl Bhutto, right?”

*crickets*