"Bush, Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell should all be wearing orange jumpsuits."

The soon to be former first lady, Laura Bush, was ridiculed when she recently asserted that history would judge her husband's presidency a great success. It is easy to laugh when she claimed that an Iraqi journalist's shoe attack against George W. Bush was an indication of freedom and happiness resulting from American occupation. 

Muntader al-Zaidi, the shoe assailant, isn't free at all. He sits in prison with a badly beaten body but it turns out that Laura Bush was absolutely right. Bush will leave office with an abysmally low approval rating of just 27%, but with a long list of checked off items on his agenda. Bush succeeded in radically changing nearly every facet of government, and always with the help of the Democratic Party. Foolish liberals sneer at Bush and think themselves triumphant when the November 2008 electoral victory is a hollow one at best.

Even as he entered his last few months in office, Bush did not stop to smell the roses and reminisce about the bygone days of 90% approval and an aura of invincibility. The implosion of the financial markets enabled him to strike gold when the Democrats in Congress handed over $700 billion to Wall Street and the financial services industry. The highway robbery was one of the biggest thefts ever committed in history and was carried out without resistance of any kind. Just three months later, half of that money is gone and unaccounted for, making the Bush desire to turn over public funds to wealthy individuals and corporations a dream come true.

"The implosion of the financial markets enabled Bush to strike gold."

Bush has every reason to spend his final days in the White House gloating. He can gloat because his Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, will keep his job in the Obama White House. Karl Rove, chief Bush henchman and architect of election theft, declared Obama's economic team to be "reassuring" while Joe Lieberman called the Obama cabinet "just about perfect."

In all likelihood, Bush wanted John McCain to prevail against Obama, but it just doesn't seem to matter that he didn't. Liberal bloggers snicker because Republican strategists don't know how to attack Barack Obama effectively. They can't attack him because they don't really have any reason to. Obama blessed the Wall Street giveaway and put the deregulation foxes like Larry Summers back in charge of the hen house. He is planning to enact bigger tax cuts than the Bush administration did. He promises an expanded war in Afghanistan and despite his anti-war image, always promised to keep American troops in Iraq.

Bush can be happy about his foreign policy piece de resistance. Israel first starved the people of Gaza and prevented them from escaping or receiving humanitarian aid and now bombs their cities and kills hundreds of civilians. The United States prevents the United Nations from even discussing the issue of Gaza and the American people are once again complicit in yet another violation of the Geneva conventions and international law.

"Obama blessed the Wall Street giveaway and put the deregulation foxes like Larry Summers back in charge of the hen house."

Barack Obama says nothing about Gaza, using the "only one president at a time" excuse to give permission for the carnage to continue into his presidency. Israel knows that when it comes to foreign policy, there is only one party in the United States. That party is joined at the hip with Israel, its partner in crime from one administration to the next.

Speaking of crime, it remains to be seen what form of pardon Bush will give himself, Dick Cheney and the rest of his top aides. Cheney's bold admission that he approved torture is a sign that a pardon is in the works and that no Obama administration investigation is forthcoming. Bush, Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell should all be wearing orange jumpsuits.

They aren't because the Democrats are their willing accomplices. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table because she should have been on trial alongside Bush. She and other top party leaders were briefed on torture and enthusiastically went along when these violations of human rights and the constitution took place. It is hard to see how Bush can be considered a failure when the so-called opposition aided him every step of the way.

If Bush seems nonplussed these days, it is because he has every reason to be relaxed and cheerful. He can go back to Texas and oversee his presidential library with a feeling of ease and great success. George W. Bush, who lost the popular vote in the 2000 election, is leaving office a very big winner with a successor he can trust to keep his most important policy priorities firmly in place.

MORE HERE:   http://www.opednews.com/articles/Freedom-Rider-Bush-Goes-O-by-Margaret-Kimberley-090107-41.html

The news about the attacks in Gaza is beyond words. "Appalling" doesn't even come close.

U.S.-supplied Israeli F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters have fired missiles and dropped over 100 tons of bombs on dozens of locations in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip.  Over 300 people are dead and at least 1,400 more are injured. Many if not most of them are civilians.  Food and medicine were already in short supply in Gaza and all medical facilities have been completely overwhelmed by this onslaught. Access to Gaza has been cut off by Israel.

This is the most violent and heartbreaking situation that has happened to the Palestinians in recent history, and it must stop. In addition to calling for protests at Israeli consulates and federal buildings, as well as letters to the U.S. and Israeli governments, Jewish Voice for Peace staff and members are already putting together an aggressive campaign focused on Gaza. And, without a moment to waste, we call for an immediate end to attacks on all civilians.

I am Stephanie Roth and I've been an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace for many years, including serving on the board of directors. I've been involved with social justice issues my entire adult life - both in my professional life as an editor and fundraiser, and as a volunteer and activist. There is no issue I find more important or compelling than my work to end the Israeli Occupation. I am particularly saddened by this weekend's tragedy, occurring just a week after the uplifting days when the Shministim - the young Israeli conscientious objectors - caught the world's attention with their courage to say no to violence on December 18. I know that people in Gaza will stop dying when Israeli soldiers, like the Shministim, have the courage to say NO. NO, we will not target civilians; NO, we will not follow immoral orders; NO, we will not contribute to the destruction of Palestinian society.

Together with the Shministim, and with the 1,000 Israelis in Tel Aviv and thousands of others around the world who have already come out to protest the Gaza onslaught, we say YES. YES, stepping up to speak for justice and peace makes a difference; YES, we stand with the people of Gaza, of the West Bank, of Sderot in Israel and the innocent civilians everywhere whose lives are destroyed by cynical politicians and warmakers; YES, our voices together are stronger than the voice of any one of us alone; and YES, we are committed to the longterm goal of ending the Occupation and working for justice, peace and life.

Jewish Voice for Peace's goal - MY goal - of ending the Occupation is a long-term one.  Today, I will be giving the biggest gift I can to insure that they have the resources for a swift and sustained response to this most recent atrocity.

"If not us, who? If not now, when?"

From the Free Gaza Movement:

"This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq!"

Sign-up below to support Muntadar al-Zaidi! Your signatures will be delivered to the Iraqi Embassy this week!

We, the undersigned, understand and sympathize with the sentiment expressed in the action of Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, who hurled his shoes at President Bush, shouting, "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq." We, too, feel for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq, thanks to the policies of the Bush administration.

It's outrageous that al-Zaidi could get two years in prison for insulting George Bush, who is directly responsible for the deaths of 1.5 million Iraqis and 4,200 U.S. troops, and for the displacement of 5 million Iraqis. The one who should be in jail is Bush, not Muntadar al-Zaidi.

We call on the Iraqi government to immediately release al-Zaidi without charges.

SIGN HERE:  http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/424/signUp.jsp?key=3909

1. Contact the White House to protest the attack and demand an immediate cease-fire. Call 202-456-1111 or send an email to comments@whitehouse.gov.

2. Contact the State Department at 202-647-6575 or send an email by clicking here.

3. Contact your Representative and Senators in Congress at 202-224-3121 or find contact info for your Members of Congress by clicking here.

4. Contact your local media by phoning into a talk show or writing a letter to the editor. To find contact info for your local media, click here.

5. Organize a local protest or vigil and tell us about it by clicking here.

6. Sign our open letter to President-Elect Obama calling for a new U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine and find out other steps you can take to influence the incoming Administration by clicking here.