He Saw His Sole

By Keith R. Schmitz

At least Bush has helped out one sector of the economy and has created jobs to boot (pardon the pun):

The footwear that robbed George W Bush of his dignity and landed its owner Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi — who hurled them at the US President at a press meet in Baghdad — in prison, has yielded an unexpected bonanza for its maker. Ever since the incident, Ramazan Baydan, the owner of the Istanbul-based Baydan Shoe Company, has been swamped with orders from across the world.

In fact, Baydan has recruited an additional 100 staff to meet orders for 300,000 pairs of Model 271, more than four times the shoe’s normal annual sale, following an outpouring of support for Zaidi’s act, ‘The Guardian’ reported. Orders have come from the US and Britain, and from neighbouring Muslim countries, he said.

Didn't Know There Were That Many Commedians in America

By Keith R. Schmitz

According to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 18% of respondents said they would miss Bush when he leaves office.

George Bush -- Bleeding Heart Liberal

By Keith R. Schmitz

As a memory refresher, though the extra chunky pundit Jonah Goldberg and others on the right wing as usual are pinning this economic crisis on what they feel are those irresponsible minorities and poor people (they have such control in this country), it turns out George Bush has been their actual enabler.

Check out this speech from 2002. As you can see from the YouTube, Bush is such a bleeding heart liberal it is translated into the lefty Dutch language.

Jim Webb's Economic Stimulus Package

By Keith Schmitz

Think of it. It isn't often that a freshman senator such as Jim Webbb (D-VA) in the world's most deliberative (translate sludgy) body gets to pass a major piece of legislation such as the Iraq Veteran's GI Bill. He had to bulldoze it through past the opposition of President Bush and presidental wannabe John McCain. Webb proves that persistence can win out over flashy.

As for Roadmap to Ruin Ryan, he voted against the funding.

Meanwhile Charlie Sykes maintains that letting 13 year olds enter the virtual world of Iraq at the Big Gig is his way of supporting our troops.

Now thousands of people who went off to Iraq will have the opportunity their fathers and grandfathers (mostly men you know back then) had to get a college education and advance economically.

This is the right thing to do for those who have put themselves in harm's way. It is also the right thing to do for the economy. Even though today's version will be serving the much larger numbers of people as the last one over 50 years ago, by sending these folks to college will in its small way help grow the middle class.

This is how you support the troops and the rest of the country at the same time through a (gasp!) government program.

Invading Iran -- Could Bush Be That Dumb?

By Keith Schmitz

The latest speculation from Seymour Hersch that the Bush administration is again pondering an invasion of Iran has left the right wing happy that BushCo is going to "do something" about Iran and fuming that the info was leaked.

How smart would an invasion of Iran be? Not very according to a report in the Australian which counts the ways that this adventure would do damage to all concerned -- even the Bush administration:

First, any strike will prejudice the pivotal US strategic goals in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would expose 150,000 US forces in Iraq to Iranian retaliation. It would threaten progress in Iraq and vastly complicate US force withdrawal. It would trigger Iranian terrorist activity across the region and provoke Shi'ite militia group Hezbollah into strikes. It would represent a complete refusal to absorb the lesson from the 2003 invasion of Iraq: that resort to massive military action unleashes forces beyond the control of the US.

Second, the global economic consequences would be grave. Iranian retaliation would see the world oil price skyrocket from its present high level. Commander-in-chief of Iran's revolutionary guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, has warned that Iran "will definitely act to impose controls on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz". This will take inflation and recession threats to new peaks in the industrialised world. The resentment towards Bush would be even greater.

Third, the Bush administration would implode politically. There is little grasp in Australia of the dramatic power shifts within the administration with Vice-President Dick Cheney's influence on the wane and the diplomatic option in the ascendancy under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates. Witness the diplomatic deal over North Korea's nuclear facilities. Cheney's position on Iran is that there is only one thing worse than military action: Iran being allowed to gain nuclear weapons.

But in the absence of evidence or intelligence justifying a military strike the administration would fracture. High-level resignations would be likely. The intelligence community, blamed for the Iraq war, would not tolerate any distortions from its recent modest assessment of the Iranian threat. Senior US military leaders would be alarmed, with many believing the military option was an unjustified risk.

This highlights the reason for delay: Iran is still several years away from acquiring a nuclear capability. The ultimate decision point for military action will come but that point arrives under Bush's successor. At that stage the US must either accept a nuclear armed Iran or move to thwart it.