I’ve been caught out reading conservatives again. I always think it’s noteworthy when there’s widespread agreement between the ideological left and the ideological right in criticizing a policy or a politician. Somehow I ended up at the Cato Instutite website and spied Power Surge: The Constitutional Record of George W. Bush, an anti-Bush screed by Gene Healy and Timothy Lynch, know primarily for their anti-Clinton screeds. Anyway, their white paper makes for an interesting read. Nothing new, but it is a concise analysis of Bush’s presidency ranging from signing the McCain-Feingold legislation to harrassing non-violent protesters (both action the authors see as attacks on First Ammendment rights) and contrasting this with Jefferson pardoning persons convicted by the Supreme Court under the Sedition Act, saying that in Jefferson’s opinion, the judiciary had trammeled the First Ammendment rights of the convicted. They also discuss the administration’s torture memos, expanded authority to arrest and more. The paper is littered with pearls like:

Under this sweeping theory of executive power, the liberty of
every American rests on nothing more than the grace of the White House.78

Unfortunately, far from defending the Constitution, President Bush has repeatedly sought to strip out the limits the document places on federal power.

Anyway, it’s worth a read.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Republicans are scrambling to do something about the high cost of petroleum. Let’s suggest one obvious solution: I propose that we invade Iraq, topple the dictatorship there and then use the massive oil revenues to rebuild the country and increase supply in the United States. Oh wait, George Bush already tried that. Let’s see, without reading any news on it, what might Republicans come up with based on past proposals? Could it be…. drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? Yes for 100 points to the red team!!
(more…)

Popularity: 15% [?]

Few things give me pleasure like writing checks to my favorite charities, namely the US Treasury, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, the California Franchise Tax Board but, alas, not the Michigan Department of Treasury who had the decency to overcharge me $10 during the year and will be writing me a check. Provided, that is, that I have understood the arcane language of tax forms and have filed correctly and Mars was not retrograde while I ran H&R Block TaxCut which gave me the federal numbers that give me the out of state numbers that give me the in state numbers that give me the Michigan taxes due. (more…)

Popularity: 5% [?]

Of course, George Bush is evil. That is an axiom of this site. That said and speaking of taxes, he has done precisely one thing that seems, at least as far as I know, to be a good thing. He commissioned a group of economists to go through the tax code and analyze it and simplify with a mandate to base their decisions on sound economics, not politics. Bush told them there would be no sacred cows, everything was on the table. And they did it. One item they propose eliminating is the deduction for mortgage interest. (more…)

Popularity: 5% [?]

There was a time when I used to believe it was my patriotic duty to check that box on my tax return that gave a dollar, then two, to the presidential election fund to provide matching funds. I can’t remember when I stopped doing this, but basically it came from the realization that no candidate that I ever supported garnered enough votes to actually qualify for matching funds. (more…)

Popularity: 4% [?]

I just came across this in Wired News online. An affidavit in support of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s lawsuit against At&T details the existence of a setup in the Worldnet headquarters that allows the NSA to grab data off the fiber optic lines that carry a huge percentage of the country’s internet traffic. Specifically, Mark Klein, the retired engineer who gave the affidavit says that “it appears the NSA is capable of conducting what amounts to vacuum-cleaner surveillance of all the data crossing the internet — whether that be peoples’ e-mail, web surfing or any other data.” See the full story in Wired Whistle-Blower Outs NSA Spy Room as well as a complete copy of the affidavit.

I often see the bumper sticker “Freedom isn’t free”. I guess it turns out that the price of freedom is surveillance of all your communication. Land of the wiretapped, home of the scared!

Popularity: 12% [?]

Every so often, some comentator claims that this country has never been so close to dictatorship and fascism as it is now, whenever that is. I remember some longtime journalist who saidas much under Bush 41, but it’s somewhat more frightening when the commentator in question is a centrist former Supreme Court Justice appointed by none other than Ronald Reagan. That is, however, what Sandra Day O’Connor said recently in a speech delivered at Georgetown University. (more…)

Popularity: 4% [?]

We know that He Who Shall Not Be Named will not be able to run in 2008 (there is a God!) and therefore will be kicked out in 2009. I put a countdown timer on my blog, but some people have bumper stickers, tee-shirts and even physical countdown clocks counting down to inauguration 2009 when He Who Shall Not Be Named vacates the White House. So basically, here you have:

1. Various clocks (actual anti-Bush physical desk clocks and mini keychain clocks) that people are selling that count down until He Who Shall Not Be Named is out of office. Update. I keep finding these around the net and then they go away and turn into dead links. Now I have just the one clock above (or to the left) that I’m selling myself which hopefully will stay in stock and even gives me a small commission. Basically, it tells time but instead of numbers, it has illustrations from some of Bush’s more nefarious cowboy acts, and then it has a digital countdown timer at the bottom.
2. Some inauguration 2009 bumper stickers and t-shirts from CafePress counting down until we have a new president. I’ve seen better ones, but haven’t taken the time to put them up here.
3. Installation instructions for putting an anti-Bush (oops! I named Him) Javascript countdown timer on your website.
4. Some other Bush countdown clocks I’ve found here and there around the net celebrating that same event.

Inauguration 2009 bumper stickers and shirts from CafePress

America: Returning Jan 20th 2009 Sticker (Bumper) (also in tee shirts, coffee mugs and so forth)

Someone Less Dumb in 2008 (bumper sticker. Also in tee shirt, pins, etc).

The countdown timer script

[note for geeks: if your host uses CPanel, you can also just use the countdown function on your control panel to put a Java timer (rather than Javascript) on your site).]

First off, this is 99.9% not my script. The generic script that can be used to countdown from any date is made and distributed by Robert Hashemian and was modified to object-oriented code by Munsifali Rashid. Please note, that their counter is simply a generic counter and they may be Bush supporters for all I know, but that does not seem to be the case, so I don’t think he’ll be too upset about distributing this modified version (I have contacted him to make sure it’s okay). Anyway, you don’t need to credit me in any way, but it might be nice if you use the script to give credit to Robert in some way. All I have done is:

• Throw in some php into the footer part to get the time on the server and allow the user (i.e. you, not the person looking at your page) to set the timezone offset from Washington.
• Set the default date to the 2009 Inauguration.
• Changed to format so that there are non-breaking spaces between the digits and their unit indicators so it doesn’t break “10 days” onto two lines.

If you want to see how to install multiple counters on a single page or you want to run a version that does not use PHP, go to Robert Hashemian’s countdown timer page and download Mun’s version of this script, which shows you how to do that. That way you can put a “Until the Social Security Fund runs out” counter too!

Okay, first download my modified version and unzip it.

1. Transfer the countdown.js file to your site via FTP or a file manager.
2. Grab the code in the Countdown.php file in the header and put it in the header of your page. If countdown.js is not in the same directory as the page/script that the countdown timer appears on, you have to change the path in the first <script> statement so that it points to right location.
3. Grab the code from the footer and put it in the footer of your page. Make sure that you adjust the timezone correction. If you are on the east coast, this would be 0, in the Midwest, -1
4. Now just take the one line of HTML and put it where you want the timer to appear. It is currently wrapped in <div id=”clockwrapper”>. This div is not required, but the other one is and must not be changed (neither the tag nor the id) unless you want to make the necessary changes to the countdown.js file

That’s pretty much it. At that point, it should just run.

While doing this, I saw someone trying to sell a Bush countdown timer for $20 and I thought that was an incredible ripoff, until I realized this guy is selling an actual physical desk clock. That clock is no longer for sale it appears, but a quick little search found that there are alternatives. In addition to the Bush countdown clocks above, I’ve found a few others:

• National Nightmare. A pretty good looking alternative inaugural countdown clock. I like their description of themselves: “The Bush Countdown Clock is designed and sold by Bookshop Santa Cruz – an independent bookstore in Santa Cruz, CA – widely known as the makers of the Newt Gingrich Barf Bag.” I guess I missed that one.
• BackwardsBush.com claims to be the original Bush Countdown Clock and it may be so. I have no idea. (from $9 to $120 depending on the clock)
• And this guy is kind of hilarious – he has a key chain countdown clock, but also things like golf balls printed with “01.20.09″ Damn that seems like a long way off.

Popularity: 41% [?]

If you are here you fall into one of three categories:

1. you’re here by accident
2. you’re a friend of mine who got coerced or tricked into coming here through a link I sent you
3. you think Bush is evil

Given the three visitors per week I get, I suspect that most people fall into at least two of those categories. Anyway, looking through my server logs the other day, I realized that a couple of my twelve visitors for January managed to arrive here by typing the phrase “Bush is evil” into Google. So here is a shameless self-promotion of my products that allow left-wing wackos like me to fly their colors.

Note that most of the designs below come not just in the versions pictured, but as bumper stickers, t-shirts, tote bags, messenger bags, coffee mugs, beer steins, fridge magnets and so on and so forth. Also, please note that Cafe Press, who manufactures and delivers the goods, has had some trouble with the black t-shirts. That’s why most designs are not available in black t-shirts (esp. the Burning Bush one). Aside from some color print black shirts, usually the quality is excellent. If for any reason it is not, contact CafePress (all the info is available when you order) and ask for a refund or replacement. They are normally excellent about this.

	Proud member of the vast liberal conspiracy I don’t want to focus on the negative, so though this missive is really oriented at angry people who think that our dear leader is evil, I did want to throw in something positive. I like to focus more on what I’m for than what I’m against, and this one is more along those lines: “Proud member of the vast liberal conspiracy.” It’s also a bit whimsical because, from where I stand, I see the country being taken over by a vast right-wing conspiracy and a cabal of administration cronies. However, they see the vast liberal conspiracy lurking everywhere, and I just want to do my part to make us easier to find. Please, come debate me on the issues. Despite Anne Coulter, I’m proud to own up to a variety of liberal treasons such as social security, medicaid, civil rights, women’s suffrage and a variety of other crimes that liberals have committed.
	Lost. One Democracy. Great Sentimental Value This is my second most popular design, by which I mean I have sold one to someone (four actually). If you can’t read the caption on your monitor, the text is: “Lost. One democracy. Major military and economic power. 300,000,000 citizens. Last seen in North America cavorting with corporate fat cats and religious fundamentalists. If seen, please return to the American people. Great sentimental value.” This was actually the idea that got me making these “products” in the first place. Originally, I had wanted to take out ads with this wording in papers across the country in the lost and found sections, but that was starting to look expensive and I wasn’t sure what the point would be. Then I found out about Cafe Press, so I photoshopped up the text to look like it has been torn out of the newspaper and put it on a t-shirt. The organic cotton tee is slightly off-white, so that one looks like a yellowed old newspaper because the background color shows through as you can see in the picture.
	Miracle of the Burning (George W.) Bush I originally thought about calling this site The Pretzel Conspiracy in reference to the time our fearless leader was almost taken out by a terrorist pretzel, but first I don’t generally like to promote violence, second I don’t want to write about just politics and third, I don’t want Cheney as president either. Anyway, this was one of my first designs.
	I think, therefore I didn’t vote for Bush (Latin) I’ll be sort of surprised if I ever sell one of these since the number of people who know Latin and hate Bush is a relatively small subset. Basically, this is a takeoff on Descartes’ famous “Cogito ergo sum” (I think therefore I am). I was thinking that if Descartes were living today, he might be forced to say “I think, therefore I didn’t vote for Bush” and so I did up this nice little cursive design in Latin: “Cogito ergo non Frutici suffragatum sum”. A Latin scholar told me he might choose a different word for bush, but frutici is definitely one possible way (this is one of the aggravating things about Latinists is that they are always arguing about the best way to say this or that). Anyway, the Latinists who have seen it have immediately gotten the joke and gotten a laugh. I suppose that means that there is a potential worldwide market for this baby of about 32 people.

If none of that appeals to you, there are literally thousands of anti-Bush items at Cafe Press by thousands of people who are much more talented artists than I.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I generally don’t like to merely comment on news stories, but since this one hits on several issues mentioned here before, here it is: Google, U.S. Clash Over Online Searches – Yahoo! News

I don’t even know if the Bush administration is in fact being evil in the case at hand. Maybe there is a compelling interest in protecting youth in subpoening search records from major search engines, the putative rationale for the subpoena. What the case shows me, rather, is that they just don’t get it. Hot on the heels of a myriad of allegations of human rights abuses from detentions without trials, first encouraging torture and later insisting on refusing to take a firm stance against it, and finally with illegal wiretapping, they just don’t seem to get that more and more people fear and distrust the Bush adminsitration. Effectively, the Bush administration is like a convict on probation with everyone on the left and many traditional conservatives who are in favor of limited government. Anything with a semblance of wrongdoing is going to be interpreted as malfeasance, given their consistent record of malfeasance, but they still seem to think that they have some ethereal political capital to spend based on the narrowest of electoral victories. All in all, I’m starting to like the Bush adminstration more and more, since I can’t think of anyone since Nixon who has done as much to harm the Republican party.

Popularity: 9% [?]