# Pitting Bush forStuff That Isn't Worth Its Own Thread, Early 2006 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 17, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807 "2006-03-17T20:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/21 "2006-03-18T00:29:07Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > We are, of course, on about our fourth trip around the perimeter. Well, the price of freedom IS eternal vigilance, dontcha know. **UncleBeer** , certainly the bids on those generators are on file somewhere, aren’t they? Local governments are forced to do such things. Local school boards are required to as well. Cronyism is a wonderful thing, as long as you’re not the one taking it up the ass. Which is all of us…except for the cronies and those too numbed to feel another ass-pounding. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/22 "2006-03-18T00:45:11Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > See the article on this in the recent New Yorker. It is downright scary. I was reading it when I posted. I just finished it (interrupted by life and errands). It is horrifying and enraging. My Dad is heavily involved (or was, I keep forgetting that he’s almost 80!) in obstetrical and gyne research, with emphasis on fetal growth and pathologies. I have grown up knowing that faith is faith and science is science and if anything, they are complementary. That New Yorker article was amazing. The data now known on human papillomavirus vaccine for example. But we can’t vaccinate girls for that! That would mean that girls are sexual beings–why not just shove them into porn movies! It’s tacit approval of non-abstinence! This is appalling from not only a science viewpoint, but also a moral one. How “christian” is it to allow females to die of cervical CA–all in the name of some archaic notion of purity? It’s disgusting. When USA is no longer (indeed if we can even be said to still be) the leader in science frontiers, when the brain drain is complete and we have to look to China or India or UK for our innnovations in technology and medical research–how does this make us stronger, better, independent? It doesn’t. The bans are far reaching, down to the inability of researchers to share very expensive equipment in the labs on university campuses (which of course get federal funding). The visas aren’t obtainable due to post 9/11 constraints, so the talent is not coming here, apparently. And all this because some ignorant people don’t want to look at data and facts. I swear sometimes I have such contempt for the conservative movement\* in this country, it is hard not to spit. \*by that I don’t mean those who believe in small Gment and self-determination, whatever that may mean. I mean the whole GOP package-the “culture of life”, abstinence education, profit over everything, fuck the environment-profit is more important, all of it. Bush is the figurehead, the “leader”–so, yes, he gets the brunt of my ire. He deserves to be run out of town on a rail. With his shallow, mean minded, petty, hypocritical cronies. That felt good. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/23 "2006-03-18T00:52:57Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Back to matter at hand. Current fave rave? Standing firm against human-animal hybridization research. Now there’s an issue with legs! Two, four, six maybe more! Well I for one welcome our werewolf overlords. LOL ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/24 "2006-03-18T01:34:35Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > It’s not a question of “it’s all been said”. The man regularly does things and says things that are worthy of scorn, and as such should be called on it. But this thread… dude, it speaks of an obsession with the man. Let’s see now: I’m a longtime political junkie, and Bush, even with his approval ratings in the 30s, still has more political clout than Clinton did at any time during his Administration. He kinda commands your attention. > [@](#): > > You’re cracking up, man. Yesterday it was the name thing, which while it was a legitimate beef it spilled over into another thread because you just had to try to get the last word in after the original thread was closed. People have been banned for that. Ummm, let the mods do the modding. If I get a warning from them, I’ll take it seriously. But if you’re thinking about becoming a mod, think about what it is that mods object to about picking up the discussion in a new thread, and whether that applied to this situation. > [@](#): > > Now you’re obsessing over Bush. People have been banned for that, too. That’s a new one. Generally, people have been banned for violating board rules, ignoring mod/admin instructions, and so forth. Again, I’d recommend leaving the modding to the mods. > [@](#): > > Get a grip. Is a lame-duck President with no clout or credibility worth getting worked up about? What **mhendo** said. > [@](#): > > I’ve said my peace. I just don’t want to see you self-destruct like so many others have over the same nonsense. You sure _you’re_ not the one who’s obsessed? This is a pretty innocuous thread, we’ve done one of these before in the not-too-distant past, and the role it fills has, I think, been adequately explained. But it’s really put you in a tizzy. **UncleBeer** : what **Voyager** , **Cheesesteak** , and **Hentor** said. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/25 "2006-03-18T02:27:14Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > And all this because some ignorant people don’t want to look at data and facts. It’s because God doesn’t want them to, YOU HEATHEN WHORE! And remember, Jesus loves you! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/26 "2006-03-18T03:25:14Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > It’s because God doesn’t want them to, YOU HEATHEN WHORE! > > And remember, Jesus loves you! > > -Joe Nope–I maketheir Jesus cry. Me–suburban, soccer Mom of three. Who’dathunk? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/27 "2006-03-18T05:03:56Z")
> [@wring](#): > > just how many fucking corners does that place have? I dunno but it reminds me of the several times we have captured/killed the #2 guy in Al’Qaeda over the last few years. I swear that guy (whoever he is) has more lives than a square has corners (which I think at this point must be a tesseract at the least). ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/28 "2006-03-18T05:34:14Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I dunno but it reminds me of the several times we have captured/killed the #2 guy in Al’Qaeda over the last few years. The whole psyop thing is getting _very_ tiresome. This week’s ‘ **Operation Zergling** ’ was a [fake for our consumption](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1174448,00.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/29 "2006-03-18T06:14:40Z")
I guess there are two ways you can look at this thread-either you are tired of all the questions, or you are tired of _never_ getting the answers to the questions. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/30 "2006-03-18T13:18:31Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > The whole psyop thing is getting _very_ tiresome. > This week’s ‘ **Operation Zergling** ’ was a [fake for our consumption](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1174448,00.html)? What do you mean, “a fake?” Clearly, Operation ‘Eat Old Woman’s Bread’ was a huge success! ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/31 "2006-03-18T14:17:40Z")
Although I think it may deserve its own thread, I’d like to Pit Bush for his continued attempt, in the face of clear language in the law, to gut the Clean Air Act. Thank heavens the judiciary hasn’t bought his tortured logic yet. [Story](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/17/politics/17cnd-enviro.html?hp&ex=1142658000&en=8d54250ff2d7a8f7&ei=5094&partner=homepage) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/32 "2006-03-18T14:22:58Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Although I think it may deserve its own thread, I’d like to Pit Bush for his continued attempt, in the face of clear language in the law, to gut the Clean Air Act. Thank heavens the judiciary hasn’t bought his tortured logic yet. [Story](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/17/politics/17cnd-enviro.html?hp&ex=1142658000&en=8d54250ff2d7a8f7&ei=5094&partner=homepage) Darn that notorious activist judge, Janice Rogers Brown! ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/33 "2006-03-18T15:23:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Before loading up into the helicopters for a return trip to Baghdad, Iraqi and American soldiers and some reporters helped themselves to the woman’s freshly baked bread, tearing bits off and chewing it as they wandered among the cows. For most of them, it was the only thing worthwhile they’d found all day. Ya know–did they fucking ask first or did they really just help themselves? Me, I’d be truly pissed off if I spent the day baking bread for the week, only to have invaders come in and take it. Sorry for the digression, carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/34 "2006-03-18T15:32:11Z")
General: You smell that smell, son? Private: That’s beaking bread, sir. General: No, private. That’s the smell of…victory. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Gladstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90db22/32.png) [@Gladstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gladstone)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/35 "2006-03-18T16:06:52Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > That New Yorker article was amazing. The data now known on human papillomavirus vaccine for example. But we can’t vaccinate girls for that! That would mean that girls are sexual beings–why not just shove them into porn movies! It’s tacit approval of non-abstinence! This is appalling from not only a science viewpoint, but also a moral one. How “christian” is it to allow females to die of cervical CA–all in the name of some archaic notion of purity? It’s disgusting. Ditto concerning the FDA’s position on the morning after pill (Plan B) and its availability without a prescription. Nevermind that it’s really just a regular birth control pill with a higher dose of levonorgestrel so that it will work in the short term without having to wait for it to build up in your system for a month or two through daily pills. Nevermind that the American Medical Association recommended it be sold [over-the-counter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_contraception#International_availability) or that an advisory committee of the FDA voted strongly to do the same. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/36 "2006-03-18T16:11:24Z")
Perhaps this deserves its own thread, and I did mention this previously as an aside in another thread, but this story about the White House hiring Mitchell Wade for “intelligence services” has expanded, according to [Knight Ridder](http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/14126125.htm) > [@](#): > > MZM Inc., headed by Mitchell Wade, also received three contracts totaling more than $250,000 to provide unspecified “intelligence services” to the White House, according to documents obtained by Knight Ridder. The White House didn’t respond to an inquiry about what those intelligence services entailed. Now it appears that the Pentagon also hired Wade’s company, MZM, Inc. to conduct intelligence. > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON - A Pentagon intelligence agency that kept files on American anti-war activists hired one of the contractors who bribed former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., to help it collect data on houses of worship, schools, power plants and other locations in the United States.[…] > > MZM was to “assist the government in identifying and procuring data” on maps, as well as “airports, ports, dams, churches/mosques/synagogues, schools (and) power plants,” said the statement of work. > > “In many cases, the government already owns such data, and for reasons of economy, government-owned data is preferred,” said the statement. It isn’t clear why U.S. intelligence agencies couldn’t do the work themselves. Part of me feels a little said for our uber-righty partisan bretheren. Imagine them hunched around their radios listening to Rush Limbaugh for eight years of Clinton prosperity, thinking about how much better it will be when a Republican is in the White House. They commit themselves fully and mindlessly to that end, and he turns out to be the worst president in American history. Without thinking once about it, they have committed themselves to a vast expansion of the size and cost of the Federal government, perhaps the greatest intrusion of the government into the privacy of its citizens, the most incompetent and bumbling effort at nation building ever conducted, the greatest erosion of the fear and respect for American military capabilities in a generation, the greatest loss of goodwill from the rest of the world. With every apology they have to make, a little part of their fervor must die out. In the dark recess of their thoughts, they realize that their tax cut just isn’t worth it all. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/37 "2006-03-18T16:21:10Z")
> [@Hentor the Barbarian](#): > > With every apology they have to make, a little part of their fervor must die out. In the dark recess of their thoughts, they realize that their tax cut just isn’t worth it all. Nah. You assume they have a conscience. In their minds it is lesser people dying in Iraq, lesser people out of work, and lesser people around the world that don’t appreciate all the wonderful things that the benevolent US is trying to do for them. The fact that others suffer as a result of their voting means nothing, getting tax cuts means everything. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/38 "2006-03-18T16:21:13Z")
Okay, here’s one that may be more in keeping with the level of wrongdoing intended for this thread. From the [Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/17/AR2006031702434.html), tipped by [Talking Points Memo](http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007937.php), once again White House staffers are misrepresenting themselves as members of the Secret Service, this time after misrepresenting themselves as Fox News personnel. > [@](#): > > “They didn’t show any cards or anything,” Akins said. "They just came up and said they were with the media, and then they said they were with Fox. They just talked to us and asked us about rebuilding our house. Then, after everything was over with, they approached us and they were laughing, and they said: ‘You know, we really weren’t with Fox. We’re government, Secret Service men.’ " You’ll recall the incident in which three people were kicked out of a Bush selected-audience campaign event by people misrepresenting themselves as Secret Service. Unfortunately, as far as I know, the White House never disciplined anyone in that incident. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/39 "2006-03-18T17:53:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I guess there are two ways you can look at this thread-either you are tired of all the questions, or you are tired of _never_ getting the answers to the questions. Yeah, like the Iran-Contra Affair, back in the day. We were told, solemnly, that we would NEVER FIND OUT what exactly had been going on. “What th’ fuck,” I remember thinking, “why the hell NOT?” ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807/40 "2006-03-18T18:05:48Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Nah. You assume they have a conscience. In their minds it is lesser people dying in Iraq, lesser people out of work, and lesser people around the world that don’t appreciate all the wonderful things that the benevolent US is trying to do for them. The fact that others suffer as a result of their voting means nothing, getting tax cuts means everything. Sadly, I have to agree with this. I have yet to hear any conservative or Republican apologize for the embarassment that is this administration. I have yet to hear any of them say, boy-I really shouldn’t have voted for him. I doubt I ever will. When people are faced with such huge, horrible things such as this–they tend to go into denial mode. Hell, most of them started in denial mode. And they are still able to make fear work–just invoke the word “terror” and it is surprising how many people cower in a corner and accept all manner of intrusion–these same people who decry the government poking its nose into their business. From “compassionate conservatism” to the “culture of life”–this admin is a crock and an incompetent one at that. They lack even the courage of their “convictions”–take away the idigent foreign woman’s abililty to even inquire about abortion, but do nothing here. Insist that energy industries be given free passes to pollute at their whim, but screw the underprivileged kids with asthma from the air pollution. Insist that they do indeed love minorities, than shit on New Orleans and leave Every Damned Child Behind. In every facet of government this admin has failed–failed in vision, planning, implementing and evaluating. Dignity and honor to the White House, eh? Pardon my rude laughter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-forstuff-that-isnt-worth-its-own-thread-early-2006-edition/348807.md?page=3)