Bush Administration

Just a short note to everyone regarding the buyout of Bear Stearns by the American government, er, J.P. Morgan.

Yes, I know you heard that J.P. Morgan bought them for approximately $2.00 per share. The stock for this company was trading one year ago today at $159.36 per share.

The stock was trading for $62.00 one week ago today.

The stock opened Monday at $3.20 per share. That is at an upside to the discounted price that J.P. Morgan paid. J.P. Morgan was guaranteed the money to purchase Bear Stearns by the US Fed.
Guaranteed. The. Money. By the US Government.

In addition to its catastrophically mishandled Global War on Terror, and the possibly even more worrisome campaign to erode our civil liberties, this administration should also be remembered for its inability to recognize the failure of government-mandated morality, and the human costs this ignorance brings about.

Numerous studies have shown the dismal failure of abstinence-only programs to curb teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases here in the U.S. While abstinence-plus programs have fared slightly better, it is plain to anybody whose judgment is not clouded by unrealistic faith-based expectations that stopping people from having sex is about as effective as blocking a flood with a couple of sandbags placed end-to-end.

On the second anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina ravaged American homes, devastated communities and shattered lives, it is hard to forget the failure of the Bush Administration in responding to the disaster.

President Bush promised two weeks after the storm that “when communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before the storm.”

That promise remains unfulfilled.

An estimated 189,000 children were dislocated in the aftermath of Katrina. As many as 100,000 children are still displaced.

After she lies straight out to Congress, and is getting her stuff together to go back to her cushy job, she tells a flunky to "get my water glass, so they don't get my fingerprints."
You have to hear it to believe it.

This is the second part of a post based on a Vanity Fair Article called Washington's 8-Billion-Dollar Shadow which is a long, but good read.

Now, in part I we learned that

* SAIC stands for Science Applications International Corporation
* They are possibly the largest US federal contractor
* They have friends in high places
* Many times their work is substandard
* They were instrumental in the lies which led to the Iraq War
* They see the "Global War (on some) Terror" as a great revenue stream

and

* they are really, really good at getting contracts

So, now. On to today. We left off with outrage about their role in the run-up to the Iraq War.

For each of the following boldtext quotes, it's up to you to decide which of these famous men uttered the words. Was it Jack Kerouac, American novelist, writer, poet, artist, and part of the Beat Generation? Or was it Eric Keroack, a Marblehead, Mass. obstetrician, gynecologist, and abstinence-only promoter, newly appointed by President Bush to oversee the federal Office of Population Affairs?

1. "My aunt once said the world would never find peace until men fell at their women's feet and asked for forgiveness."