The Crisis Presidency Of George Walker Bush

President George Bush said in his televised speech to the nation last night: "We are in the midst of a serious financial crisis and the federal government is responding with decisive action."

Of course, the decisive action he is talking about is trying to convince skeptical members of Congress to give away 700 billion taxpayer dollars to bailout the financial services sector.

The problem for George Bush is credibility due to the fact that the word "crisis" has appeared in his speeches very frequently during the last eight years.

There was the crisis of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The crisis of Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban leading to the war in Afghanistan. The crisis of weapons of mass destruction that were never found in Iraq. The crisis of an internal civil war in Iraq that could have lead to American failure. The crisis of the subsequent troop surge in Iraq to prevent the crisis of failure in that country. The crisis of Iran and their acquisition of a future nuclear capability that apparently will not be handled under this Administration's watch.

Indeed, the list goes on and on: The crisis concerning the handling of Hurricane Katrina, the economic crisis of deep recession that led to those tax rebate checks drawn from the Federal Treasury several months ago, and now finally this serious financial crisis involving sub-prime mortgage loans.

The Bush solution to all of these crisis events is usually the same. Throw billions and billions of taxpayer dollars at the problem and try and make it all go away. Unfortunately, it is the solution of the reactive manager, not the proactive planner.

In retrospect, many of these crisis could have been avoided. The war in Iraq lacked proper planning ( See : "There never Was An Iraq Exit Strategy" on eWorldvu.com) and the success of the troop surge confirmed that there were not enough "boots" on the ground from the beginning. Afghanistan is a mess and soon will become the next crisis, because it was left to an ineffective NATO and subsequently ignored.

Today's financial crisis and the problems of Hurricane Katrina were really failures of government oversight and leadership. Henry Paulson was hired to lead the Treasury from Goldman Sachs two years ago but never saw this crisis that would lead us to the brink of the financial abyss.

Also, Paulson's reaction to this crisis over the last several weeks has been to guarantee a bailout of Bear Sterns, refuse to bail out Lehman Brothers,and then to bailout Aig, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Finally, with his 700 billion dollar plan , he now wants the taxpayer to bail out everyone. It certainly can be argued that Paulson's erratic policy led to so much confusion and uncertainty in the Financial markets that confidence in the Treasury was lost.

In addition, it was only one week ago that John McCain said he would fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and accused government regulators of being "asleep at the switch'' during this market turmoil. It should be remembered that Cox took over from the previous SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt. Both Pitt and his predeccesor, Arthur Levitt were in charge of the SEC during the Enron fiasco of several years ago.

We need to remember that a Senate investigation would accuse the SEC and Wall Street research analysts of allowing "the greed of a few" at Enron to go "unchecked and unchallenged. The investigation revealed a story of "systemic and catastrophic failure, a failure of all the watchdogs to properly discharge their appointed responsibilities". This is the SEC that Cox would inherit in 2005. It doesn't really seem to have changed very much , does it? Only now the scale of the problem may be much larger.

An effective President should hire the people necessary to set a proactive, agressive tone in managing the day to day business of the federal government. A reactive firefighter to put out the latest crisis is not what this country needs in the Oval office.

A President' slogan like any competent executive should be that the best crisis is the one that you can manage to avoid.

Kim Jong - ill or Maybe Its Double Trouble

In addition to being a strange, cruel, and brutal dictator, the "Dear Leader" of North Korea, Kim Jong-Il is also a Tinseltown movie fanatic.

It is said that his library has an inventory of over 20,000 Hollywood films. It has been reported that the Wizard of Oz is the highlight of the collection and is one of his favorite pastimes.

The truth is that as an American taxpayer, I have earned a front row seat to see how this strange tale about Kim Jong-Il now playing in North Korea ends. After all, I have certainly paid for it. You may remember that the United States agreed to give more than a billion taxpayer dollars to North Korea to insure that the government of Kim Jong-Il would not develop nuclear weapons under the Carter Administration in 1994.

Ten years later, despite recieving all that money, North Korea had secretly developed the very weapons of mass destruction that Ameicans were paying the country not to develop.

The result was that an unstable government with an equally unstable dictator became an immediate International military threat and a country that was included in what President George Bush labeled as the Axis of Evil.

The strange story of Kim Jong-Il certainly has gained international interest during the last several days. Yesterday, speculation about the health of North Korea's leader increased when the dictator failed to appear at a parade to mark the 60th anniversary of North Korea's founding. Reports from the CIA indicated that he had suffered a recent stroke and may be gravely ill.

However, there is another possible explanation for the absence of the dictator at that parade. A Japanese expert (Waseda University professor Toshimitsu Shigemura) on North Korea is claiming that the role of Kim Jong-il has actually been played by a group of four doubles since 2003, when he says the North Korean President died of diabetes.

So, it well could be that the all the meetings and agreements that the International community has had with Kim Jong-Il for the last five years were held with a lookalike imposter.

What is the truth about Kim Jong-Il ,you may ask? Is he currently ill or did he already die five years ago?

Well, nobody really knows yet for sure, but any confirmation of the "Dear Leaders" demise should prompt a celebration by some of the nations starving population.

Indeed, they could literally be "singing in the rain" near yesterday's parade route, on a North Korean street, known as Judy Garland Way.

A Possible October Surprise In Election 2008.

Five days before the Presidential election in October 1968, Democratic President Lyndon Johnson announced a complete halt to the bombing of North Vietnam. This conveniently timed announcement was intended to assist the failing Presidential campaign of Democrat Hubert Humprey.

Four years later, in October 1972, the Nixon Administration would declare that " Peace was at hand" in the Vietnam War. That announcement helped Nixon to a 20 point margin of victory in that Presidential election over George Mcgovern.

The truth is that it is not unusual for newspapers, political campaigns, think tank studies and even books to release studies or disclosures to be timed just before election day in order to influence the outcome of an election. It certainly is not without precedent for a sitting President.

In the 2008 Presidential election, foreign policy experience is a problem for Democrat Barack Obama. It was the primary reason he selected Joe Biden to be his Vice President. However, foreign policy is a political strength for Republican John McCain.

Now consider that there is a real problem in International foreign policy that will simply not go away. It is the problem and danger of a nuclear Iran. Three sets of United Nations sanctions have not deterred the country from enriching Uranium. In fact, Iran has just announced an increase in its effort to achieve a nuclear capability.

The prospect of any meaningful future United Nations sanctions simply does not exist with Russia holding veto power in the United Nations Security Council. Meanwhile, Israel is holding elections in September 2008 which will determine the future leadership of the country. Israel is already on record as saying that it will not accept a Nuclear Iran. (see: Israel Will Act To Prevent A Nuclear Iran on eworldvu.com).

Also consider that after the November election, President George Bush would have to clear any bombing action against Iran through what could well be a reluctant Democratic president and Democratic Congress. So, October could well be George Bush's last chance to deal with the problem in Iran without leaving it for the next administration.

Of course, any October military action against Iran would also serve to remind America of the importance of a candidate's foreign policy experience. It would also be one last chance to help the potential sagging political fortunes of the campaign of Republican John McCain.

Therefore, various political and International conditions are favorable for an October Surprise in Election 2008. In addition, consider the implications of a recent article from the Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf, ( see article below).

Will there be an October surprise in Election 2008? Will that surprise include the bombing of Iran? It certainly would not be without precedent in American political history. Watch John McCains public opinion poll numbers closely in the next few weeks. If they begin to fall and if I was in Iran, I would keep a close eye to the sky.

Here is the article on September 1, 2008 in the Telegraph. U.K.

Dutch withdraw spy from Iran because of 'impending US attack'

The Dutch intelligence service has pulled an agent out of an "ultra-secret operation" spying on Iran's military industry because spymasters in Netherlands believe a United States air attack was imminent. According to reports in the newspaper De Telegraaf, the country's intelligence service, the AIVD, has stopped an espionage operation aimed at infiltration and sabotage of the weapons industry in Iran.

"The operation, described as extremely successful, was halted recently in connection with plans for an impending US air attack on Iran," said the report. "Targets would also be bombed which were connected with the Dutch espionage action." "Well placed" sources told the paper that a top agent had been recalled recently "because the US was thought to be making a decision within weeks to attack Iran with unmanned aircraft". "Information from the AIVD operation has in recent years been shared with the American CIA secret service." Brig Gen Seyyed Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of the Iranian armed forces, warned at the weekend that military attacks against Iran would trigger a Third World War."The exorbitant demands of the US leaders and the global Zionism which have created the current situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Caucasus are gradually directing the world to the edge of the cliff," he said.

The US has refused to rule out a military attack against Iran if its government continues to enrich uranium as part of its civilian nuclear programme, which the West suspects has the clandestine objective of developing atomic weapons. Iran has warned it would close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf and a major oil shipping route, if it is attacked.

On Friday, the Israel newspaper Ma'ariv reported that Israel has stepped up preparations for a contingency plan to attack Iran, should diplomatic efforts, via the United Nations, fail to derail Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons programme.

China And Russia Use The Media As Olympic Sport

It is often said by media professionals that if you want to announce something damaging or have a particularly negative thing to hide or disclose, the best time to do it in the perpetual media news cycle is late on a Friday afternoon. Of course, its even better if late Friday afternoon comes just before a huge international news and sporting event like the Olympic Games.

The idea is for the bad news and publicity to become diluted and eventually forgotten over the weekend or in the constant media news stream to come. This is exactly what Russia hoped for last Friday afternoon. With the world's attention focused on the 2008 Olympic games, Russia invaded Georgia and as a result nearly 2000 people are feared dead, today.

Of course, the invasion itself was several years in the making and the formula for conflict was already in play. An independent Georgia was seeking inclusion into NATO, had supported the U.S. military in Iraq and had recently launched an invasion of its own into South Ossetia. The truth is that Georgia had become a painful thorn in the side of the Kremlin. Therefore, the timing was perfect for Russia to make an agressive military move against Georgia under the international news cover of the 2008 Olympic Games.

So, last friday evening as the world watched the opening ceremonies of China's international propaganda game, Russian tanks were on the move against the country George Bush once called "The Beacon of Liberty".

Indeed, while thinking of the President, liberty and basic human rights, exactly what was George W. Bush, doing attending that opening Olympic ceremony in Beijing, anyway? He would spend much of the evening like the rest of the international community watching China's showmanship and empty propaganda about the importance of human rights. In addition, he could also be seen smiling with Vladamir Putin as Russia's military invasion of Georgia was well underway.

The truth is that if you include the names of countries like Tibet, Myanmar, Darfur, Zimbabawe, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and now Georgia to this administration's eight year resume, it all adds up to an American foreign policy that is in complete and total disarray. Bush would have been much better off staying home as a protest to China's cyncial use of basic human rights in these 2008 Olympic games.

In retrospect, it was a weekend that highlighted China and Russia's intent to exploit the news media. Indeed, China presented their best artificial image to the international community while Russia would use international Olympic news coverage in an attempt to cover an ongoing military conquest.

As China and Russia used the international media as an Olympic sport, their opening weekend extravaganza was there for everyone in the world to see, in color, on split screen T.V.

Illegal Immigration Report Shows Why Laws Should Be Enforced

The latest report just released on illegal immigration from the Center of Immigration Studies shows a dramatic drop in New York and other States. The report called Homeward Bound indicates that illegal immigration plunged nationwide by eleven percent in the last year.

Of course about a year ago, after the immigration reform law co-sponsored by John McCain and backed by the White House was abandoned due to overwheming public pressure, the federal government actually began enforcing the illegal immigration laws already on the books.

The fact that immigration laws were not enforced for many years can be seen just by looking at the enforcement results of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. This law provided for penalties against companies that hire undocumented workers. In 1999, under the Clinton Administration, the U.S. government collected a meager $3.69 million from 890 companies in fines. By 2004, under George Bush, the amount collected in fines from companies hiring undocumented workers was zero.

In addition, the border with Mexico has never been properly secured, with only 9500 border agents trying to police an eight thousand mile border until 2005. As a result, it is estimated that in the year 2004 alone, three million illegal immigrants entered the United States.

So, a lack of border security and a lack of illegal immigration law enforcement has resulted in the fact that eleven million illegal immigrants still remain in the United States even after the 11% drop of the last year (according to the Center of Immigration Studies Report).

George Bush's low approval rating (now below 30%) began its steep descent in the spring of 2006 when illegal immigrants were marching in the streets demanding their rights. Its hard to understand in an age of terrorism, how the American public can feel secure with more than eleven million people running around the country that are not here legally.

If people want to change the current immigration laws, there is a way to do that since we have representative government. In the meantime, the country's existing laws should be properly enforced. The data from the recent Center of Immigration Studies Report shows why.