Category: Grave

From the San Francisco Chronicle, Wednesday, January 26, 2005:
Bush adds $80 billion to wars’ costs; Afghanistan, Iraq tally would pass $300 billion if OKd
But what to make of this, dated a whopping three months earlier (Friday, October 1, 2004), from the Washington Post‘s analysis of the first Presidential debate between candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry:
Few Factual Errors, but Truth Got Stretched at Times

Kerry suggested that the United States has spent $200 billion on Iraq, largely because it supplied the bulk of the troops. This was an exaggeration because it combined the amount already spent — about $120 billion — with money that is expected to be spent in the coming year or requested by the administration.

In case you’re interested in researching more of Candidate Kerry’s various lies and deceptions, rest assured that various media outlets displayed an eerie amount of non-prescience last fall. Why not comb through the following links, as well? They’re each chock full of documentation of Kerry’s $200 billion mendacity…
Distortions and Misstatements At First Presidential Debate, Bush and Kerry both have problems with the facts at their meeting in Coral Gables, (FactCheck.org)
A Primer for Tonight’s First Debate, Both Bush and Kerry Have Set the Stage With Some Misleading Claims, (Washington Post)
Some key claims in debate and how they really stack up, (Knight Ridder/The Seattle Times)
Reality Check: Distorted Debates, (WCCO TV)

So, So Mean: Viktor Yushchenko at his inauguration (via Reuters)

Dying on the Inside: John Kerry with Max Baucus, Jan. 20, 2005 (via, AP).
Always a bridesmaid…

From Bush’s ‘Freedom Speech’, by William Safire, The New York Times, Jan. 21, 2005:

On his way out of the first Cabinet meeting after his re-election, President Bush gave his longtime chief speechwriter the theme for the second Inaugural Address: “I want this to be the freedom speech.”

In the next month, the writer, Michael Gerson, had a heart attack.

SPOILER ALERT!!

With two stents in his arteries, the recovering writer received a call from a president who was careful not to apply any deadline pressure. “I’m not calling to see if the inaugural speech is O.K.,” Bush said. “I’m calling to see if the guy writing the inaugural speech is O.K.”

Highlights from “Americans View Bush Speech Differently”, by Angie Wagner for the Associated Press, in which a wide swath of senior citizens’ opinions are made available.
First up is Jim Swafford, 62, of Nashville, Tennessee, who sounds a bit, well, focused on the issues. Or at least one issue. One very closely guarded, paranoid issue.

“He’s trying to take my Social Security away from me, and he’s lying about it,” said Swafford, a semiretired owner of a hair salon. “I don’t like to listen to him anymore than I have to to find out what he’s trying to take away from me.”

How about an overarching sense of relativism?

In Rio Rancho, N.M., Bush’s speech was on in the cozy recreation room of the Harmony House Residential Senior Living Home. Phyllis Cline sat smiling in her wheelchair, excited she made it back from a doctor’s appointment just in time.

Or denial? Nihilism? The sense you’re going to die soon?

Joan Keck, 72, wasn’t having any of it.
“I’d rather sit and read this book about cats than listen to this,” said Keck, gesturing to her book. “I could truly care less.”

A Different Fire: An Iraqi man injured in a Baghdad car bombing, Jan. 21, 2005 (via AP)
“By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well – a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.”
– George W. Bush, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 2005
Related: 14 Killed In Explosion Near Baghdad Mosque, ABC News, Jan. 21, 2005

Devil Spawn: Jenna Bush at the Inauguration, Jan. 20, 2005 (via, Reuters)
Update: The aptly titled, “Come to Daddy,” by Chris Cunningham and Aphex Twin.

Thanks a Million: Powell says goodbye to, well, everyone. (via AFP)