Is he insane, too?

The question answers itself.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The administration of President George W. Bush is planning a massive bombing campaign against Iran, including use of bunker-buster nuclear bombs to destroy a key Iranian suspected nuclear weapons facility, The New Yorker magazine has reported in its April 17 issue.

...former intelligence officials depicts planning as "enormous," "hectic" and "operational," Hersh writes. One former defense official said the military planning was premised on a belief that "a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government," The New Yorker pointed out...

There must be some kind of biochemical or genetic deficiency here. Like rats with a gene missing, these people learn nothing.

Beyond lying

They are serious about nothing (except power and greed). And if you take them at face value about anything, even (and most especially) the sacred task of spreading democracy, you’re either profoundly ignorant or criminally dishonest. From today’s Washington Post:

While President Bush vows to transform Iraq into a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, his administration has been scaling back funding for the main organizations trying to carry out his vision by building democratic institutions such as political parties and civil society groups.

...Some organizations face funding cutoffs this month, while others struggle to stretch resources through the summer. The shortfall threatens projects that teach Iraqis how to create and sustain political parties, think tanks, human rights groups, independent media outlets, trade unions and other elements of democratic society....

We could make a list a mile long of things Bush claimed were dear to his heart that were promptly dropped like hot potatoes as soon as they proved difficult or the man became bored. The only reason the “democracy” meme has lasted so long is that no other justification for his pre-emptive war still remains useful to him.

If you haven’t read Jane Smiley’s essay on Bush and the truth at Huffington Post, do so immediately. It is definitive.

Not long ago, the United States passed a milestone: more than 300,000,000 people live here now. Out of all of them, who would you envision to be the worst qualified to protect Americans from rapacious companies out to exploit them by violating wage-and-hour laws? Yup, sure enough: the one George Bush just chose to do that job:

As a private practice lawyer, [Paul] DeCamp represented Wal-Mart in trying to prevent a class of 1.5 million women—the largest employment class action ever certified—from suing the company for discrimination in pay and promotions.

· He has proposed taking overtime pay away from workers in ways that were even more extreme than what the administration actually has done—and suggested easy outs for bosses who misclassify workers as not eligible for overtime pay.
· He’s represented businesses opposing union organizing campaigns and fighting unfair labor practice charges.
· He’s represented an employer appealing a record $40 million dollar sexual harassment verdict.
· And he’s fought on the bosses’ sides on collective and individual actions involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws.

It’s right there in his bio from a previous gig at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher—one of Wal-Mart’s favorite law firms.

This is what the folks inside the Beltway don’t understand. Fighting to get the Republican Party out of office isn’t like cheering on one football team against another. It’s about who makes decisions about the lives of millions of ordinary people.

The Republicans want it to be people like Paul DeCamp. Most Democrats don’t. It matters.