Wednesday, August 09, 2006

What Didn’t Make a Big Splash, Tormentor Retires, White House Advisor Pleads Guilty

The pro-torture Bush administration just lost one its greatest innovators, Major General Geoffrey Miller. He retired rather than face rebuke for his implementing controversial interrogation techniques at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. In typical Bush fashion the General was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for being a good foot soldier in the Cheney torture initiative.

Claude Allen, the White House Domestic Policy Advisor, plead guilty to theft for defrauding Target Stores. He would purchase the item, take it to his car then come back in the store, take another item off the shelf and return that one for a full refund. Being the stand up moral person Claude did what most of the Bush team do when they get in trouble. He blamed it on other factors! In his case it was job stress and sleep deprivation in dealing with the fallout from Katrina.

I can see how being the Bush domestic policy advisor would be stressful if one was interested in helping the people. If one had a cold heart, the job should have been cake. Bush’s healthcare plan is to shift the burden of care to the patient, plain and simple. From HSA’s to Medicaid/Medicare Modernization, more costs are being born by those covered to the extent that people will drop off their rolls.

I didn’t see Claude in any pictures with the President in New Orleans. Sec. Cherthoff, Rumsfeld and V.P. Cheney got their mug shots with the Pres. Was Mr. Allen on the plane ride back from Crawford when Air Force One dipped its wings to the people below?

Let’s see Hurricane Katrina struck in late August and Mr. Allen was arrested in January for behavior from October 29th to January 2nd? He purchased a million dollar home in October. If life had been that stressful could he not have postponed the move?

Attributing responsibility elsewhere is a common Bush tactic. Claude learned it from the best. The problem is one has to face a problem to deal with it. He’ll need to drop all his political training to have a chance at success. I wish him that.

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