The Bush Administration Still Exists

The Bush Administration is still capable of doing damage to the average citizen of the United States. They are still out there. They are still capable of influencing government policy. Many have simply morphed into lobbyists.

From Watchdog: Bush ex-officials used leverage in private sector by Greg Gordon:

All told, 17 of 24 former Bush Cabinet members have taken positions with at least 119 companies, including 65 firms that lobby the government and 40 that lobby the agencies they headed, a liberal-leaning watchdog group said in a report Monday.

Melanie Sloan, the executive director of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that the group's six-month investigation "has shown that most of these former Bush administration officials have cannily leveraged their time spent in the public sector'' and "made a mint on the backs of American taxpayers."

"It may be legal, but it is certainly not honorable," she said.

This should be against the law. Lobbyists have destroyed democracy in the United States. Bribery has replaced democracy.

Democracy?

What does democracy mean? What does representative government mean? How much democracy exists in Iraq? How much democracy exists in the United States?

Why is the United States still in Iraq? In the 2006 Congressional elections a clear signal was sent that most Americans want us out of Iraq. I’ve read articles for years that said that many Iraqis want us out. Here is another one.

From Protesters march against proposed U.S.-Iraq pact:

Thousands of people marched in central Baghdad on Saturday to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that would extend the presence of U.S. troops in the country after the end of the year.

The political party of Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for the rally. At one point, several speakers at a podium addressed the mass of people, urging the Iraqi government to reject the proposal.

"End the U.S. occupation of Iraq!" one speaker shouted in English.

Hazem al-Araji, a senior al-Sadr aide, told protesters their voices would be heard in America.

Baghdad has sought the power to arrest and try Americans accused of crimes not related to official military operations, plus jurisdiction over troops and contractors who commit grave mistakes in the course of their duties.

The United States has insisted its troops and contractors remain immune from Iraqi law.

Where is the will of the people in all of this?

Democracy Should Not Be Complicated

Are you confused about the election process in the United States? So am I. The more convoluted and less understandable a voting process is, the less democratic it becomes. When the rich and powerful can play shell games with democracy it is the poor and the not powerful that suffer the consequences the most.

From Florida, Michigan get all delegates, but each gets half vote:

After a day of wrangling in front of a sometimes unruly crowd, the Democratic National Committee's rules and bylaws committee reinstated all of Florida and Michigan's delegates to its party convention, with each getting a half-vote to penalize the states for moving their primaries earlier than the party had approved.

Read the rest here.

From Clinton makes popular vote pitch in new ad:

Clinton's claim to winning the popular vote is debatable. Including the results from Clinton’s big win in Puerto Rico, she can only be considered the popular vote winner if the results from Michigan (where Obama was not on the ballot) are counted for her and Obama is awarded no votes from that state. But 237,762 voted "uncommitted" in that contest and the Obama campaign argues many of them were supporters of the Illinois senator.

Read more here.