Neo-Cons: A Long And Deadly Arm

The Bush Machine has a long and deadly arm. The destruction of institutions, environment, lives and careers goes on.

If you missed it, Elizabeth Reyes, an attorney for the Texas Secretary of State in Austin was fired last week. Why? She answered tax questions, that applied to Karl Rove, for a reporter.

From the AP:

"Rove received a homestead tax deduction on his home in Washington, even though he had not been eligible for the benefit. Rove was eligible for the deduction when he bought the home in 2001, but a change in the tax law in 2002 made the deduction available only to property owners who do not vote elsewhere. Rove is registered to vote in Texas.

The tax office admitted the mistake, saying it failed to rescind the deduction, and Rove agreed to reimburse the city an estimated $3,400 in back taxes, the Post reported.

Rove is registered to vote in Kerr County, Texas, where he and his wife own two rental homes that he claims as his residence. But two local residents told the Post they had never seen Rove there.

The Post reported Saturday that when its reporter called the Texas Secretary of State's office for her story, she was told the press officer was on vacation and she was transferred to Reyes.

The attorney told the reporter that it was potential vote fraud in Texas to register in a place where you don't actually live, and she was quoted as saying Rove's cottages don't "sound like a residence to me, because it's not a fixed place of habitation."

The story about Rove's tax deductions ran on September 3rd in the Washington Post . Ms. Reyes, 30, was quoted. She was subsequently fired. A superior told her that her bosses and Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, who had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Republicans and President Bush, were upset about the article.

The kicker? Reyes didn't know she was talking to a reporter and Rove's name was never mentioned.

The second kicker? There is no policy in the office of the Texas Secretary of State that bars Reyes or anyone else from speaking to the media.

This is the intimidation that has kept the media from descending upon Bush et all and exposing that the Emperor has no clothes.

Which is a nice segueway into this next tidbit.

Fox 5, a Fox affiliate television station in New York, rejected Brian Ellner's campaign commercial. One of nine Democrats running in a local primary, Ellner's 30-second ad pans the Republican party line, policies and, of course, their leader George Bush.

Bush's head is superimposed onto a bare torso and a voiceover states, "He claims he's a uniter, but New Yorkers know the emperor has no clothes."

The truth would hurt Bush if it got out, so Fox wouldn't air it.

The argument used was that the ad was "disrespectful" to the President.

Well excuse me, but Bush has been far more than just "disrespectful" of our country, our institutions, our people and our environment. And he deserves to be outed.

But these actions are what we've all grown to expect from a finely coordinated and highly oiled political machine that depends upon keeping itself and its actions hidden from the American eye.

We haven't begun to reap the repercussions of all the damage Bush has done in the last five years. The fallout from Katrina has revealed the tip of the iceberg.

In All The President's Friends Paul Krugman talks about FEMA being the shell of what it was prior to the Bush administration's budget cuts and personnel changes, prior to being made into a subservient arm of Homeland Security with a racehorse commissioner at its head.

His message is that what we have seen in regard to the ineptness of FEMA is a hint of things to come. Budget cuts, ill-advised appointments and personnel changes have also afflicted the EPA, PBS and The Treasury Department.

Even the Department of Homeland Security has seen budget cuts and, created by Bush, has been on shaky ground since day one when Bush attempted to put the agency in the hands of Bernard Kerik. Since then there has been a "steady exodus" of counterterrorism officials from the agency, thanks to Bush's embroiling us in his ill-conceived and disastrous war in Iraq.

Of the EPA, Krugman warns of the probability of an environmental cover-up going on as you read this, citing an interview in The Independent, the British newspaper, with Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst in the agency's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.

Kaufman, whom Krugman suspects is planning to join the exodus, was quoted as saying, "The budget has been cut and inept political hacks have been put in key positions."

We know Bush quietly changed 90% of our environmental laws through a process of re-regulating them and, thereby, rolling back health standards by forty years.

Of the U.S. Treasury, which has fallen in prestige and effectiveness since the 2000 election, Krugman writes that the "... symbol of that fall is the fact that John Snow, who was obviously picked for his loyalty rather than his qualifications, is still Treasury secretary."

"Less obvious to the public is the hollowing out of the department's expertise. Many experienced staff members have left since 2000, and a number of key positions are either empty or filled only on an acting basis."

"'There is no policy,'" an economist who was leaving the department after 22 years told The Washington Post, back in 2002. "'If there are no pipes, why do you need a plumber?'" So the best and brightest have been leaving.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

The only explanation for all this damage and for involving us in a war that saps our strength and resources and kills our youth is this: Neo-Cons do not love America. They are simply using her. They do not love Americans, they see us as pawns in their game.

Next blog: Cheney plans to nuke Iran when the next terror attack occurs on U.S. soil - no matter who is to blame.