Paul Luvera Journal

Vice President Cheney has made the astounding claim that his office, Vice President of the United States, is not a part of the executive branch of government. Flying in the face of the United States Constitution and history as taught in American schools since the country was founded, Mr. Cheney insists that his office really isn’t part of the executive branch after all. So, why would he make such a silly claim? The vice president, who has never been reluctant…

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Discovery Magazine in the June 2007 issue published a list of speech errors composed by Scott Kim. He lists the following: Malapropisms which is substituting the wrong word for a similar sounding one. For example: "I am sure I have done everything in my power since I exploded the affair." Spoonerisms which is switching the first sounds of two close words. For example, "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride." A better example is George Bush’s May 4, 2007 Washington…

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I have a mixed attitude about the war in Iraq. On the one hand I have tremendous sympathy and compassion for both American young people who are sacrificing their normal life and actual life and limb as well as the civilians of Iraq. On the other, I don’t want to hear any more about deaths, injuries and the total catastrophe this war represents because it is too painful and seems to be a situation without a solution. I just want…

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The May 2007 AARP Bulletin reports that FEEMA stockpiled some 8000 new manufactured homes in Hope, Arkansas to be used for the homeless in connection with Hurricane Katrina. When a tornado hit the Arkansas town of Dumas in February it left over 150 people homeless. Since the FEEMA manufactured homes were only 126 miles from Dumas, the officials asked for housing assistance, but FEEMA refused. Why? Well, because President Bush hadn’t declared the town a federal disaster area. Under bureaucratic…

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My friend Brad Hobbs and I exchange e-mail observations. He recently sent me comments about George Tenet. Here’s an excerpt of what Brad said and my response: From the interview on CBS’s "60 minutes", I felt Tenet was trying to shift and deflect the responsibility of blame towards everyone, but himself, regarding the mishandling or complete indifference to threats of terrorism from Al Qaida just prior to 9/11/07. Perhaps rightly so, perhaps not… but I don’t know if we will…

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Joan Claybrook has an excellent editorial in Public Citizen News entitled "Bush steps up his attack on the regulatory system, endangering important health and safety protections." She gives the chronology of the attacks and notes that there is a stepped up effort to undermine the federal regulatory system. In January, Mr. Bush issued a new executive order requiring agencies to submit to the White House "significant guidance documents." It had already required them to submit to the White House proposed…

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Joe Scarborough’s blog is posted in the Huffington Post and has some clever observations this week about the confrontation between Cheryl Crow, Laurie David and Karl Rove. I commented yesterday about this subject. Here’s part of what he had to say: "But apparently Team Bush is tired of talking and has adapted a bunker mentality. Seven years of bad press, foreign wars and personal attacks (every bit as nasty as those Bill Clinton endured) have left people like Karl Rove…

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I greatly admire Arianna Huffington’s ability to write very witty comments with metaphors and analogies that ring true. I’ve even made a list from her books of phrases I thought were brilliant. In her blog The Huffington Post she discusses her attendance at the recent White House Correspondent’s Association dinner where Cheryl Crow, Laurie David and Karl Rove had a heated exchange over global warming. Huffington said "The entire evening had the surrealistic feel of a Salvador Dali movie." Here’s…

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People who are elected to public office are accountable to the citizens and taxpayers for their conduct and for spending of tax dollars. The original motivation for running for public office was that of wanting to provide a public service, not personal financial gain. In recent years, however, scandals regarding public officials taking financial advantage of their position have become more frequent just as the reports of excessive payments to CEO’s have become commonplace. (See post 4/6/07) The Seattle PI…

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Gary Trudeau in his Doonesbury (R) comic strip this Sunday pokes fun at the Republican insistence their party and candidates stand for family values, but the Democrats do not. His character Michael Doonsbury in the comic strip notes that on the Republican side the three front runners, Giuliani, McCain and Ginrich have five divorces among them, and says "four of them were really messy and all of them involving adultery." He then notes that on the Democratic side the three…

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