“I believe we are a blessed nation; that is, therefore, we have a sense of responsibility to the extent we can to help others”

George Bush on life after the presidency

BY BOB RAY SANDERS

bobray@star-telegram.com

On the Fourth of July, George W. Bush wasn’t sitting around watching fireworks. And two days later, on his 66th birthday, you didn’t see him blowing out candles on a cake.

The former president, along with first lady Laura, spent the first week of this month on a mission in Africa — celebrating life in a land plagued by a number of diseases that cause so much death.

In addition to spreading paint while renovating a clinic, Bush also spread a little joy and hope among people delighted that he had come to help them. He said his return to Africa was not as an ex-president, but “as a laborer.”

I’ve criticized Bush for a lot of things he did as president, but I’ve praised him for his humanitarian efforts, particularly his fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases in Africa.

For me his lasting legacy will be not war, but peace; not lives lost, but lives saved; not destruction, but construction.

In 2003 Bush created the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar), providing $15 billion for prevention and treatment programs in countries devastated by HIV infections. Congress increased the funding to $48 billion five years later.

The year Pepfar started about 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were on antiretroviral therapy to suppress HIV

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/07/17/4106412/president-george-w-bush-builds.html#storylink=cpy

Can You Imagine Obama Doing This?

Sure, the band doesn't need GWB's baton to perform.

Still, have a look (hat tip to Weasel Zippers):

George Bush: A Humble Man

I will be the first to admit that I slandered Bush in one of my articles here not so long ago. What I said was based on Bush's policies about Israel. His presidency has come and gone and I might disagree with the way he handled the situation in the Middle East but what the former president of America, George W. Bush, did right after Fort Hood is admirable.

Obama could never match the courage of Bush in a 100 years to come. The way Bush stood tall and proud--stood up straight for his country, believing and knowing his country to be the best...I don't even want to know what Obama would have done if he were there that day as the President of the US.

I am sure what I am saying has been said on a lot of different blogs but the best piece that I have read so far comes from a pro-Hillary liberal blog--please take the time to read it all, it's worth it:

"We know absolutely no one in Bush family circles and have never met former President George W. Bush or his wife Laura.

If you have been reading us for any length of time, you know that we used to make fun of “Dubya” nearly every day…parroting the same comedic bits we heard in our Democrat circles, where Bush is still, to this day, lampooned as a chimp, a bumbling idiot, and a poor, clumsy public speaker.

Oh, how we RAILED against Bush in 2000…and how we RAILED against the surge in support Bush received post-9/11 when he went to Ground Zero and stood there with his bullhorn in the ruins on that hideous day.

We were convinced that ANYONE who was president would have done what Bush did, and would have set that right tone of leadership in the wake of that disaster. President Gore, President Perot, President Nader, you name it. ANYONE, we assumed, would have filled that role perfectly.

Well, we told you before how much the current president, Dr. Utopia, made us realize just how wrong we were about Bush. We shudder to think what Dr. Utopia would have done post-9/11. He would have not gone there with a bullhorn and struck that right tone. More likely than not, he would have been his usual fey, apologetic self and waxed professorially about how evil America is and how justified Muslims are for attacking us, with a sidebar on how good the attacks were because they would humble us.

Honestly, we don’t think President Gore would have been much better that day. The world needed George W. Bush, his bullhorn, and his indominable spirit that day…and we will forever be grateful to this man for that.

As we will always be grateful for what George and Laura Bush did this week, with no media attention, when they very quietly went to Ft. Hood and met personally with the families of the victims of this terrorist attack.

FOR HOURS.

The Bushes went and met privately with these families for HOURS, hugging them, holding them, comforting them.

If there are any of you out there with any connection at all to the Bushes, we implore you to give them our thanks…you tell them that a bunch of gay Hillary guys in Boystown, Chicago were wrong about the Bushes…and are deeply, deeply sorry for any jokes we told about them in the past, any bad thoughts we had about these good, good people.

You may be as surprised by this as we are ourselves, but from this day forward George W. and Laura Bush are now on the same list for us as the Clintons, Geraldine Ferraro, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and the other political figures we keep in our hearts and never allow anyone to badmouth.

Criticize their policies academically and intelligently and discuss the Bush presidency in historical and political terms…but you mess with the Bushes personally and, from this day forward, you’ll answer to us.

We hope someday to be able to thank George W. and Laura in person for all they’ve done, and continue to do. They didn’t have to head to Ft. Hood. That was not their responsibility.

The Obamas should have done that.

But didn’t.

Wouldn’t.

Thank goodness George W. is still on his watch, with wonderful Laura at his side.

We are blessed as a nation to have these two out there…just as we are blessed to have the Clintons on the job, traveling the world doing the good they do.

And we are blessed to have Dick Cheney, wherever he is, keeping tabs on all that’s going on and speaking out when the current administration does anything too reckless and dangerous.

Cheney’s someone else we villainized and maligned in the past who we were also wrong about. There has never been a Vice President, including Gore, Biden, or Mondale, who was more supportive of gay rights than “Darth Cheney”. There has never been a Vice President more spot-on right about the dangers facing this country from Islamic terrorism.

We live in strange, strange times indeed.

We are now officially committed fans of George W. and Laura Bush. We are fans of Dick Cheney. Our gratitude for them makes us newly protective of them, and the continued role they play in this country.

After the primary battle of 2008, we never thought we’d go back to Texas for anything, but sometime in 2010 we want to find some event in Dallas the Bushes will be at so at least one of us can go up to them, tell them we are deeply sorry for ever thinking ill of them, and thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their service to America.

We’re sure they will just stare at us and wonder why these gay Chicagoans are crying, but we don’t think we can get through a meeting with them without being emotional.

What they did at Ft. Hood for those families humbles us. Every day, the Bushes are most likely doing something just like it behind the scenes.

We hope if any of you encounter them you will let them know this is deeply appreciated beyond partisan lines.

We will never look at the Bushes, the Bush presidencies, or their legacies the same again…and someday when his presidential library is built, we will be so proud to visit there and tell anyone will listen about November 10th, 2009, the day we finally appreciated former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura.

Thank you for your service, Mr. President. We’re sorry we didn’t appreciate you while you were in office, but we thank Heaven we’ve wised up and can see the good you are out there doing, under the radar, today."

George and Laura Bush walk the Razor's Edge

From Caroline Glick:

A couple of days ago I heard the news that George and Laura Bush paid a private visit to the wounded soldiers at Fort Hood. They specifically requested that the base commander not inform the media of their visit. They came. They comforted the wounded soldiers and the Fort Hood community for a couple of hours. And then they left. And they never had their pictures taken saluting the troops or holding their hands.

When I heard the news, I felt this pain that hasn't gone away. It's a pain that I have been feeling fairly often since last November.

It hurts to hear about an American President who cares deeply and sincerely about wounded soldiers and soldiers murdered in a terrorist attack and know that he is not the American President. It isn't so much that I miss Bush personally. I had a lot of criticism about his policies - particularly in his last two years in office after he effectively abdicated his leadership of global affairs to Condoleezza Rice and the permanent bureaucracy in Washington.

But at least you always knew that Bush loved America and that he loved Americans. You knew that he valued America's allies even if he didn't always do right by them. You knew that his values were American values.

Full Metal Jacket-No Sheeples Style

Another edition of Carol's Full Metal Jacket:

Now, let’s get to our Full Metal Jacket Reach-Around Father’s Day Edition:

Donald Douglas of American Power informs us, “I think all of my readers should call me Dr. Douglas. It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title." Hey Professor, I mean Doctor, have you heard this one:

MAN: “How’s your history paper coming?”

WOMAN: “Well, my history professor suggested that I use the Internet for research and it’s been very helpful.”

MAN: “Really?”

WOMAN: “Yes. I’ve already located seventeen people who sell them.”

And So It Goes In Shreveport asks the question, “When is a slam not a slam?”

Jamie at Eye of Polyphemus has the goods on the “Obamapocalypse”. I love the smell of Hot Shot in the morning.

From the department of odd combos we have Miracle-Gro and universal hair care from Fausta.

What rhymes with crate, Kuwait and freight? Jon and Kate. See what Fishersville Mike is talking about.

College and farting. Some are good at them; some are not—so says all Five Feet Of Fury.

Bright ideas from Fearless Reader? Not so much according to Generation Patriot.

The gullible and weak-minded will be entertained or some such and the KURU Lounge thinks it’s time for some hostile questioning. Naughty boy, Chad.

Provocatively positioned basketballs and a naked Jeanie Buss grace the pages of Let’s Get It Right. Carlos, you naughty, naughty boy.

First there was the “meddle” card and then there was the “Zionist Plot” card. This is not a game of Blackjack being discussed over at Legal Insurrection.

Little Miss Attila has a message for someone named A of H and professes her admiration of pit bulls with a link to her homegirl, Cynthia Yockey.

Maximum Leader warns mankind of a fiery planetary collision while pleasing young Luke Skywalker types with photos of "hawt Cyclons" in various stages of undress. Feeling randy, Max?

Check out all the spiffy “bloggregation” over at Not Tucker Carlson. It’s a one stop shop for news you can use.

Luceat lux vestra, Dan. A seasoned blogger has moved to his own site, Piece Of Work In Progress. Have a look, have-a-lookers.

Douglas V. Gibbs, over at Political Pistachio, picks up the meme on Fearless Reader’s new Ministry of Propaganda.

The retro-loving pair of Pundit & Pundette weighs in on IG Gate here and here.

Red State ponders Obama’s view of executive power.

This can’t be happening here. Well, yes it can. Right Wing Nut House discusses the new apparatchik, er, ABC News. Perhaps it is time for the corporate controlled media and Dear Leader to get a room.

Stogie shares his big weekend plans and shows off his hard work on a biting Photoshop™ of Barbara Boxer. He prefers to call her Babsy-Cakes, Queen of the Kitchen and Number One Floor-Mopper.

What do nearly bare buttocks and Bill Clinton have to do with one another? Let Say Anything edu-ma-cate ya on this "revealing" subject.

There’s a “blood and dirt” debate being waged over at TD Blog. See which side you’re taking. Remember to play nice though.

What’s that saying they have about flattery? Never mind. The Astute Bloggers isn’t flattering Fearless Reader’s Secretary of Defense.

The Other McCain explores a metaphor for Biden and Obama dealing with Middle Eastern diplomacy.

Andrea Shea King of The Radio Patriot gives us a full-throated run down on ACORN’s whistleblower, Anita Moncrief, and the FEAR she is striking in Obama’s heart. This is a MUST READ.

Rachel Madcow serves as the fire hydrant that Rude Dog has made a beeline for and barks out this: “Rush is recognized as a conservative spokesman, whether you like it or not.” Who let the dog out?

When Deuce, the “Skeptical One”, finally caught up on the lefty blogs he gave us this money quote: “…the same people who think empathy is a valuable component for a Supreme Court Justice, show none at all for people who think differently on the issue of gay marriage.”

You know the freakishly loud-mouthed hawker for OxyClean™? Jimmie Bise, over at the Sundries Shack suggests that ABC kick Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer to the curb and use Billy Mays to advertise Obamacare.

My favorite caveman, The TrogloPundit, has discovered that there are slippery things out there and surmises there may be a conspiracy afoot and a-elbow. Hey cutie, thanks for all the linky-love this week.

BTW, consider using Google Earth—the flat maps are so yesterday dear.
Let’s hear it for This Ain’t Hell. John Hawkins named it “Website of the Day.”

Trac-A-‘Crat will be some more pissed if Kim Jong-Il turns Hawaii into a nuclear wasteland.

Apparently an avid fan of LOST, all-out atomic warfare would put the kibosh on finishing the finale of the show for this season. Come to think of it, it sure would mess up the plans Hawaii has for Islam Day on September 24th. Islamists are already pissed off, no need making things worse, eh?

That’s all I have for this week’s FMJRA. Hope you enjoyed it. We’ll see ya next week. Have a Happy Father’s Day.