I was in Denmark a couple summers ago when our newly appointed President thumbed his nose at the European Union at the Kyoto Conference. I had to defend a lying sob. He had no intention of talking with them. Only to them. They needed support; he tore it out form under them. He then moved on to do the same to Mr. Putin in Russia. Both the EU and Mr. Putin told Mr. Bush that their concern was not a rogue nation with an ICBM, their concern was terrorists. They also informed Mr. Bush that he should be more concerned with terrorists. They did this on TV that we all watched.
Both Bush and Cheney had made public appearances telling Israel and Palestine that the USA now had a hands of policy and that they should resolve their own problems like gentlemen. We had a president with an unbelievably naïve worldview.
Mr. Bush was more interested in talking than listening. This was June. In September the terrorists took out a couple of buildings and hurt or killed a lot of people. Israel and Palestine were in open warfare.
So what does he do? He tells the world that one terrorist is at the bottom of this and he will route him out. He proceeds to blast a desert into sand but does not succeed in getting hi man. So he starts on another country where the man is universally disliked but is not so likely to escape. He proceeds to move quarter million men into the neighborhood and all the while claiming to support the UN search for weapons. When the troops are in place there is no more excuse for the UN search. The inspectors flee and Bush moves in. His strategy and tactics are flawless. He does not bomb sand into more sand. He first protects the oil supply because we need it for later recovery of Iraq and ourselves. But he does not get his man again. Worse off, the lie about the man having these awful weapons comes to light.
So we brag about how bad the man was and how much better off the people of Afghanistan and Iraq will be at some point in the future. We, as a country, pay ourselves on the backs, as these people are now so much better off than they were. I am sure they are and I am more sure that they will eventually be better off as we supply them with a new government and remove the UN sanctions that we imposed to impoverish them in the first place.
We won the war against the Soviets and now the fears of the world have come true: we will invade other countries just because we don’t like them.
We started this war for 3 reasons. He had WMD. He was a threat to us. He was a threat to his neighbors. No evidence has been discovered on any of the 3 reasons. I mean an absolute strike out.
Again we won the battle. We have lost the war. We have disemboweled the UN. We have made the world take sides. Mostly either against us or suspicious of us. If we can get an honest president, we might be able to recover in another 50 years.
Maybe I am too hard on Mr. Bush. The talking head on TV gave us another out: Mr. Bush is either a liar, corrupt, or incompetent. I gave him credit for competency. I have no basis for corrupt but if you like that choice better, you can have it.
Until Mr. Bush, I would never have claimed to be a Democrat. Everyone lies about sex. It takes a real scumbag to lie to his electorate while taking them to war. Do Moslems immolate themselves like the Buddhists do or do they murder other people like the Palestinians? I think we shall find out soon.
The Bush Phenomena has amazed me. He now has given Israel and Palestine a roadmap to Peace. And people applaud him for generating a plan out of the mess that his reluctance to enter has made a world problem? No. I never trusted Arafat but that is not the point.
We have given up our freedoms in the name of freedom? The ultimate 1984 doublespeak. The Patriot act is an atrocity to freedom. And Ashcroft wants more power. I know, you stay home and listen to the rightwing talking heads wave the flag and badmouth the Dixie Chicks. I travel around. I cannot go into a library and look at the Internet without a picture ID. I can be arrested on “reasonable Suspicion” that than “probable cause”. Understand that the latter is freedom-responsible. The former is the removal of freedom. Probable cause means that there is good reason to believe that I am the one who has committed a particular crime. The judge has to be presented with enough evidence to believe a case can be made against me. Reasonable suspicion means that all that has to be given the judge is the belief that a crime may be or may have been committed and that I am the one who may have facilitated this possible crime. The only link that the government must present the judge is one that they may have created just for the purpose. For example, association with a group.
The GWB television, Fox, has all by itself started a boycott of French products. Now I have thought this a good idea for a long time. I do not like the French. But that is a personal opinion from having visited France. They do not rank high on my list and I do buy some of their products. But to try to ruin a country’s economy in the name of free speech, is hard. TO make the Dixie Chicks a national item is sad. They make beautiful music. One of them says something of a personal value on stage and then the deadheads declare her a national disgrace. I think what she did was a mistake. I do not buy products from companies which abuse me. She did not harm me. I apologized for Bush coming from the USA. She made it more specific: Texas. I apologize for Texas all of the time. I guess this restricts my readership. Maybe because I do not like the ripping out of our freedoms in the name of freedom means that you should not follow my suggestions regarding life-style. I guess. Maybe my hit count will go down this month.
It really is time to take control of our own lives as social beings by walking, talking, and taking the train, bus or ferryboat and learning each other’s values.