SharedThought

The United States of America is at a political crossroad met seldom in one’s lifetime. Upon the coming presidential elections will depend the fate not just of our country, but of the world. Of this I am certain. The two mainstream candidates present distinct ideologies.

For purposes of expediency, I will only comment on our present leader in the White House. One whose rule is built on power and fear. Motivated by greed and cloaked in secrecy. Evincing an archaic philosophy marked by imperious disdain for the rules of law and the sanctity of human life. All the while proclaiming divine Providence in justification of their actions, although justification is not exactly the right word, for that would imply recognition of a need to justify their deeds. This administration is unabashed when questioned regarding any action, inaction, misdeed, or even criminal act committed on their watch.

Mr. Bush calls himself Christian, compassionate, conservative. His actions belie those labels. In truth, he behaves neither as a Christian, compassionate, nor truly conservative.

True Christian compassion involves extending a helping hand to the least of us. By lifting up those at the bottom, we raise the standard of all society. This has not occurred on his watch. More of our citizens suffer in poverty now than four years ago. Our seniors have Medicaid and Medicare, which entitlements obtain merely by reaching a certain age. Why should the sons and daughters of our poor suffer from a lack of health care purely based on economics? Our youth are our future and deserve our attention if truly are looking to that future. As Jesus said in Matthew 25, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

True Christian compassion does not lead to the increased execution of your own citizens. Mr. Bush’s Attorney General goes the extra mile in his efforts to override local prosecutors when he feels the death penalty is appropriate in a case, irrespective of the fact that the prosecutors recommend otherwise http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0207-03.htm.

True Christian compassion does not leap to release the dogs of war and revel in the deaths of our enemies. An honorable, American president does not start a war based on the flimsiest of evidence. An honorable, American president views war as the last unreasonable alternative, for war is the absolute ultimate failure of policy and diplomacy. It does not seek ever more efficient killing machines. Our current leader has re-instituted the development of new nuclear weapons, abrogating our thirty-four years of membership in the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/WMD/treaty/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2780521.stm

True Christian compassion honors and respects life. This administration flouts the Geneva Convention, invoking spurious rationale for the mistreatment, unlawful detainment, torture, and killing of prisoners, both in the US and abroad. An honorable, American president does not condone the practice of holding a prisoner without access to counsel or visitation. An honorable, American president does not allow his subordinates to deny the Red Cross access to prisoners. An honorable, American president does not allow prisoners to be held without even informing said prisoner of the charges under which (s) he is held. This is something to be expected of a third world dictator, not of an American leader.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,13743,1127639,00.html

An honorable, American president is tolerant to dissent in the arena of democratic, public discourse. Mr. Bush labels it unpatriotic and divisive.

An honorable, American president does not repeat ad nauseam the “Big Lie” of 9/11, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and Saddam Hussein as the case for an elective war. Here is how the Big Lie works. It is simply a matter of conditioned response. I f you repeat something enough times, it does not make any difference if there are logical connections. The mere utterance of weapons of mass destruction now brings to mind Saddam Hussein, 9/11, and terrorism. Whether you agree with the argument or not, that is what is present in your subconscious mind. The current republican leadership counts on people not taking the time to actually think for themselves. With a bit of quick research, any intelligent person could find enough evidence to call into question the motivation for and evidence being relied upon to make a case for war, let alone continuing along the path being followed. Make no mistake about it, this was a war of choice, not necessity. When presented with evidence all to the contrary, the honorable man admits his mistakes and then takes steps to rectify them. We have yet to see this type of integrity from our sitting commander-in-chief.

“In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table,” Bush said. “But make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win.”

The evidence for this victory? The 2003 edition of “Patterns of Global Terrorism”, released by the US Department of State on April 29, 2004. Front page news. Problem is, on June 22, 2004, a revised report detailing the real story was released by the State Department. In it the numbers show that in actuality, the number of worldwide terrorist attacks increased by just under ten percent for the year, and casualties increased by over two hundred and twenty-five percent!! Just another example of evidence being “massaged” by the Bush administration.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5865710/
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/10/powell.terror.report/
http://globalsecurity.org/security/library/report/2004/pgt_2003/

The truth is, this man makes me embarrassed for the United States. The country I know and love has been subverted to an agenda of Christian dogma, misdirection, hateful rhetoric and intolerance. President Bush is NOT a uniter, he is an excluder. NOT compassionate, but impassionate to those in real need. The face put forth by the Republicans at their recent convention was a mask. The only time we got a peek behind that mask was during Democratic Senator Zell Miller’s speech. Whether knowingly or not, he was showing the true attack dog, irrational, spittle flecked face of our ruling party. This is the face of a party unfamiliar with the concept of compromise and bipartisan interest. A party which treats those in disagreement with contempt. The best interests of our great nation are not served while President Bush is in office. He has not focused any energy on being a member of the world community, but has sent a message to the world during his tenure, one of self-centered self-importance. The result can only be on of further isolation and estrangement of America from the other 95% of earth’s population. This week the President gave us a warm and fuzzy speech full of programs to help those in need over the next four years. That left me wondering. Where was he the last four years? What happened to the compassionate platform he proposed in the year 2000?

Since his inauguration, the president and his staff have taken advantage of tragedy to create a bastard son of the United States which I grew up to know and love. My United States stood for right, not might. My United States had a conscience. My United States was founded in integrity, honor and respect. My United States didn’t need to hide prisoners and obstruct inquiries into its actions. My United States is confident that, in the light of day, their actions may withstand the most detailed scrutiny from all sides.

An idealist, I admit. But is it too much to expect our leaders possess those qualities admired by all? When our president leads by fostering a climate of fear and retribution, it can only serve to bring out those very qualities in our people. Only by being strong enough not to fall prey to the baser instincts of man can our leaders hope to lead us to a better world. In this respect, President Bush is an abject failure and has earned a place on the sidelines in America’s future.

Paul Wolfowitz outlined how the United States will wrap things up in Iraq in congressional testimony on Tuesday. Responding to questions regarding how long U.S. troops would be required in Iraq after the turnover of sovereignty in June:

“The course of war is simply not something one can determine,” Wolfowitz told a Democratic questioner in the Lugar committee, but “very substantial” Iraqi security forces would be trained and ready by year’s end.

The administration appears to be setting the stage for a near-term withdrawal from Iraq. Coupled with Powell’s recent comments (“were this interim government to say to us, `We really think we can handle this on our own; it would be better if you were to leave,’ we would leave.”), Wolfowitz’s statement makes it apparent that the administration is formulating an exit strategy. In short: 1) hand over sovereignty to unknown, unprepared, phantom government; 2) quickly reformulate and train an Iraqi military; 3) declare Mission Accomplished (again); 4) leave Iraq quickly.

The latest invocation of September 11 by the Bush administration is a doozy. According to Karen Hughes if you believe in a woman’s right to have an abortion, you are in the same camp as those who support radical Islamic terrorists. Before the backtracking spin started, here is what she said on CNN:

I think after September 11th the American people are valuing life more and realizing that we need policies to value the dignity and worth of every life.

Will she please go back to Texas and stay there?

The Washington Post recalculated Bush’s Vacation days last week. In an earlier post I missed the item buried in a story about Colin Powell’s reaction to incidents in Iraq. Here’s what they said:

This is Bush’s 33rd visit to his ranch since becoming president. He has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David and his five visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush has spent all or part of 500 days in office at one of his three retreats, or more than 40 percent of his presidency.

If the number 233 seems familiar: it’s the number of days that Bush was in office when the September 11th attack occurred. Thanks to the Democratic Underground for making this connection. As Bob Graham points out:

“‘They should explain why, with such a glaring neon light at the top of the page, somebody didn’t get the message that, ‘Hey, we ought stop a vacation-like attitude and get to work.’”

President Bush’s lackadaisical attitude toward work has been an issue since before 9/11. Doesn’t America deserve a full time president?

According to Daily Kos, Kerry made the following jab at Bush for his latest vacation in Crawford:

“I notice President Bush is taking some days off down at Crawford, Texas, and I’m told that when he takes days off, you know, he totally relaxes: He doesn’t watch television, he doesn’t read the newspapers, he doesn’t make long-term plans, doesn’t worry about the economy. I thought about that for a moment. I said, sounds to me like it’s just like life in Washington, doesn’t it?”

I thought it was pretty funny, even if the punchline is pretty close to the same as Letterman’s from a Top Ten list in August 2003.

All joking aside, however, Atrios points out that the now famous PDB given to Bush on August 6, 2001, was followed the next day by a month long vacation to Crawford. According to the Washington Post (as of August 2003), Bush had been on vacation for 250 days, and had made 26 trips to Crawford, Texas. How about we all agree to send him back for an even longer vacation this coming November.

Justice Scalia is in the news again. In the latest dust-up, a federal marshal forced reporters to erase tape recordings of a Scalia speech discussing the Constitution. It appears that the speech in question took place at a private high school, but was open to the media. Apparently Scalia is of the belief that he can control who records his appearances:

Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said it was up to Scalia and his staff to set guidelines for coverage of his events and added, “It’s standard that his speeches are not televised.”

The federal marshal in question may have been acting on Scalia’s orders, but as an employee of the federal government, may be liable for any constitutional injury suffered by the reporters. If the reporters wanted to force the issue, they could allege that their free-speech rights were abridged by the marshal’s actions. Now, I can understand Scalia not wanting the Supreme Court’s private deliberations to be televised. However, extending this ban to every utterance made by a justice borders on paranoia, and is probably unconstitutional.

I came across an interesting article by William Saletan in Slate today. Discussing the Bush administration’s tactics in attempting to discredit former supporters (i.e. Paul O’Neill, Richard Clarke, John DiIulio), Saletan observed:

Once you vote with Bush, serve in his cabinet, or spin for him in a classified briefing, you’re trapped. If you change your mind, he’ll dredge up your friendly vote or testimony and use it to discredit you. That’s what he’s doing now to all the politicians at home and abroad who fell for his exaggerations about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. “In Iraq, my administration looked at the intelligence information, and we saw a threat,” he tells audiences. “Members of Congress looked at the intelligence information, and they saw a threat. The United Nations Security Council looked at the intelligence information, and it saw a threat.” It’s too late to admit that Bush is wrong and that you were fooled. You’re on record agreeing with him. He doesn’t even look dishonest when he rebukes you, because, unlike the people who run his administration’s scams, he can’t tell the difference between what he promised and what he delivered.

This approach to dissent is eerily reminiscent of Richard Nixon and his “enemies list.” Check out this Salon article making further comparisons between the Bush and Nixon administrations.

This is ridiculous. Karl Rove may be a legitimate target for political discourse. He’s a public figure, and therefore should expect to be the subject of more offensive speech than his next door neighbors. But this absolutely ridiculous. The weekend protest by National People’s Action, a group supporting an immigrant education bill, carried things into the next realm of political unbelievabilty. The group protested at Karl Rove’s house, which even if they had stayed on the sidewalk seems extreme. Not content with run-of-the-mill extremism, however, the group swarmed over Rove’s yard, pounded on his home’s windows, and demanded a private audience with him. Here’s how the Washington Post described it:

Protesters poured out of one school bus after another, piercing an otherwise quiet, peaceful Sunday in Rove’s Palisades neighborhood in Northwest, chanting, “Karl, Karl, come on out! See what the DREAM Act is all about!”

According to the Post, Rove’s son and a friend were reduced to tears by the group’s actions. This is not the way to win friends and influence people.

Proving again why President Bush should not be allowed to leave America, the administration is bungling its trip to the APEC summit in Bangkok, Thailand. First he insulted the Japanese by referring to his stop there as a “layover,” then he incensed others in the region by referring to Australian Prime Minister John Howard as the “Sheriff” of the region. Memo to the President: you are not John Wayne, and the world is not a John Ford western.