Deja Vu All Over Again!

Bothered by the chaos in Iraq, or in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas? Relax! Bush is taking charge; things will be alright. For those of you who worried that perhaps Katrina and Rita problems might slow the Bush people down, there's NO evidence of that. They continue to put the screws to the working stiffs who deserve better. The wage protection laws have been suspended; contractors (Bush cronies all) can now legally exploit workers, environmental laws have been placed on the shelf while the cleanup, rebuild contractors who are permitted to exploit the workers by, among other things, paying below min. wage scales, can assault the environment free from impunity, and they're doing their nasty little deeds with no bid-cost plus contracts.

Oh but not all Republicans are bad, our dear senior Congressman Sensenbrenner (he may be suffering from dementia) who has voted for every dollar being spent to rebuild Iraq, says no to the gulf region. . . NOPE, he wouldn't vote for even one slim dollar in aid to help those poor folks deal with devastation of Biblical proportions; we've got to rebuild Iraq first.

Now don't worry, Sen. Frist, the Senate Majority leader, will come to our rescue, that is, after he clears himself of the Martha Stewart like stock trading he's been doing with securities that were placed in his blind trust. . .maybe Sen. Frist uses a seeing eye dog. Well, we have House Leader Tom Delay to help us. . .he’s connected! Remember, he’s the one with strong ties to the high powered lobbyist who stripped millions from the Indian tribes he supposedly represented. Don’t be too hash on the lobbyists now. How was Jack Abramoff going to pay for Delay’s Scottish golf outings with his family without money.

Yogi was right, it's deja vu all over again. The Harding administration is back with all the scandals, cronyism and the like. It's a form of political reincarnation.

Keepin' an eye on things for ya,
Davy Crockett

President Bush Is Number One!

I’ve long believed that our 15th president, James Buchanan was beyond question the most inept of our presidents. To be sure there have been some close competitors, names that would certainly include Franklin Pierce and maybe Warren Harding among others; I’m not certain about Harding. John Dean’s recent kind biography does highlight a few positives on the Harding scale. However, I am mindful of the fact that John Dean grew up just down the street from the Harding home in Ohio and walked by it every day on his journey to and from school and, therefore, may feel a certain home town loyalty. But damn, I just never thought that anyone could possibly dislodge Buchanan from the ignoble top spot on the list of incompetent boobs who’ve been elected to the top office. Well, I was wrong! Beyond even a shadow of doubt Bush, W,” deserves the top spot. He’s inept, self centered, lacks compassion, and like his father has no concept of the vision thing. And I would add to the ineptness factor, the sad fact that Bush’s actions as president belie a basic belief in the democratic principles he so fondly and so often mentions in his speeches; the principles he promised to up hold when he took the oath of office.

Consider the leadership example Bush gives us, keeping in mind as Bob Herbert reminds us in today’s Times, “. . . there was already a war going on when Katrina came to call. I've always believed that war is a serious matter. But the president was on vacation. Dick Cheney was on vacation. And Condi Rice was here in New York taking in the sights and shopping for shoes. That Americans were fighting and dying on foreign soil was not enough to demand their full attention. They were busy having fun.” Herbert sadly, but correctly concludes, “ So it's no wonder it took a good long while before they noticed that a whole section of America had been wiped out in a calamity of biblical proportions,” (New York Times, September 22).

As I’ve noted before (See my post Bubba, Education, and the Global Village), this anti-government, anti-people crowd sense no obligation to the people they were elected to serve. The unfolding tragedy in the gulf region highlights the utter incompetence of many high ranking Bush buddies in positions of tremendous responsibility. Though the republicans were willing to keep Wild Bill Clinton in a state of perpetual investigation, costing us tens of millions, covering a broad range of venial sins, they refuse to appoint an investigative body to look into any of the major disasters orchestrated by Bush and company. No, instead they give us a Supreme Court nominee who’s instructed not to answer questions, and then in a manner made standard practice during the Iraqi debacle, they address the aftermath of the Katrina hit with no bid cost plus contracts to a few select Bush approved contractors. To put salt in the festering wounds they suspend labor laws designed to insure worker safety and basic fairness. In essence, these companies can now legally exploit workers and collect excess profits. And oh yes, the environmental plans these companies would normally have to submit for approval are also suspended. But don’t worry, this president is strongly opposed to gay marriages and will do everything he can do to eliminate a woman’s right to chose. And yes, if it’s possible, he’s going to turn our public schools into something like churches, where principles of science will finally take a back seat to Jerry Falwell’s twisted interpretation of the Holy Bible. Save us Jerry! Now I know that Jerry and Pat think that 9/11 and some of these other national calamities are the direct result of the immoral behavior of wild eyed radical women and some of those over sexed gays. And maybe that’s why Bush is pushin’ the fundamentalist religious crap at us, I’m not sure. Shit! Maybe all this mean spirited, greedy crap is due to Barbar's (W's ma ma) attack bitch spirit. Damn, never thought of that possibility. She seemed to know that Katrina was a blessing in some kinda disguise for all those poor folk huddled in the Astro Dome, least, that what she said.

But the fact is, we’re so damned far out in front of the rest of the nations that make up this global village of ours, we need to take a national break and give some of these countries a chance to catch up, especially China and India where their universities aren’t worrying about “intelligent design” they’re foolishly turning out math and science Ph.d.’s at an alarming rate. I’ll bet those scientific dummies wont know a hell of a lot about the Holy Bible. . .sad isn’t it; they’re all destined to end up in hell.

Ever on the watch for ya,

Davy Crockett

It's Time for A Change

"When the president and vice president rashly shook off our allies and our respect for international law to pursue a war built on lies, when they sanctioned torture, they shook the faith of the world in American ideals.

When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed."

--Maureen Dowd--3 September 2005 NY Times


As the news on the national/international front turns from bad to worse, so does the President's ability to provide the nation with focus and direction. We are paying dearly for a right-wing Republican Congress that persists in cutting vital programs from the budget as they continue to serve the selfish interests of the wealthy. The current disaster in the gulf coast region serves to highlight our misplaced priorities. The New York Times correctly noted this morning that, “Publications from the local newspaper to National Geographic have fulminated about the bad state of flood protection in this beloved city, which is below sea level. Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?”

Current Congressional priorities are not consonant with middle American’s best interests. This month Congress will return from the summer vacation and make a concerted effort to eliminate the Estate Tax being paid by the wealthiest Americans. It is important to realize that, under current laws, anybody can pass up to about three million dollars on to heirs with little to no tax. If Congress does manage to pass legislation eliminating the estate tax, “millionaires will save close to $1 trillion dollars in the first ten years--that tax burden will shift to us and future generations.” Some of America’s wealthiest people oppose eliminating the estate tax because it is not in the national interest. For example, Bill Gates’ father heads a lobbying effort opposed to eliminating the inheritance tax. This may seem anomalous, since Gates, one of the world’s wealthiest men, would personally derive a tremendous benefit from such a change in the tax law; however, Gates and others like him, Warren Buffet for example, oppose the change.

Why do some of these altruistic billionaires oppose eliminating a tax that would so clearly favor their personal finances? In a nutshell, they realize that the long term best interests of this democracy do not lie in the direction of creating a landed, monied aristocracy. One only has to look to our south to see the implications of tax policies that concentrate national wealth in the hands of a tiny fraction of the total population. Most people, for instance, don’t realize that poor Mexico has more than its share of the world’s billionaires. It’s not hard to find countries to our south where 5 to 10 percent of the population controls or owns 95 percent of the wealth.

It is estimated that, “Eliminating the Estate Tax will personally benefit President Bush, VicebPresident Cheney and 11 other cabinet members up to $344 million - and we'll haveto pick up that tab!”

Beyond question the course set for the ship of state by the Bush Administration is headed into more turbulence. With the Iraqi situation bad beyond description, the President continues to grin and tell us how hard it is to make a democratic country, and he cites our national experience to prove his point. "They did write a constitution," he tells us; "things are looking up!" Then comes that stupid grin!

Nine hundred and fifty people dead yesterday in Bagdad! Hundreds wounded! When will the President’s Orwellian tale and our national nightmare end?

During times of crises a leader must lead, providing focus and direction, but as the NY Times wrote today, “George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.”


Does the President ask us to make a sacrifice; does he inspire us to reach deep down within and find the courage needed to keep struggling? No! We get that damned, disturbing stupid grin, a trademark he uses to punctuate the inane pronouncements he persists in making.

In sum, in the words of Conservative columnist David Brooks, "On Sept. 11, Rudy Giuliani took control. The government response was quick and decisive. The rich and poor suffered alike. Americans had been hit, but felt united and strong. Public confidence in institutions surged.

Last week in New Orleans, by contrast, nobody took control. Authority was diffuse and action was ineffective. The rich escaped while the poor were abandoned. Leaders spun while looters rampaged. Partisans squabbled while the nation was ashamed" (New York Times 4 September 2005).

Let’s not stay the course. . .we need to be thinking about the next Congressional elections; we need to throw the bastards out.

Davy Crockett