THE SILVER LINING IN BUSH'S REALITY CLOUD

It is a shame that we live in a reality based society , Think how better it would be if we lived in Bush’s reality. Imagine everywhere we went people would be happy to see us. There would be signs with our name on them and people cheering our every word. There would never be a question you didn’t know was coming and dissenters would be quickly dealt with by the secret service even if they were wearing protect our civil liberties shirts(irony is not allowed). Reporters would never ask difficult or uncomfortable questions and would always put a positive spin on whatever happened. People would be jailed for a perceived threat , with little or no evidence, without rights such as due process . We need to be safe right? Don't forget 9/11 changed everything. Republicans who tear up democratic registration forms and disenfranchise black voters would be patriotic. They would assist democrats on incorruptible electronic voting machines. It would save time if we just ceded our vote in order to give the republicans more time to run the country like a business i.e. Enron. Plus the Supreme Court needs to spend its time protecting corporate rights not selecting presidents.

Wouldn’t it be nice to never have to take responsibility for our own actions. Bush is a master at this. The economy is Clinton’s and 9/11's fault. Not enough body armor, that Kerry’s fault. Bush asked his generals before the war if they had everything they needed they said yes and that was enough. Abu Ghraib. Low-level reservists fault. His administration is never wrong either with the exception of George Tenet. In Bush’s reality he has the ability to change facts. The reasons for war went from WMD’s and links to Al-Qaeda to freeing the Iraqi people. Most of us couldn’t pull off that kind of reversal but it was easy for our president. Even though 18 months ago there wasn’t a link between Iraq and Al-Qaeda there is allegedly one now. Wasn’t it nice of the Iraqi people to help our president this way? Remember in 2000 when Bush agreed that Social Security should be kept in a locked box. Now Bush’s instincts are tell him to change SS into private accounts to be placed in the stock market. We all know that the stock market only goes in one direction(up) and is much safer than the current system. Bush wants to speculate with America’s future(other peoples money) just like he did before he became a politician. And we all know how well that went. No worries there.

Since our president relies on his instincts think of how much money we could save on things like war planning, intelligence and accountants that examine the economy. If we got rid of the FBI we wouldn’t have to worry about 100,000 hours of tape gathering dust that might include details of the next terrorist attack. The outing of undercover agent of Valerie Plame demonstrates us how obsolete an agency the CIA is. See the money for the tax cuts is there, you just need to know where to look. Those people who lost jobs could become debt collectors, repo men, foreclosure specialists and bankruptcy lawyers. Other Americans that lost their jobs could go to India, Mexico or China because there are plenty of American jobs there. It would be a boom to the travel industry. Think of outsourcing not as a bad thing but as an extended vacation. Or a way to fulfill a life long dream to work in the fast food industry. With all of those wave of the future tech jobs gone think of the money saved from eye strain and ergonomic injuries. Less doctors visits so there isn’t a need to get everyone healthcare. Since Bush doesn’t provide the military with the proper equipment and we seem to be in perpetual war(on terror) the military (with over 700 bases all around the world) is always hiring. Since Bush doesn’t believe in science we could save all that grant money that goes to research. Stems cells are history. No science means no science students so we will need less money for college students and less students for college mean his under funding of No Child Left Behind and Head Start is aligned with what he sees for our future. Plus you don’t need a degree to say “Do you want fires with that”or “Welcome to Walmart”. See America, it is already coming together. What about the EPA? Since our President only wants what’s best for America, dirtier air and water must be good for us. Think of how much money our president is saving us by not having all those pesky inspections for those who pollute our environment. Those people with asthma need to slow down and take it easy. And we all know that Bush doesn’t believe in that global warming mumbo jumbo( never mind those 4 hurricanes that hit florida this year, that was just a fluke.) He thinks about the police forces in this country. Since he cut their funding there will be less police officers to be hit by bullets from those newly reintroduced assault rifles. He is saving lives right and left. We could save so much money that the rich wouldn’t have to pay taxes at all. Then they can live safely in their gated communities protected by assault rifles and count their money while never contributing to society except for the occasional Forbes article.

Thinking about it makes me so optimistic of what another four years of a George Bush would do to our country. This is what our president wants for us. Compassionate conservatism, more tax cuts, less trees, nation building, changing Islamic people into our image, record deficits, health savings accounts, and Social Security tied to the stock market. Alas, we have to live in reality. To sleep perchance to dream, ay there’s the rub.

Kudos To Jon Stewart

I have to admit that I do not watch political shows on television. I try to sit through them but never make it. The closest I get to a political show is "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" , which is why I wanted to watch Crossfire on Friday when Stewart was on the show. I missed on Friday but I read the transcipts. Today I searched until I found a copy of it on the internet(s). Reading the transcripts give you a good idea of what happened but it is really something you must see. He said all of the things I feel when I try to watch these shows that they are basically a joke. There are serious issues that face our country our world and these shows are reduced to a grown up game of I'm rubber and you're glue what bounces off me and sticks to you. Politicians go on these shows to lie i.e. Condi Rice saying the aluminum tubes were only good for enriching uranium. They go on these shows to further their aims and justify their actions. Regular people go an these shows to lie i.e. Swift Boat Liars. There is never an honest discourse of the issues of the day. What we get is two weeks of swift boat liars and Howard Dean's yell at a political rally a hundred times to make him seem unfit to lead this country. Which makes what Stewart did on Friday more impressive. He went on that show to say stop. I realize now why I don't watch these types of shows it because I learn nothing from them. They don't depart news or engage in intellectual discussions. All they do is repeat lies and talking points. Why did the media destroy Dean's bid for the Presidency? I think it was because he spoke too many truths that America doesn't want to hear. Why did Kerry have to spend the first 30 seconds of almost every question in the debates issuing a talking point? Because the media has allowed what he has said to be so distorted that he had to explain himself before he answered a question. The TV media is out of control in this country. Sinclair Broadcasting is allowed to preempt shows on 62 staions in this country with a 2 hour propaganda film that is full of lies and call it news. What is the big story now? Whether it was appropriate for Kerry to mention Cheney's lesbian daughter during the debate. Even though the real question is the hypocrisy of why anyone would be a part of an administration trying to discriminate against a member of one's own family. Or maybe a better question is why the world was lied to about the reasons to go to war with Iraq? When the memo's of Dan Rather's story were fake that was the story instead of the fact that even if the memos themselves were fake everything they said was true. It was truly a non story when the President of Viacom said that he wouldn't air a story on the Niger documents ( that were used to make the case for war) being forgeries because Bush in the White House was better for his company than Kerry. None of these stations have any responsibility to the public. They are responsible to shareholders. Jon Stewart was right when he said that these shows are hurting America. They hurt America by playing politics on the most superficial level and pretending to be in depth. It is really sad that Stewart's show sometimes come closer to actual news than these shows. On Crossfire he told the two hosts uncomfortable truths and they knew he was right. And perhaps what was more telling is that for all their "debating" they couldn't handled or even respond to it. And I for one am glad that that day he decided not be another monkey but spoke up for what is right.

The Jesus Factor

If John Kerry loses the most important election in my lifetime it will be Jesus' fault. Well, not him personally but the group of people who say they are evangelical christians or born again who will vote for Bush without looking at what he truly believes. When did saying that you believe in Jesus give you an automatic pass on the sins and the havoc that you create in this world? After the first debate I listened to a couple of callers to c-span and I heard the scariest thing . A young college woman from Tennesee said she is voting for Bush because he is a christian. This bothered me because I see nothing of Jesus' teachings in George Bush's actions. Doesn't the bible say beware of false prophets? I know that Bush hasn't claimed that he is a prophet but he does claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ. But there is nothing of Jesus' teaching in his actions. Didn't Jesus teach that you are supposed to love your fellow man. How much love is Bush giving to the American people when he increases the amount of pollutants he allows for his fellow men to breathe in the air or drink in the water? Or when he signs a law that allows the U.S. to outsource torture to other countries. Or when he uses lawyers to get around the Geneva Convention so that our government can legally torture people? Or when he cuts funding so that the poorest among us can't have health care? Would Jesus relax regulations so that more feces can be allowed to stay in our food? Would Jesus endanger millions of workers across this country by reducing OSHA standards that protect people in the work place? Would Jesus be trying to create more weapons of mass destruction? Would Jesus favor tax cuts that mainly benefit the richest in our country while sending people to die in a war for profit? This doesn't sound like the Jesus that I learned about in Sunday School. Actions speak louder than words. Instead of listening to what Bush says I wished the christians in our country who are giving Bush their vote would heed this advice. Every christian I have ever met loved going to chuch, but our president doesn't attend. Bush said he reads a passage from the bible every night but the last time I remember someone asking what passage he was reading he couldn't answer the question. Would Jesus say every life is precious but then send soldiers to a war without basic necessities such as body armor and vehicles with floors, doors and ceilings? Would Jesus sacrifice individual people in favor of corporate dollars? A friend of mine sent me an email that said that God looks at the sum total of our lives. When God looks at George Bush's life he will be judged not on what he said but on what he did. I hope that everyone who would vote for him would examine him and his policies in reality of what he actually is instead of what you want him to be. Bush has caused great suffering on this planet his actions has killed thousands. I personally don't believe he is a man of Christ, but that decision is for each man to make. The fact that he will use Jesus to justify the evil that he has wrought makes him seem more like the devil. Maybe the only pertinent question is : Who would Jesus vote for?