Why is there a dead eagle on the BWCAW page? This eagle will remain there until George W. Bush is removed from office. The election of 2004 was one of the most important ever, in my mind, for many reasons. I'm still trying to understand how he came to be elected and what this means for our country and, more importantly, our way of life. This page is about my thoughts on this subject and you may agree with all, some or none of these points. Many do disagree, which apparently is why he is in office.
I want to talk about a number of issues, so I'll take them one at a time.
First, the human cost of Bush's war:
The Environment
I maintain this web page, so I obviously have some interest
in environmental issues. While I don't feel this is the number one
issue facing this country, perhaps it should be. The president of
our country must act as a steward for our natural resources and holds a
solemn obligation to those who come after: to insure that our children
and theirs will have free, open spaces, wild places, to be sure they have
clean air to breathe and water to drink. George
Bush, by the time his second term expires, will likely have the
distinction of being the worst president the nation has ever had in regards
to conservation and the environment. This is not an oversight--it
is an area he views with disinterest and disdain. When possible,
he has cut back money for environmental programs, which he considers "secondary
issues". For more information on the past 4 years, check
this out.
The War Against "Terrorism"
George W. Bushis fighting a war
against an enemy he can't defeat. He was telling the truth when he
said that, then changed his mind and said it was a war we would win.
He was right because this is not a war, and terrorists are not one unified
enemy. We are fighting a war in Iraq for a personal vendetta George
Bush had against Saddam Hussein, period. This is not about terrorism.
We are having problems with terrorism because of the way we have dealt
with Muslims and the Middle East in general, and the Palestinians in particular,
in the past. We will win the "war" against terrorism when we change
our foreign policies, not by the might of our armed forces. This
president put us into this war, which has cost over 1200 American lives
and still he was voted into power. He has eroded our civil liberties
with his so-called Patriot Act. We now feel about 95% save from being
attacked on airplanes by people with box cutters, but in every other way
we are just as much at risk of being attacked as ever before. The
reality is the fear of terrorists is a very irrational fear--any American
has hundreds of times more to fear being killed driving to work or school
in a car accident than being a victim of a terrorist attack.
Moral Values
George Bush was probably put over
the top in the election thanks to the ultra-conservative evangelical Christian
vote. Exit polls indicated that a large number of people who voted
for Bush did so because they felt his was the moral leadership they seek.
How can a man whose native state of Texas executes an average of about
a prisoner a week, and did so while he was governor of the state, with
his full endorsement, favors the sale of semi-automatic weapons (which
really do pose a threat to our safety, so much more than box cutters on
airplanes), favors returning to the days of back alley abortion clinics
where young women were butchered, has packed the pockets of wealthy CEO's
at the expense of the common worker, has cost so many lives to be destroyed
or damaged by his insistence on going after Saddam Hussein, has given favorable
treatment to the U.S. pharmaceutical companies while elderly on fixed income
suffer since they cannot afford the medicines they need, and widens the
gap more than ever before between the wealthy and those struggling to make
ends meet while working two to three jobs just to survive. These
are the moral values the majority of America embraces? I don't think
so. This man is as immoral and deceitful as a public servant can
be.
Did we lose the opportunity to
truly move this country ahead, to regain the pride and dignity that once
went with being an American, to help the working families of the country
with high unemployment rates, a pittance of a minimum wage, and little
or no health coverage for millions, over an issue like gay marriages?
Where are our priorities???
Education
Espoused by Bush as one of the
centerpieces of his administration, he has utterly failed America's schools.
No Child Left Behind is a total sham--a backdoor way to get the voucher
system he wants that he knows he could not get any other way. Deliberately
under-funded by millions, this law has the potential to ultimately bring
an end to public school education as we have known it. Once a school
is declared a School In Need of Assistance, and adequate progress is not
subsequently shown (which is not likely, since the funds are simply not
there to make the gains in reading that are needed by the formulas in the
law), families are to be given the option of having their children attend
another school, at the expense of the original school. In other words,
a voucher plan. Higher education, including the nation's community
college system, have been grossly ignored and under-funded as well.
The president's disdain for science and science education is clearly indicated
in the law as well. The education of our children is a must if we
are to become the nation we dream of becoming. It's no wonder that
Bush overwhelmingly captures the states that have the nation's lowest literacy
rates. What happened to the idea that republicans favor local decision
making, not a federally imposed act like this.
Health Care
This I simply cannot understand.
How can people vote for this man who blocks our access to cheaper drugs,
has such utter disdain for science and technology, and has blocked all
efforts by democrats to put together a truly good health care program.
When I hear politicians talk about what they hear people tell them they
want, high on the list is always adequate, low-cost health care and health
insurance. As we're aging, will we be able to afford health insurance
for ourselves. I think about that very often as I'm nearing retirement,
and my mother is struggling on social security to afford care for herself
now that the company insurance plan she was on has sky-rocketed--she can
no longer afford that. How can an issue like this be so overlooked.
Tax Cuts
George W. promised his tax cut
in 2000 and got it passed because democrats were so cowed into acting like
sheep at the time. He then went on his extended vacation that was
cut short abruptly by the events of 9/11. All this tax cut did was
push our federal deficit towards the monstrosity it is today that our children
and theirs will be having to sacrifice to recover from. This is an
outrage. Do people really think they are getting a break from this measly
tax cut when we are being killed by state and local taxes to fund things
the federal government promised but has so far failed to live up to?
Have you checked your property taxes lately? If education were being
funded from the federal government as it should, and special education
were funded as it should, then we could see some legitimate tax relief.
There are
so many issues I could go on about. I'm truly dumbfounded at the
lack of intelligent voting and the naiveté of those who could have
returned this man to office. Just today, in his first press conference
since the election, rather than making an attempt to reconcile differences
and heal the wounds (and deep wounds they are) from the campaign, he had
the continuing arrogance to declare he would be willing to work with any
lawmaker, from either side, as long as they were with him on his agenda.
This is my way of trying to heal--trying
to make sense out of what, to me, is just too much ignorance. If
this is what America is becoming, God help us all.