You are not alone.
Cheri Delbrocco, Memphis Flyer: "The following are just a few reasons why most Democrats and many Independents think another four years of a Bush administration will be a global tragedy in the making..."
RESTORE THE TIMELINE...Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.memphisflyer.com/onthefly/onthefly_new.asp?ID=2773
MAD AS HELL
CHERI DELBROCCO
PEGGING THE NEW YEAR RIGHT
Like many kids, my brother had one of those toy shape
finders. It came with a little mallet and wooden pegs
for hammering correctly shaped pegs into matching
holes in a bench. When playing with his friends,
inevitably, some would not be able to fit the peg into
its corresponding shape.
One kid would always figure out that if he took the
mallet and banged and hammered really hard, and forced
the peg, even if it splintered or broke, eventually
the peg would fit into a hole that did not fit its
shape.
George W. Bush has been the kid who has forced the
square pegs into the round holes. He has beaten and
hammered the country and the world. He has used force
to break us, and come hell or high water, he is going
to bang those pegs into the shapes he wants, even if
they are the wrong ones.
In 2004, we have finally, finally reached another
election year. As the year unfolds, it will become
clear to voters that after four long years of being
forced, divided, hammered, and broken, they will have
a distinct choice in candidates and the chance to
replace the destructive forces of George W. Bush.
Recently, in The Washington Post, Al From, who heads
the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, credited
Howard Dean with running a successful campaign, but
questioned whether Dean can effectively lead the party
as its nominee. “We need to lay out a reason to
replace Bush.” From said. Al From should take a break
from his efforts to create the Republican-lite a.k.a.
Loser Party and listen to Howard Dean, for he has been
laying out reasons to replace Bush for months, now.
The following are just a few reasons why most
Democrats and many Independents think another four
years of a Bush administration will be a global
tragedy in the making:
Reason Number One: The greatest disaster to ever
happen in our country, September 11, 2001, could have
been prevented by George W. Bush. He has taken more
vacations, more long week-ends, and more taxpayer
financed campaign fundraising trips than any President
in history. Former Republican governor of New Jersey,
Tom Kean, chairman of the independent 9/11
investigating commission said publicly that 9/11 could
have and should have been prevented. Why was Bush
taking a month off to vacation in Crawford, Texas just
prior to 9/11 when he and his national security
adviser had been warned repeatedly of its imminence?
Why did he fail to alert the American people? Is it
too much to ask of the President to stay on the job
and not take a month’s vacation if he has been told we
might be attacked? Governor Kean promises major
revelations in the coming new year, but if his
commission raises doubts about the President’s
competency, Bush will just take that proverbial mallet
and bang away until the will of the people is thwarted
and the square peg has fit into the round hole.
Reason Number Two: Bush lied about his reasons for
invading Iraq. He squandered the country’s entire
stock of global empathy and goodwill following 9/11 by
invading Iraq under false pretenses, in violation of
international law, and without the approval of most of
the world. Bush said Iraq’s weapons of mass
destruction(WMD) posed an imminent danger to America,
but when no WMD were found, he said we invaded Iraq so
we could install democracy there. Bush used 9/11 as a
pretense for invading Iraq and repeatedly spoke of
Sadaam Hussein and 9/11 in the same breath, as if it
was Sadaam Hussein who had orchestrated the attacks on
our country. Our efforts should have been concentrated
on capturing Osama bin Laden and defeating al Qaeda,
but Bush handed victories to the very terrorists he
claims to scorn by placing our troops in Iraq. It took
150,000 soldiers, tens of thousands of deaths, and a
billion dollars a week to capture Sadaam Hussein.
Americans are told the country is safer, but are given
warnings of “high alert” for more terrorist attacks.
So which way is it? Are we safer? Are we more
vulnerable and at a higher risk of another 9/11? Where
are the weapons of mass destruction that were such an
imminent danger?
Reason Number Three: Under Bush, at the expense of
necessary programs such as Social Security and
Medicare, the giant corporations who contributed so
lavishly to his campaign, are being rewarded. During
this administration, three million people have lost
their jobs. Daily, the corporate giants announce
thousands of jobs being exported to India and China.
The Wall Street Journal, recently reported that if
this trend continues, by 2010, well over half of
America’s high tech jobs will have vanished and
America will have completed its transformation from an
advanced to a Third World economy! And what about
those Bush tax refunds? The $300 in tax relief most
middle-income earners received was more than offset by
increases in local property and state taxes, tuition
hikes, and increased energy costs due to draconian
cuts in federal funds for vital state and local
services.
Reason Number Four: Bush has transfigured a healthy
budget surplus created by Democrats into an endless
sea of red ink - in the form of massive federal
deficits of over $500 billion. Taxpaying families,
their children, and their children’s children will be
swimming in debt to pay for what? Endless war, tax
cuts for millionaires, and multinational corporate
bankrolling.
The national debt has exploded to over $6.9 trillion
since 2000. Since then, our currency has declined in
value over 30%. This President is asking future
generations to pay more taxes, experience high
inflation, and suffer a devalued currency to repay the
unrealistic tax cuts of his reckless fiscal policies.
So ring out the old, ring in the new! The year to come
will surely be a bright and happy one when we get
someone in the White House who doesn’t beat, hammer,
and bang America by splitting it and forcing it into a
shape it doesn’t belong.