A new
Washington Post--ABC News poll finds that "a clear majority of Americans say President Bush is ignoring the public's concerns and instead has become distracted by issues that most people say they care little about."
Shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you.
Bush and his Republicans have been in power for some time now. What have they demonstrated over the last several years to be their most primary goals?
One man's list follows:
1.
Destruction of Social Security.
The TRUTH is that Social Security is and has always been a HUGE success and is currently running a massive surplus. Gambling it on the open stock market is risky and unnecessary.
2. Iraq.
There were no WMDs. There was no connection to Osama bin laden, Al-Qaeda, or the events of September 11. Iraq and Saddam Hussein posed absolutely NO THREAT to the United States nor any other country in the world. The Bush administration lied about this and intentionally deceived the US Congress and the American People by ensuring that "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" of invading Iraq before July of 2002.
Nearly 1700 Americans and hundreds of thousands or Iraqis are dead. The country is FAR worse off now than it was before we invaded (no electricity, no schools, no medical system, the world's terrorist recruitment center, and on the brink of all-out civil war).
3. Elimination of the American Public's Right to Privacy
3a. The so-inappropriately-misnamed-it-makes-me-gag Patriot Act allows the government to do as they will if they call you a terrorist. The latest effort is to remove any semblance of legality or due process by omitting the judicial branch entirely. If the FBI wants something, they should just take it, right?
3b. Terry Schiavo. Bush and the Republicans know what's better for you and how you want to live or die than does your spouse.
3c. Medical marijuana. Bush and the Republicans know what's better for you and how you want to manage the disease-inflicted pain of your body than you or your doctor. Morphine is okay. Oxycontin is okay. Vioxx will make your heart explode, but its okay. Marijuana, given only under a doctor's medical supervision, is VERY VERY BAD.
3d. Viagra is a perfectly legitimate prescription. But pharmacists should be allowed to refuse orders for birth control pills. Legislation has passed in several states (MS, SD, AR) and is pending in others (many) stating that pharmacists should "not participate in procedures that go against their conscience."
Of course, only birth control is mentioned in these bills. No mention is made of the legality of taxi and bus drivers refusing to drop you off at the synagogue, or physicians refusing to provide life-saving treatment to an unwed mother, or banks refusing to process the payroll deposit of someone who looks like a homosexual. All would be "valid" under their personal code of ethics not to engage in any activity that goes "against their conscience."
4. Elimination of States' Rights. Especially for issues that do not cross state lines.
4a. Florida said there should be a recount. Bush, with some assistance from the SCOTUS, said no.
4b. Oregon says you have the right to die with dignity. Bush and the Republicans say no (see Schiavo above).
4c. Marijuana should be used as a legal medical treatment in CA, RI, and elsewhere. Bush and the Republicans say no.
5. Elimination of the Middle Class
5a. Big Oil is making record profits. You are paying record prices for a gallon of gas.
5b. Big Banking will get your money even if you declare bankruptcy due to identity theft, medical bills, your pension being taken away because the company you worked for filed for bankruptcy, or even because you had to leave your $200,000/year job and go fight in Iraq as a Reservist making less than $40,000/year.
5c. The federal deficit is bigger than it has ever been and is only getting bigger because Bush and the Republicans keep giving themselves massive tax cuts. You get a couple hundred dollars advance on your next tax return.
5d. Companies get massive tax breaks from the government and do not have to fund the pension programs promised to you. Enron, Tyco, Worldcom, United, ...
5e. Outsourcing your jobs FROM the US to third world countries.
5f. Medicare "reform" . Out of control health care prices. Reduction of Veterans' benefits.
5g. Removal of the US military as a viable, positive avenue of education and job skills development for the lower and middle class.
6. Elimination of the World's Respect for the US
Remember when we used to be the Good Guys?
6a. Abu Ghraib
6b. Guantanamo Bay "gulags"
6c. Legalized torture by the US Attorney General
6d. John Bolton as UN Ambassador
6e. Denial of greenhouse gas global warming and the refutal of the Kyoto Protocols ,
6f. Texas oil companies laundering the money in the "Oil for Food" UN scandal.
7. Elimination of Science
7a. See greenhouse gas and global warming above
7b. Literal interpretation of the Bible creation story as a valid "scientific alternative" to evolution.
7c. Refusal to use stem cell research. 16-celled genetic blobs that have existed in a laboratory environment for a few days are more important to a "Culture of Life" than potentially curing millions of people afflicted with Alzheimers, Parkinsons, cancer, spinal cord injuries, heart disease, strokes, burns, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and a dazzling unknown potential of other diseases.
8. Destruction of the Environment
8a. Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge should be destroyed because there MIGHT BE oil there. We might be able to drill and get it out of there in 20 years. It may provide enough oil for the USA to use for 6 months.
8b. Global warming
8c. Increasing the amount of pollution that companies can generate as part of the "Clean Skies" program
9. Theocracy replacing Democracy
9a. Judicial activism
9b. Biblical creationism as a "science" in schools
9 continuing. Blurring of the separation of Church and state (removal of the filibuster, private school vouchers, Defense of Marriage act, Jerry Falwell and the new Moral Majority, Pat Robertson and the New World Order, Sen. Bill Frist and the Focus on the Family, Fred Phelpsand the Westboro Baptist Church, Churches as political bases and fundraisers)
10. Your outrage here. Let me know what I missed.