Yes, you read that correctly. George "The Jury Is Still Out On Evolution" Bush wants more spent on science.
The proposal is part of Bush's initiative to boost U.S. competitiveness in the global marketplace through innovation. He also wants to train thousand of new science and math teachers and extend a popular tax credit businesses can receive for investing in research and development. The total price tag over 10 years would be $136 billion.
Who wants to guess how many of those businesses will invest in alternative fuel sources?
If you guessed "zero," congratulations! Your cynicism is robust and impressive.
Democrats show concerns that despite Bush's call for increases on the sciences, he's going to be "cutting overall discretionary spending on education by trimming money in areas such as the arts, parent-resource centers and drug-free schools," but Bush argues that his proposals are "vital."
But Bush said in his weekly radio address that his proposals are vital for America to "remain an innovative nation that competes with confidence" and would help ensure that every U.S. child has the math and science skills needed for the jobs of the future.
Call me skeptical if you must, but I find it hard to believe that Bush does not have an ulterior motive. Bush's war on science is so pronounced that I wouldn't be surprised to see him shrieking madly and hurling feces at passing scientists.
But a recent trip to Illinois saw him visiting Cabot Microelectronics Corp., and also saw him cast aside his cowboy outfit and dress up like a scientist:
Donning protective eyewear and a white lab coat, Bush toured a laboratory of the supplier of products used in making semiconductors. Cabot is in the district of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who accompanied Bush to the facility.
"Cutting-edge firms like Cabot are creating good jobs for our workers and helping to keep America competitive in the global economy," Bush said in his radio remarks
I wonder if Bush visited his buddy Hastert and reminisced about various Abramoff-related donations and happenings? Maybe they lamented the loss of Ken Lay and the downfall of Enron, another company that donated to Hasert.
Maybe not. The jury's still out.
Bush also talked up the latest job increase figures, around 121,000, and continued to celebrate 34 months of continued job increases. However, not everyone was as optimistic and reluctant to accept reality:
Democrats focused on the tepid nature of the growth, noting it was smaller than needed to keep up with population increases.
"Instead of doing something to address sky-high gas prices, expensive loans and outsourced jobs, this president is holding photo ops touting his policies that are failing small businesses," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
Oh, John Kerry... where were you in 2004?
This "increase spending on science" Bush is currently blabbing about seems to be little more than smoke and mirrors, similar to the sexy and scantily-clad women who gyrate and dance around on stage to distract from the magician climbing out of the box and rushing backstage.
He'll talk and talk, claiming he loves science, he wants to be dedicated to bringing Americans to the forefront of the sciences like we used to be (sort of), but the bottom line is George Bush is trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
He has never cared about science. The only way he'd give a shit about science and math is if the Bible said "On the 12th day, God created math and science, and he did say 'It is good.'" Bush wants to extend more and more tax breaks to his pet corporations and probably wants to pressure scientists to come out against the facts from Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth."
What better way to get favorable scientific studies than to open funding to mammoth corporations?
I very well could be throwing up wild accusations without any basis in reality, but seriously, people. How many of us would be surprised if Bush supports science with the ulterior motive of discrediting it? How many jaws out there would drop if it came out that pro-Bush corporations are funding studies to diminish the stated threat of global warming?
I don't want to think it's feasible, I don't want to think he's clever enough for that, but....
Well, who knows. Maybe I'm wrong, and the pope was right:
