The last thing the country needs right now is W visiting Virginia Tech.
We do not need good words from this president.
We need good deeds.
Is it a good deed to visit a grieving community, and say words, when very little or nothing is being done to address the root cause of the tragedy in the first place?
A good deed right now:
- Create sane gun laws in this country.
Another good deed:
- Vow never again to speak words such as “…the President believes that there is a right for people to bear arms,” in the wake of the largest domestic shooting tragedy this country has ever seen.
We no longer need words from this president.
We need good deeds.
(more deeds on the flip...)
It is serial behavior for this president to show up and say good words at scenes of tragedy—tragedies that in many cases could have been and should have been prevented. Due to the nature of the tragedies that have unfolded during W’s tenure, and due to the nature of which funerals W actually attends (how many soldiers’ funerals does he attend?) it is painfully reinforced that this president may just care more for corporate entities and donors, especially oil and weapons manufacturers, than individual American citizens.
A broader perspective:
“Good words” cannot rectify unheeded warnings and lack of preventative action. Three of the largest tragedies of their kind have unfolded during this president’s tenure:
- Preventable terrorist attack
- Preventable and unlawful invasion of a sovereign nation
- Preventable catastrophic loss of life from a hurricane
In each case—9/11, Iraq, Katrina— the president was warned, and warned repeatedly, about each impending disaster. And in each case, in spite of each warning, no preventative action was taken.
—“Good words” spoken at ground zero cannot rectify the fact that 9/11 was a preventable attack.
—Good words (weasel words) about “mission accomplished” or “stay the course” cannot rectify the fact that the unlawful Iraq invasion was built on a heap of outright deceptions regarding WMD/spreading democracy.
—Good words spoken to victims of Katrina cannot answer to the fact that FEMA was not pre-placed in New Orleans.
We no longer need words from this president. No words at all.
We need right action, and good deeds.
Adding to the list of ongoing tragedies that should be prevented:
- Senseless gun violence in the United States
- The gutting of Constitutional law in the United States
- Catastrophic human-created global warming, of which the US is a huge contributor
The jury has been in for some time regarding the rash of preventable gun violence in this country. We need more laws like the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.
In regard to the points just mentioned:
Has this president worked hard to remedy senseless gun violence in the US?
Worked hard to protect and defend the law as laid out in the Constitution?
Heeded scientific warnings about catastrophic effects of global warming, and worked hard to immediately curb carbon emissions?
No.
No.
No.
This is why last thing the country needs right now is W visiting Virginia Tech.
Its part of W’s longer pattern of speaking “good words” in light of (in many cases) preventable tragedy—offering condolences after the fact—when root causes are still festering.
We do not need good words from this president.
We need good deeds.
Were this any other president besides W, I would encourage that the president visit Virginia Tech and help lead a community (and nation) in grieving. (But this is W…)
In light of preventable tragedies in which W received plenty of warning—9/11, the Iraq invasion, hurricane Katrina, and global warming, words cannot erase or deflect the consequences of wrong action. These were preventable tragedies. (In the case of global warming, this is a preventable tragedy in present tense.)
My ever-growing concern is that W does not speak at all for the people in this country—(that is, “we the people” outlined in the Constitution). The concern is that W (and Cheney) are primarily agents of specific oil companies and weapons manufacturers.
Are “good deeds” to this president, then, perhaps related to fattening the pockets of oil companies and weapons companies ahead of looking out for the health and prosperity of everyday Americans?
(Post 9/11 weapons profits have skyrocketed, post Iraq invasion oil prices have skyrocketed, and post Hurricane Katrina, private contractors i.e. Halliburton have received huge no-bid reconstruction contracts—and what has happened with the reconstruction?)
Moves to limit the corporate behavior of oil and weapons companies—(i.e. global warming legislation and sane gun laws respectively)— are viewed with suspicion by this president. It can be argued, plausibly, that the Constitution itself is viewed with suspicion by this president.
And after the largest domestic shooting tragedy this country has ever seen the President immediately makes a statement that “…there is a right for people to bear arms.”
Who is this guy working for?
Why is he speaking at Virginia Tech?
We do not need good words from this president.
We need good deeds.