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The View from the Meadow
Observations of the Passing Scene
Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre
The Reasons Why You Should Vote Against George Bush
| Editor's Note: This interactive article contains many links offering additional information |
This is not an ordinary presidential election --- it is quite possibly the most important election in America’s history. George W. Bush has failed at every turn of his presidency and needs to be removed from office for the good of America.
Bush has consistently proven himself to be incompetent in the position of president. He has risked countless lives and untold billions of taxpayers’ dollars on an ill-planned, misdirected war to combat terrorism by attacking the wrong country.
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At the same time he has failed to lower healthcare costs for Americans, sided with the drug industry instead of helping Americans to afford the medications they need, sided with the healthcare industry in his Deceptive Medicare Program and failed to provide funding for his education program. He has lowered taxes for the rich at the same time he has squandered untold billions of dollars in Iraq, resulting in the largest budget deficit in history and increasing the national debt to disturbing levels. Bush skewers the Democrats for their “tax and spend” policies, but he is spending more than the Democrats ever did and placing the country in debt to finance it. |
The outright lying of the Bush administration and continuous attempts to push the blame for their mistakes on other people has destroyed all credibility in Washington.
The Bush Regime has a hidden agenda that does not represent the traditional values of America --- or even the traditional values of the Republican Party. Die-hard loyal Republicans should take a closer look at this president and become active in opposing Bush --- for the good of the party and the country.
Bush wasted the international sympathy and support expressed by most of the world following the 9/11 terrorist acts by becoming the world’s biggest bully. He initially attacked Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists, but after an initial success the administration began pushing for its ill-advised invasion of Iraq.
Bush
continually lied to Americans, attempting to justify taking this
country to war in Iraq as an act against terrorism. Attacking
Iraq had about as much effect in combating terrorism as using
kerosene to put out a fire. The failed effort in Iraq actually
inflamed the terrorist movement worldwide and alienated America
from much of the world, including most of its traditional allies.
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The Bush Regime’s war in Iraq is its biggest mistake. If there were no other issues involved, this colossal error in judgment should be sufficient for throwing Bush out of office. All of the claims made by the administration in pushing for the invasion of Iraq were false.
We now know that Bush and Co had planned to invade Iraq long before they managed to put Bush in the White House. They refused the advice of experts and arrogantly threatened people who spoke up against them. They dropped the ball in Afghanistan and rushed to Iraq for no proven reason.
There were no weapons of mass destruction. There was no nuclear threat. Iraq was in a weakened economic condition caused by the boycott imposed since the Gulf War and its military was nowhere near as powerful as Saddam claimed. It was all bravado on Saddam's part --- mostly an attempt to sound tough enough to keep the enemies on his border at bay.
There were no weapons of mass destruction. There was no nuclear threat. Iraq was in a weakened economic condition caused by the boycott imposed since the Gulf War and its military was nowhere near as powerful as Saddam claimed. It was all bravado on Saddam's part --- mostly an attempt to sound tough enough to keep the enemies on his border at bay.
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There was no contingency plan in GW's plan for war. . These people were dumb enough to believe the plan would work --- despite the advice of many of our top military and intelligence leaders, and the huge outcry from thinking Americans. The Bush administration simply did not know what they were doing. Over 1,100 Americans and countless Iraqi civilians have died. More than a year and a half later they are still dying. This is Bush’s fault. This is his legacy. This is why terrorism is growing internationally. This policy of pre-emptive war has inflamed hatred for the US around the globe and even our strongest allies are seriously concerned about our actions, which include the threat of weapons of mass destruction. |
The US presents the world with the only immediate threat of weapons of mass destruction. It’s easy to picture how the rest of the world views Bush as a tough-talking Texan wielding nuclear power. This threat places other countries in jeopardy and actually accentuates the need for them to develop their own nuclear capabilities. When Bush labeled North Korea, Iran and Iraq as the “Axis of Evil” he threatened them. He challenged them. He actually pushed them to increase their efforts to acquire nuclear capabilities. Other countries, now reportedly including South Korea, are doing the same. We are certainly not setting a good example in encouraging other countries to stop the development of nuclear weapons --- the US, itself, is continuing the development of weapons of mass destruction. |
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The world will never be at peace unless America develops a peacetime economy.
Although from the current viewpoint in history this may seem unattainable, it should be among the most important goals for the civilization of man.
The military industry, frequently referred to as the military industrial complex, is one of the largest economic problems facing this country. Military-related spending, including the armed forces, weapons and equipment manufacturers and the multitude of related industries dependent this government trough, and military spending will account for almost half of the US budget in 2005.
Although the initial U.S. military budget request for Fiscal Year 2005 was $420.7 billion lawmakers passed a $447 billion 2005 defense spending bill. This amounts to almost half of the entire world's $950 billion in military spending and is more than eight times larger than China’s military budget, the world’s second-largest spender.
The situation will never change while Bush and Cheney remain in the White House. Both of them have huge ties with the military industry and the petroleum industry as well. Halliburton's illegal no-bid, open-ended contractin Iraq will probably prove to be one of the largest examples of graft and corruption ever exposed in American industry and ex-CEO Dick Cheney still profits from his relationship with the company. Bush the Elder holds an equity stake in Carlyle Group, which is run by leaders of his administration, and is on the company’s payroll as a senior advisor to the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board. The current Bush Administration is heavily populated with ex-Enron people.
A strong military is an absolute necessity in this world --- it’s difficult from our current perspective to envision a time when the globe could come together in peace and eliminate the threat of war. But, no country has ever been strong enough to police the entire world and, in spite of America’s huge financial resources, we simply cannot afford it.
The answer to terrorism, and eventual world peace, will require an allied effort. This will require diplomacy --- something almost entirely lacking in the current White House --- not bullish military threats. We need to work with as many countries as are willing to combat the terrorist threat. Their people need to discourage terrorism by condemning it in their cultures. They need to help in identifying terrorist activities by informing authorities of the locations of terrorist cells and training facilities.
The constant threat of greed and the lust for power will continue to require a strong defense, but our government is squandering such a huge portion of its budget that it is ignoring many of the basic needs of the citizens of this country. This is money that could be used to provide affordable healthcare, better schools and to repair our neglected infrastructure instead of being wasted in Iraq.
The policies of the Bush administration are resulting in a disappearing middle class and an increase in poverty. The rise of the middle class is among the primary reasons for the success of democracy in America --- a capitalist economy depends upon a mass market supported by employed people making salaries that enable them to purchase products.
Concentrating 95 percent of the wealth of Americans in the hands of one percent of the population may make the one percent very happy, but it is a plan for economic disaster.
The rich can only purchase so many products --- buy so many mansions, private jets and yachts or eat just so many meals a day, drink so much fine wine and use so much gas driving around in their expensive cars. The people in the business of selling the above-mentioned luxury items may prosper, but everything else will suffer. We need an employed populace to patronize the mass marker in order to survive.
GW and his cronies have presided while this country lost more jobs than any other administration since Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. The administration favors tax breaks for corporations, which include tax incentives that actually encourage the outsourcing of American jobs overseas and the manufacturing of US technologies to other countries.
These cutting-edge high tech products are vulnerable to reverse engineering and low-cost production by foreign companies that will then sell the product at such low prices in the international market that American companies will not be able to compete. This is a disastrous plan for failure.
There is also more corporate greed and corruption than any time since the period that caused the Great Depression, which goes hand in hand with the shenanigans that are occurring in Washington. Corruption is a common part of Texas business and politics --- Bush is doing nothing to change that. In fact, Bush is little more than a front man for the rapacious political efforts on the part of these groups to make it easier to steal in this country.
The current White House has at least a half dozen people with direct ties to Enron, and the world’s worst corporate scandal, among Bush’s top advisors. Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, who reportedly crafted the proposed Bush Energy Policy, is still running free --- while Martha Stewart sits in prison. Lay did push for an early trial, probably because he wanted to get his conviction over with by the November election, just in case Bush doesn’t win a second term. That way Bush could have pardoned him before he exits the White House.
Bush and Company see this situation from the view of the top two percent. They believe putting the money in the hands of the favored few is a good idea. They see no reason why their friends and families shouldn’t lead a life of favoritism. The never look beyond their own personal greed and see a time when this practice will ultimately fail. These are the worst type of people to have in control of the country. The Reagan administration pushed for the same Supply Side Economic policies, also known as the Trickle Down Theory (or sometimes the Piddle on the Peons theory), in which wealth is |
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concentrated in the hands of the very few. The resulting mass wealth is somehow supposed to benefit the rest of the country. It worked well for the few. The country went into debt.
When Reagan moved into the White House America was the richest country in the world. He started spending more than the country was taking in and he created a huge deficit. He raised the national debt by 23.6 percent, the largest increase in the country’s history and by the time he left Washington America was the world’s largest debtor. Americans were told that the National Debt was so large that our children and grandchildren would be responsible for paying it off. Much like the rhetoric coming from the Bush Regime today.
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When Bill Clinton entered office he disproved the Republicans’ economic theories, balanced the budget against all odds and actually created the largest surplus in the country’s history --- $236 billion --- before leaving office. He put a cap on the National Debt and developed a plan to spend it down, eliminating the debt in 12 years. If Gore had been elected to the presidency the end of the national debt could be in sight by now. Bush immediately reversed that trend when he took office by reinstating tax cuts for the rich and turned Clinton's record surpluses into record deficits. In less than four years he has turned that $236 billion surplus into a $422 billion deficit. |
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Bush almost immediately after assuming the presidency went to Congress and demanded a raise in the National Debt ceiling. He has now raised the debt limit twice and is planning to ask for another raise soon, which will be the third $1.8 trillion raise during the Bush Administration.
The debt recently topped the current $7.384 trillion ceiling and is currently around $7.5 trillion (Oct. 30th 2004) and rising at the rate of $1.7 billion per day.
For an up to the minute count from the national debt clock CLICK HERE
How Much is a Billion Dollars?
The Republicans have placed this country back in hock --- and they have done it on purpose. What is worse, the current debt is held by outsiders who do not have this country’s best interests in mind. In the past, when America faced a growing national debt the government issued bonds and Americans invested in their own country. The debt is now held by international financial institutions and foreign investment groups.
We
are again being told that this debt is growing so rapidly it will
soon be beyond reach, that it will take decades to pay off the
debt and our children and grandchildren will be paying for it.
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This is certain under the Republicans, but even that may not be possible. The debt is rising so rapidly that we may soon be unable to make the interest payments and it is conceivable that the lenders could call in the debt, bankrupting the country.
Bush’s bullish attitude is ruining America’s relations with other countries and successful trade requires strong relations. Isolationism will not work as a tactic to combat terrorism and it will not fix the economy. A capitalist system requires the marketing of products overseas --- especially since unemployed or underpaid Americans won’t be able to buy them --- and we’re straining relations with customer countries at a time when other world economies are growing and ours is declining. The European Union is proving successful and the Euro has already topped the US dollar in value. China is growing rapidly and could conceivably become the world’s strongest economic power in far fewer years than most people want to believe.
Bush, himself, is the primary reason people should vote against him in November. The man is an admitted alcoholic, a confirmed drug addict and a born-again Christian. Could you find a more unstable personality than GW to put in charge of the free world?
His life of privilege and favoritism has left the man less prepared for the position than any other president in history. He lacks the knowledge, intelligence and perspective to actually make decisions affecting this country and the world.
Unless parroting the responses to issues prepared for him by Karl Rove, Bush doesn’t seem to know what is going on. He admits he never reads newspapers, apparently he is not interested in world affairs. He is at the total mercy of his advisors to tell him what they think he needs to know.
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He reportedly only attends two cabinet meetings a week, where his advisors tell him what his position should be on issues. He doesn’t really make any decisions. He only makes choices between what various advisors offer him. He is naïve enough to believe that this is being decisive. It makes him extremely easy to manipulate by the back-room puppeteers controlling the White House. Bush pictures his primary role as that of the campaigner. At |
least, with Karl Rove’s help, he has finally found something he’s good at --- if you consider lying, name calling and making sarcastic jokes about the opponent campaigning. The cheerleading experience in college is actually paying off. But, this clown should not be in the White House.
The man has never had to work hard to accomplish anything by himself. His family set him up in business, several times, which proved dismal failures, unless you count benefiting from the fairly obvious insider trading when he sold his stock before the companies folded. He should be in jail --- not Martha.
The Bush family, despite its long history of political and business success, is tainted with numerous legal issues.
Cashing
in on influence has become a pattern of behavior extending throughout
the first family. Over the years there have been continuous assertions
of shady business dealings: associations with drug dealing and
money laundering; family members involved in the savings and loan
scandal; the ties with Enron. They are not the sort of people
most citizens would normally want to do business with. |
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Bush avoided the draft during the Vietnam War when his family connections enabled him to get into the Texas Air National Guard. He failed to finish his enlistment because he refused to take a physical that required a drug test. If it were not for his political connections the man should have been tried for being A.W.O.L.
Bush is actually the radical candidate in this election. Hiding behind the contrived tag of “compassionate conservative” is a farce … a sound bite. His plans for empire building, transforming other nations into a pre-conceived notion of democracy through a policy of continuous pre-emptive war, taking control of the world’s petroleum sources and energy facilities sound like pre-Nazi Germany. The Regime’s radical policies totally abandon the pragmatism and realism that has guided US policy since World War II.
Kerry appears more conservative than Bush by comparison. He honors the long tradition of US foreign policy that limits interventions with other countries and believes in the use of military force only when under actual threat. He sees through the actions of the Bush Regime and has a long record of supporting causes for the people, not the corporations.
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Bush is a habitual liar whose lack of scruples enables him to say anything to get re-elected. With a horrible record to run on almost nothing he says in his campaign speeches is the truth or has anything to do with the reality. He has degenerated to a infantile level of name calling and making snide jokes about his competitor. Bush used the 9/11 terrorism as an irrational excuse to go after Saddam, |
in spite of the fact he had nothing to do with the attacks. Bush later lied about his motives in attacking Iraq, claiming a regime change was the real reason for attacking Iraq, not the missing weapons of mass destruction. Bush has never once admitted to his failures and his policy of blaming other for his mistakes portrays a poor role model for the citizens of this country.
The Republicans practice the policy of the continuous campaign, something ex-Nixon aide John Dean says they have been doing since the Nixon administration. Dean says the situation in this White House is worse than Watergate.
Everything Bush has said since moving into the White House has been a carefully contrived sound bite or slogan designed to get him re-elected. It has nothing to with his real plans. If he had followed through with his 2000 campaign promises he would have been a peace president, not a war president, and a uniter instead of a divider.
This administration is an environmental disaster and is working energetically to overturn every hard-won environmental regulation enacted in the past 30 years.
Bush and Dick Cheney have both worked for resource companies and this administration established a harsh attitude toward the environment immediately after taking office. They snubbed the Kyoto Treaty, an international effort to reduce global warming, announced plans to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and to build access roads across public lands. The Bush administration has fought against arsenic standards in drinking water. The White House actually forced the Environmental Protection Agency to delete reports on global warming from its annual State of the Environment publication.
The Regime’s energy plan, which was reportedly drafted by Cheney but most insiders point to Enron’s Kenneth Lay as the chief architect, calls for changes in the laws in order to promote oil and gas development, ease mining restrictions and the development of new nuclear power plants. The plan removes regulations requiring existing power plants to install pollution control devices, such as scrubbers for smokestacks. The White House has continuously hidden internal records and memos related to its environmental plans from public view.
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The Interior Department weakened mining rules on public lands, lowering water safety standards in mining operations and making it difficult for government agencies to deny permits for a proposed mine even if the mine would cause "substantial irreparable harm." Bush lightened restrictions on developers requiring the preservation of |
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wetlands when developing commercial and residential projects, and pushed to double the logging levels on 10 million acres of public forest in the Sierra Nevada region of California, negating a 2001 management policy that took a decade of planning.
Rumsfeld wants Congress to exempt the U.S. military from all of the nation’s environmental laws, including laws dealing with hazardous waste, air quality, endangered species, and the oceans.
The Bush administration is allowing corporate polluters to re-write the laws. While focusing public attention on the war in Iraq, the administration is quietly pushing a private plan to reshape the American landscape.
The Project for the New American Century
One of the most disturbing, but least discussed, aspects of the Bush Regime is its predetermined plan to establish a new world order based on the tenets of the Project for the New American Century. This Nazi-like plot for taking control of the world’s oil supplies and energy resources from the White House supports the concept of placing power in the hands of the richest two percent of Americans in order to achieve its goals and includes a plan to keep Americans in a constant state of concern through a continuous series of pre-emptive wars.
This devious plan was developed by the chicken hawks turned warmongers currently in control of the White House during the period when they were out of power during the Clinton Administration. The PNAC published its agenda in June 1997 and the document was signed by twenty five people, including such Bush cronies as Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Steve Forbes, Elliott Abrams, Bill Bennett, Jeb Bush, Aaron Friedberg, and Lewis Libby.
In September 2000 the PNAC produced a report for Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Jeb Bush, and Lewis Libby entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century. The Sunday Herald referred to the document as a "blueprint for U.S. world domination."
The plan to attack Iraq was made years ago and is part of the PNAC’s agenda. That’s the real reason the Bush Regime pushed so hard for the war. The missing weapons of mass destruction were just an excuse. Bush and Co. jumped on the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a reason to implement their agenda.
These men do not represent America or American values. They are ruining our relations with the rest of the world, alienating most of our closet allies, and inflaming the terrorist movement. Bush and his entire regime need to be removed from the White House for the good of the country and the entire world.
For Links Providing More Information on the PNAC CLICK HERE