As I watch the coverage of the president of our country tour Biloxi, Mississippi, I want to slap him. He is dressed in a shirt with sleeves rolled up as if he is there to assist in the cleanup. A crying mother and child have even been added to the mix for a good photo op! I think there was also a picture of him swooping down in AirForce One surveying the damage to New Orleans or what is left of it. Such a horrible tragedy has not struck our nation in my lifetime other than 911, and this one may even have more of a death toll.
About 911, a horrible day for all of our country. A terrorist by the name of Osama Bin Laden bragged about that tragedy and boldly declared that it was done by his direction. Have we yet caught Bin Laden, NO, our leader decided to take us into Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction that no one ever found. They did find Saddam Hussein though. He is not a nice man but there are many other terrorists in the world who are worse. We have sent almost 2000 young soldiers to their death with this directive, issued by Mr. Bush. Rather than a short "shock and awe" march into Iraq that our president assured us would be over soon, we are still there. Iraq is now full of insurgents and a new training ground for terrorists.
Is it because of our National Guard and our soldiers that are in Iraq that the desperation and death has not been addressed until several days after the fact?. Over 25,000 people were crammed into the Superdome in New Orleans having no where else to go. They had no air-conditioning, no water, no food, small children, the elderly, and people dying right and left. I don't doubt that any group crammed into the situation these people were would become hostile and have a gang mentality. After 5 days Mr. Bush called the congress who were also 'vacationing' back to work for legislation to deal with the issue. I can remember when the patient Terry Schiavo was being weaned off of her feeding tube in Florida, Mr. Bush called congress in for a midnight session to intervene. His brother, Jeb, the governor of Florida was even asking for guardianship of Ms. Schiavo to keep her alive. Good publicity to get another Bush in the White House in 2008? Could be, these Bush guys love publicity.
With regard to the right to life, once Mr Bush was asked by a reporter which legislation he would propose to insure his stance on promoting a culture of life. He responded by saying that he wants to be sensitive and compassionate towards life and will do what is necessary to insure that life is preserved. How can Bush justify that he wants to be sensitive towards preserving life when he: (1) he is absolutely unequivocally pro-death penalty (2) so many people live in this country at or in the poverty level and find it difficult to support their children on a daily bases. The people in the south sure proved this with the recent hurricane Katrina. (3) there are so many who suffer from mental illness and services and funds at the federal level therebydiminishing the quality of their life. Are people who are poor, mentally ill, or those on death row less deserving of his compassion towards life?
How do men such as George Bush, who proclaim Jesus to be his favorite individual and all of those right-wing conservatives who call themselves Christian consistently practice what I call a culture of intolerance? This method of thinking extends to everything including women's right to chose, sexual orientation, stem cell research, and issues on the war in Iraq. From what I see there is a stubborn, bullying mentality emerging, which basically says "my way or the highway".
Are we here in America becoming a theocratic country? By this, I mean, are we a country where our government has become subject to undue influence and control by religious extremists whereby humanism has been replaced by religious fundamentalism. It appears that the rights of minorities and individuals are chiseled away, and are replaced by the thoughts, actions and fear of reaction by the Chrisitian right extremists. Judges and top policy makes that this president includes inside his cabinet include many individuals with extreme views who always echo those of his own. And of course, there is the ever present comment that this president does not want to offend the Christian right wing, that group responsible for bringing him a second term.
So here I sit, watching this man going around reporters with his sleeves rolled up as if he is going to pitch right in and help them out! It makes me physically ill. Too little, too late for all of the pain and suffering in our own country, the richest most powerful country in the world.
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