Saturday, January 10, 2009

Thanks for the memories and heck of a job Bushy


The promise of 2009 to most with at least a few synapses firing is the approaching exit from public life of man who has done nothing I can think of while in office that history will find benefited the United States much less the world. It seems like a lifetime ago when he became president with the country relatively prosperous as compared to now, boasting a budget surplus, and generally well thought of around the world. He rushed into office speaking of "compassionate conservatism", cutting taxes, and being "a uniter, not a divider". Now being fair here but at the time the country was exhausted over Clinton's perceived and real shenanigans and his questioning of the definition of the word "is". Gore didn't run a very good campaign. And of course its always good to have a right wing leaning Supreme Court waiting in the wings for those little Florida recount issues.







So the little man entered office walking his Texas swagger and went about for the first few months generally doing nothing, that is until September 11th.
So boosted by 9/11 W., unable to dazzle us with brilliance he settled on just baffling us with his bullshit. Yes, we were attacked and had to go to war but instead of rallying the people for the tasks ahead he told us to go shopping and gave us a tax cut, mostly helping the rich and very rich, so we could go further into debt. Now I know history is a bit of a stretch for many people but generally when you find yourselves in a war you have to RAISE taxes so the guys and gals can go off and fight the good fight with the proper equipment. Instead after committing us in Afghanistan, which should have been a the main focus, we run off and invade Iraq which had the curious affect of really pissing people off all across the world. Especially in Islamic countries were the terrorists that attacked us came from more or less proving their propaganda.

Now ignoring the fact that Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks and the story Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld sold us that they did was a whole bunch of half-truths wrapped up in lies, inside of a scam to make their friends rich we soon found ourselves involved in whole world of shit. Religious factions decided to take our invasion as an opportunity to fight ancient battles, the Kurds wanted to break away which sent the Turks into fits, and American troops were told you went war with the army you had, not necessarily the army you wanted. All the while they went around in junk yards hunting for metal for Hillbilly armor for their humvees.

The glorious corp of Chickenhawks, ass kissers, and other acolytes in the Bush administration simply arriving a half century or more to late to participate in Hitler's experiment went about redefining what torture was, twisting civil liberties, and giving certain people all inclusive vacations at secret CIA prisons. It would be so easy to go with all these remarkable accomplishments but the masterpiece failure of the Bush administration can be summed up in one word: Katrina.

So now with only a few days left with Bush occupying the White House what are we left with?

We are tied up in two wars with billions still flowing out of the country. Iraq has improved greatly but a huge question remains as whether the various factions will continue to behave after we start to withdraw that by a recent treaty, negotiated by Bush's people, we must do by 2011 no matter what. Afghanistan is falling utterly apart with even the commanding general over there saying a military solution doesn't exist. All the other presidents put together since the country was formed built a debt adding up to six trillion dollars. Bush by his little self has managed to build that debt up to ten trillion. Bush's good friend Putin is leading a resurgent Russia that aside its legitimate interests is once again seeking do more than resume its place on the world stage. China, the six hundred pound gorilla also returning to the world stage, continues to see its power build in military, economic, and diplomatic terms mainly at the expense of the United States with us so preoccupied with bring democracy to the Middle East.

But I believe the most actively incompetent policy that Bush pursued after the 9/11 attacks that borders on treason was his lack of any real attempt to break the United States off imported oil. This country developed the atomic bomb and put a man on the moon in a race to overcome enemies that actively sought to defeat us. Instead of taking those examples and pushing this country to end our crack-like addiction on imported oil Bush threw up his hands saying there were no easy answers and Cheney, with his famous sneer, said something to the effect that conservation was a personal virtue. It was never about easy answers or personal virtue but about leadership and giving a damn about something other than family business interests.
Now some will say that at least Bush kept us safe with no further attacks on United States. Okay, I'll give you that count but until they release some information about any attacks they stopped (independently verified) as far as I trust them they might as well claim to have defeated an alien invasion from space.

All told it is the American people that have to pick of the pieces the Bush administration. So I end this last political rant on Bush with a quote from Winston Churchill. You can figure out my intent. Just change out Baldwin's name with Bush's.

"I wish Stanley Baldwin no ill, but it would have been much better if he had never lived. "

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Beach,

Re: "We are tied up in two wars with billions still flowing out of the country."

America is tied indirectly or by proxy to a third war, eg., Gaza, through its 2.4 billion mega dollars of US taxpayers' money that's used to subsidise Israel's military ambition.

These wars have not only weakened America morally but also financially. Bush's presidency has made the almost impossible possible - he managed to bring America and millions of Americans almost to their knees in less than 10 years.

Unknown said...

What an outstanding post you've written there, Beach.

Keep it up friend!

Mike said...

The real tragedy of Bush is that right after 9/11, like him or not, he had the vast majority of us looking to him for leadership. He failed colossally and epically to lead us out of that mess with our heads held high. No matter how kind history eventually may or may not be to Bush, that is his real legacy.

lime said...

it is staggering to consider. it really is. i can't wait until he is gone. and hey, you haven't even touched on the unpatriotic act or NCLB which are two more domestic travesties. we are deeply damaged but i hope not beyond healing.

Unknown said...

Hi Beach,

Something else on Israel's designs on Gaza which might interest you:

Israel's war on Gaza: Follow the gas trail

I didn't have the slightest clue that the Palestinians were sitting on a huge gas reserve in Gaza until I read Ingrid's post and her link to Michel Chossudovsky's War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields.
The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves.

This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline.

Commander Zaius said...

Hill: In a post that was on my first blog (around 2005) and that is now lost due to crashed hard drive I asked the question of whether the United States would survive Bush. The question was rhetorical but given our current situation is very legitimate.

Mike: Absolutely! Trying to be fair here but Bush could have done so much to rally the country for both the war in Afghanistan and for changes that would have be far easier then.

Lime: Amen! My biggest concern now is that far too many people expect Obama to clean up his mess in mere months.

Hill: Holy crap, I sure as hell never knew about the gas fields.

Keshi said...

He messed up..but we all do make mistakes, dun we?

u wrote this well BB!

Keshi.

Kentucky Rain said...

You make some good points here BB. How relieved the world will be when January 20th finally arrives.

Hill: I have to disagree with everything written by Michael C. This guy maintains that Bush et al were behind 9/11 and that is just nuts. The evidence supporting the attacks (al Qaeda) is overwhelming. After I read MC's account everything he writes is poisoned for me.

Randal Graves said...

Great post, old man, and that quote fits perfectly. Though, since he can't be unborn, I'd like to wish him perhaps a wee bit of ill will.

Stella by Starlight said...

Beach, this is a brilliant post. You particularly got me with this statement: Now I know history is a bit of a stretch for many people but generally when you find yourselves in a war you have to RAISE taxes so the guys and gals can go off and fight the good fight with the proper equipment.

One of my most strident small gripes with this "administration" were those damn rebate checks. What could I do with $600? Make a payment on something?

No, we just got ourselves deeper into debt. From a great post in the corner of cyberspace: Bush aims to save the economy with an absurd tax rebate scheme, which will amount to about $140 billion, equal to about 1 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.

[Source: Beggars Can Be Choosers]

And the rebates occurred twice. Add that to the "tax cuts," and ask yourselves how much less the national deficit would be.

On second thought, maybe this wasn't a small annoyance after all.

Commander Zaius said...

Keshi: Yeah, he messed up big. I only hope we can clean his mess up in my lifetime.

MadMike: Might take the 20th as a holiday.

Randal: I actually thought about adding the saying that it is a ill wind that blows no good because that is what Bush is and very ill wind.

Stella: Bush's one accomplishment is that nothing he did was ever a small annoyance.

Distributorcap said...

that was great -- hit the spot with out being overtly angry

watching him give his farewell tour this past month, and then his incredibly awful farewell to the troops speech on thursday - makes me wonder if we really even have a shot to get back to some semblance of normalcy.

it is folks like you that keep us sane!

Commander Zaius said...

DCap:

You wrote: it is folks like you that keep us sane!
If that is the case we are in a whole world of shit.

Anonymous said...

Great post...
Thanks for sharing......



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Melvin
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