A Bad Year's Anniversary: A Predictability In Failure

You Break it, You Own it. Care to Guess, Who Actually Pays for it?
It's been a year already since the last presidential election and I have to say that I didn't expect this rapid deterioration of the Bush regime. Unfortunately, under our system of government, Bushco will be around to pester us for another 3 plus years--enough time to make things even worse for our country. No wonder that Dubya is trying to satisfy his political base, that is, the extreme conservatives, the monolithic Republicans, and the theologs. His nominee to SCOTUS, Samuel Alito, an extremely conservative judge, is no surprise in the scheme of things.

On November 3rd, 2004, Bush said that we'd reach to the whole nation in his second term. Of course, this didn't happen as it was never his intension even after losing the election in 2000, and his subsequent appointment to the presidency by SCOTUS. The country was sharply divided, but the Republicans went on to govern with much authoritarianism and little sense, except to satisfy the most extreme element of their base. So, let's see what has happened in the span of a year.

In November, a judge ruled against Bushco in overstepping the Geneva Convention on the treatment of detainees. Still, if you're labeled as "enemy combatant" you have no rights and can be kept in confinement indefinitely. Now we hear that the CIA has secret holding facilities in Europe and elsewhere. Maybe we should apply the Patriot Act against those who expose our covert intelligent officers and have the CIA do a ..rendition on them. Heck, throw in some torture to get to the truth faster.

In December, our troops got the chance to corner and question Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld on whether they would have to keep looking for scrap metal in junk yards in Iraq to use as armor for their vehicles and for their vests. "You go to war with the army you have" was the cryptic answer. Thus, Americans back home started a fund collection and a donation drive for used bullet-proof vests. A Homeland Security top official got fired for whistle-blowing on the mismanagement and security flaws of his department, and was replaced by Dickey's son in-law. The top Army Reserve general warned us that the reserves were being turned into a "broken force." He was properly ignored like all the other experts who publicly or privately all agree that the Iraq war has been a disaster.

In January, the Bush administration quietly, through the undersecretary of the assistant junior staffer of the aide to the deputy officer of the third level of the broken chain of command, announced that the search for WMDs had ended. Surprise, surprise! Oh, I see, we're there to export democracy to a country that's a terrorist heaven and with a theocratic regime in its future. Nice!

In February, Mr. torture-is-OK-and-other-Bushco-enabling-measures-Gonzales is confirmed as the country's top attorney who is in charge of protecting our rights. [note: many conservatives confuse the word "right"... they're all for a right turn, but not for individual civil rights, unless a ..machine gun is involved, as judge Alito reminded us] In the same month, Bush asked for another $80 billion, to bring the total direct spending on the Iraq expedition to $200 billion. But, who's counting? Most of these monies are given to Americans anyway! [Bechtel, Halliburton, & co.]

In March, Bush flew back from vacation (you see, it wasn't a natural disaster to let his hand-picked experts to do "a heck of a job") to D.C. to sign a bill interfering in the Terri Schiavo case. The Reps wanted to turn this tragedy into a cheap political game. Dr. Frist (Senate Majority leader) had made a diagnosis on Schiavo by watching footage on TV assuring us that her eyes were responsive to the stimuli around her.

In April, the US government reported that the terrorist attacks had increased by 300% the previous year. No mention as to who facilitated the opening of the biggest terrorist training with hands-on-experience camp in Iraq. Bush signed the bankruptcy law that was written by the banking industry. Many Dems, including Mr. MBNA, Sen Joe Biden (D-DE), went along with it.

In May, the London Sunday Times leaked the Downing Street Memo which confirmed what we, the open-minded and inquisitive persons already knew, that Bushco was hell-bent on invading Iraq on false pretences. Dickey had already explained to us that "there is no doubt that Saddam has reconstituted the nuclear weapons program," and, "we know where they [WMDs] are." The same month he went on national TV to tell us that the insurgency was at its "last throes!"

In June, Terri Schiavo's autopsy confirmed what the doctors had said before: her brain had atrophied, and she was blind. Dr. Frist got an egg on his face but a bigger one to hit him later.

In July, finally, a majority of Americans woke up to realize that they had been misled into the war in Iraq. On the other hand, the majority of Americans believe in the supernatural and in the literal accuracy of the story of Christmas (especially as depicted by popular culture). Still more people believe in demonic possessions than they now believe in Bush. That's a progress I think. [see addendum]

In August, Bush wrenched a Bolton onto the U.N. when the Senate wasn't looking. Then Katrina struck. What's more to say about this; everybody knows the story by now. It's been a disgraceful performance by an incompetent and uncaring regime.

In September, Senate Majority leader Bill Frist learned that he was being investigated because his "blind trust" [he's got a ..vision thingy haunting him] was eagle-eyed, responding to the senator's directives. It wasn't enough that he passed laws in Congress benefitting one of the biggest hospital chains he owned, but like Martha got too greedy and foolishly unloaded stock just before their value fell. In a related story, his buddy in the House, Republican Majority leader Tom Delay got indicted the same month. The stench would soon get stronger.

In October, Dickey's chief of staff and protector of the known cabal, "Scooter" Libby got indicted too. The investigation into the vindictiveness, pettiness, and law-breaking Republican leadership continues today. Unfortunately, last month we passed a somber mark: 2,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq. Worse, the figure is much, much higher as the Pentagon doesn't include in this count those soldiers who die en route to the hospitals or soon after as a direct result of their injuries in Iraq.

As I frequently say, elections have consequences, and electing our leaders should be a task of utmost importance. We all share responsibility. The people we elect act in our name, and their decisions have lasting effects on us, our children and much of the rest of the world. This has not been a good year. We have a year until November 7th, 2006, to start taking back our federal government. Meanwhile, we can't be complacent. Not only we progressives must maintain our resolve and engagement, but we must intensified it. Every effort counts; let's do our part whenever the opportunity arises.

And, we have to keep on fighting the good battles even if we lose some. In this light we have to urge the progressive forces in the Congress and everywhere else to fight the Alito nomination to SCOTUS, and to try to avert further disasters as engineered by the incompetent and near-sighted conservatives of Bushco.

Addendum
Americans hold all sorts of unsubstantiated beliefs, and too many of us are either not interested in leading an examined life or can't handle the truth. That's why when all the facts were out and clearly visible to anyone who bothered to check, many Americans believed Bushco in regard to "the war on terror," Iraq, etc.

For those who may question my comment on the story of Christmas, I have to tell you that Christmas was not celebrated by the early Church; it wasn't until centuries after Christ's birth (no one really knows for sure when he was born) that the church decided to take over the pagan festivities, known as Saturnalia, in December. Much of the myths and practices today were created in the 18th & 19th centuries.

There is a new exhibit to open, Nov. 19th, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City that focuses on Darwin's life & ideas. Unfortunately, what seemed to be settled 80 years ago in the Scopes trial, is revisited today. Ignorance and prejudice seem to run in cycles, especially when a lot of ignorant people are present. If this doesn't depress you, let me cite a recent CBS News poll (Oct. '05) that showed, 51% of Americans reject the theory of evolution, saying that God created humans in their present form. Some 38% believe that creationism should be taught instead of evolution (Pew Reseach Center, Aug. '05).