Wacko Bush
Things sure are getting ugly in the news. Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan is claiming, not in so many words, that President Bush is a sick little buck-a-roo. McClellan is speaking out about the Bush White House in his new book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception. According to ABC News, McClellan writes: "The media won't let go of these ridiculous cocaine rumors,' I heard Bush say. 'You know, the truth is I honestly don't remember whether I tried it or not. We had some pretty wild parties back in the day, and I just don't remember.'
"I remember thinking to myself, How can that be? How can someone simply not remember whether or not they used an illegal substance like cocaine? It didn't make a lot of sense."
And yet, McClellan concludes, "I think he meant what he said in that conversation about cocaine. It's the first time when I felt I was witnessing Bush convincing himself to believe something that probably was not true, and that, deep down, he knew was not true. And his reason for doing so is fairly obvious — political convenience…"
McClellan also said that Bush went into Iraq because he had “dreams of greatness.” As a psychiatric nurse, this news story really caught my attention. McClellan is describing Bush as a megalomaniac, and as a pathological liar. Just great! I was tired of all the news about the Democratic primaries, but this is really scary stuff. Bush always had “daddy issues,” but this is too much to bear.
This isn’t going to be a good year for the GOP. May they rest in peace.
posted by Mother Jones RN at 5:09 PM
40 Comments:
A politician that's a megalomaniac and as a pathological liar?
Heaven forbid!
Actually it's hardly a revelation. In fact I'd be more impressed if one could be found that wasn't at least one of those two things.
McClellan is a disgruntled former employee. He's bitter because he was "asked to leave" so that Tony Snow could take his place. His book should be read within that context.
"Wacko Bush"
Is The Speaker guest-blogging here?
If Bush did a line in the 60s, I don't give a crap. Also, if you're totally wasted-drunk, you might do crap and not remember!
At least he didn't drive his car off a bridge a let a woman die while he slept soundly in his hotel room.
Politicians always need to be careful as someone is writing a book about them.
Well it appears that Nurse K is one of the 27% that still supports Dubyah. We knew they were out there but you don't meet one often.
I don't think people forget doing a line of cocaine unless one is doing cocaine regularly. Secondly, I am confident it was a quite a few decades later than the 60's.
Now for that old Repugnant standby: The "evil" Senator Kennedy. He had a terrible accident [in the 60's]. There is absolutely NO EVIDENCE that he was in his room sleeping while Mary Joe Kopechne drowned. You should read the case Nurse K before you make statements you cannot support. Oh! That sounds like Bush and his Bandits. Now I understand. Another Repugnant goes off half-cocked.
As to Pixelrn please get your facts straight. McClellan was not asked to leave so that Tony Snow could take his place. Ari Fleischer took his place and that was quite a few years ago. He also "left" and was duly replaced. Apparently the Bushmaster has as difficult a time keeping press secretaries as he does keeping his wits about him.
Finally, George Bush is the worst president this country has ever had and that will be his legacy. He led us into war on a lie, and he knew it. I do not excuse his irresponsible behavior by psychologically labeling him, unless LIAR is such a label. The list of his lies, and his mistakes goes on and on and is public knowledge, except for the few right wing bible-thumping neo-cons who cling to the insanity that is of their own making.
Peace and vote Democrat in November. Everyone else will.
Calling the president a "wacko" is a little over-the-top whether you disagree with his policies or not. As an ER nurse, I know what a "wacko" is, and Bush is not one of them. Oddly enough, a psych nurse should have just as keen of an understanding...
Just a little Speakerish for me is all.
I have dreams of greatness too, BTW. I want to be a great mom, great nurse, and hopefully a great something-other-than-a-nurse when I go to grad school. If you don't want to be great, you're selling yourself short. Few people dream of being "a little below average" or "meeting expectations", especially if you're a president. Pathological that is not. That's what every president should do. If your president is not dreaming of greatness, he should not be the president.
Thank you Nurse Ratched and Madmike.
I take umbrage to the following comments left by Nurse K:
"If Bush did a line in the 60s, I don't give a crap. Also, if you're totally wasted-drunk, you might do crap and not remember!"
Wow. Scary. Maybe if more people had "given a crap" back in 2000, and again in 2004, we wouldn't be in the big pile of crap that we are in today. Hmmm...
She goes on:
"At least he didn't drive his car off a bridge a let a woman die while he slept soundly in his hotel room."
It's amazing how Tedd Kennedy continues to be the punching bag for the Right. Is it that hard to find someone to pick on? Is that all you got? It's startling to me that a nurse would pick on one of this nation's most seasoned and respected senators, someone who has so vehemently fought for the middle-class of this country.
Here, let me re-frame it for you. Let's try making a little comparison between the mistake that Ted Kennedy made back in Chappaquiddick, and the blunder that our commander in chief made...
Chappaquiddick: one person died, albeit tragically.
Iraq: over 4000 US troops dead. Tens of thousands maimed and injured, PTSD. Even the most conservative of estimates of Iraqi deaths at over 100,000, with some estimates as high as over 1,000,000. Not to mention the
Or is that "fuzzy math" for you?
And this last comment:
"If you don't want to be great, you're selling yourself short... That's what every president should do. If your president is not dreaming of greatness, he should not be the president."
So just wanting to be great is good enough? Does it actually matter what the consequences of one's desire to be great are? Does it matter that innocent people die? Does it matter that you run a nation into debt? Does it matter that you take away people's civil liberties, that you condone torture, that you isolate your country from the other nations of the world at the expense of your own desire to be great? Should we just excuse Bush and say, "Oh well, at least he was trying to be great!" How inspiring.
Let me ask you this? If a nurse accidentally injects the wrong patient with the wrong medication or dosage and the patient dies, do you think that nurse should be held accountable? Do you think that nurse should be allowed to keep practicing without any sort of intervention or reprimand? Or would you give a crap?
It's absolutely frightening when you really look at it, when you really take a look at all the facts and consider that this man is still our president. And even more frightening, that still, after all that has happened, that there are people who would rather focus on Sen. Kennedy driving off a bridge one night 40 years ago. I would invite you to take a closer look at his record since that tragic night. Maybe you would see why the Right hate him so much.
Here is a word you should look up, hubris.
Also, here is a great summary of the reasons why we should never have invaded Iraq,
http://ivaw.org/faq
Oh my God? You mean people have to DIE for freedom? Well knock me over with a feather.
If you don't want to risk your life for freedom and the United States, don't join the USA's volunteer military. Any questions? Fighting bad guys is dangerous work. Oh, and don't be a cop nor a construction worker nor a mountain climber either. Perhaps "guy who stands in a crowd yelling slogans at a liberal rally" is a good, safe job for you.
Nurse K: "Die for freedom?"
I'm sorry...I didn't realize the US was occupied and needed to be 'freed'.
Oh right. Freed. I forgot...freedom of the oil reserves. My bad.
Nurse R: Your blog rocks. You are officially my Psyche Nurse Hero.
My earlier suspicions have been confirmed: Nurse K is a right wing neo-nut. She actually believes there is some sort of link between Iraq and freedom. When it comes to the dull and ignorant it appears that Dubyah did his job.
Healer and Albino I agree with every word.
If we leave ourselves wide open for attacks from crayzee Islamic fundamentalists, we are no longer free, we are at their mercy. Fight them there or fight them here, your choice. Not that every death isn't tragic, but it's better that the best military in the world fight them vs. buildings and airplanes full of unsuspecting civilians. I'm pretty badass, but I can't take a bunch of suicide bombers and fight chemical weapons with my bare hands and willpower.
At the very least, there is plenty of intelligence linking Al-Qaeda to Saddam. There are 5 people who have gone to Iraq from my ER alone, and even those who held the most basic jobs (ie transporting stuff from Point A to B) describe Iraq as a "weapons dump".
It's easier to be dismissive and have selective memory than it is to man up and do something about the problem. The far left is really good at blaming and dismissing, but will, in the end, get many of us civilians killed if elected to office. Islamic terrorists have been messing with the US since the Barbary Wars of the early 1800s. They're not going away.
Nurse K,
I'm very happy to learn you "don't give a crap" that the president did cocaine at one time. Mainly for one reason:
It means you and I are in total agreement that the impeachment of Bill Clinton was nothing but a completely asinine bit of political theater led by right wing ideologues who put their ambition over the needs of the nation by paralyzing our government for the better part of a year.
I mean, there are federal laws that prohibit the manufacture, importation, and use of cocaine in this country. Laws that the person holding the office of president of the United States has the responsibility to enforce. Mr. Bush oversees the expenditure of billions of dollars each year executing these responsibilities. So you can see cocaine is a far bigger issue than blowjobs, which are legal and free.
I'm really happy we can agree that the leadership of the Republican party tried to bring down a duly elected president for no reason.
We'll leave alone the facts that thousands of people are rotting in prison at this moment for "doing a line," many of them undoubtedly sentenced by the judicial system Mr. Bush oversaw as governor of Texas, and that using Mr. Bush's own statements in the public record, it's evident that he may have "done his line" as late as 1974, as I fear I've gone on too long already. If you'd like me to come back and elaborate though, I'd be happy to.
Before I go though I do need to thank you for clearing up a misconception I've had almost my entire life. Namely, that John was the Kennedy brother who served as president. I mean, as a nurse, surely you're smart enough to realize that we were talking about the president here, and doing something like bringing up a United States Senator, who is not the president, is the very definition of a red herring, opening the door for me to eventually find some Republican assistant deputy to the undersecretary of agriculture who is a complete bastard and trying to use that to further my point.
I'm sure you wouldn't do something like that. Because you're a nurse, and nurses are smart. I totally must have been wrong about John being the Kennedy president.
Either that, or you should just stick to nursing because you are hopelessly out gunned when you try to argue politics. One of the two. *snicker*
"If we leave ourselves wide open for attacks from crayzee Islamic fundamentalists, we are no longer free, we are at their mercy. Fight them there or fight them here, your choice."
Wow, they've really got you programmed good don't they?
This is the same argument we've heard for years. The crazy Islamic fundamentalists want us all dead because we love freedom. They hate us because we like football, beer, pork, and let are women go around uncovered. Right?
WRONG. The majority of Muslims in the world are honest, hard-working decent people who want to live peacefully and with dignity, just like the rest of us. Aside from a very small percentage of radical extremists, which we have a fair share of ourselves, I'm sure most of the world's Muslims could give a damn whether we watch Jerry Springer or not.
What they don't want, and what they are fundamentally (and in my opinion) justified in feeling, is the repeated hypocrisy and maltreatment by the US government over the last several decades. Think just recently to Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, our Israel policy. They don't want to watch their resources be siphoned off to US corporations any longer (aka, Shell, Exxon, Halliburton – which is the REAL reason we are still in Iraq, duh!). They don't want us to support repressive dictatorships while simultaneously promoting "freedom" or so-called democracy in other areas. Talk about "selective memory". As an example, you should read up on the great "democracy" of Saudi Arabia, one of our warmest allies in the region. Hmm, just so happens that 15 of the 19 hijackers of 9/11 were Saudi. So, why didn't we invade Saudi Arabia, which by all accounts is one of the most repressive regimes in the region? Could it be that the Saudi shieks are good friends with the Bushes and have steadily supplied us with cheap oil for decades while successfully repressing most of their own citizens? And I'm sure you've seen the photos of Rummy shaking hands with Saddam back in the 80s. He was our poster child back in the day when Iraq was at war with Iran! Maybe it would benefit you to do some research on US foreign policy in the mid-east over the last quarter century.
Oh and, "Perhaps "guy who stands in a crowd yelling slogans at a liberal rally" is a good, safe job for you."
Yep, that's me alright! That's what I'll be doing. Hangin' out with my sign at my "liberal rally" in SF with all the hippies and gay people drinking my cappucinno. You got me! Question for you, how many hours of Fox News do you actually watch per day? Just curious.
Unfortunately we're all not so tough like you Nurse K. Since we're not super strong bad-asses like you some of us have to use our hearts and minds instead of our big muscles.
Unfortunately we're all not so tough like you Nurse K. Since we're not super strong bad-asses like you some of us have to use our hearts and minds instead of our big muscles.
Congrats, Wounded! Your quote made my sidebar.
You know, if you go up to just about any soldier and ask him "do you think we should be in Iraq and do you think we're making a difference" they will say "yes, I do."
I also agree with Nurse K, so what if Bush did a little coke in college. We all do stupid shit in college.
Well, MJ, you've stirred the pot this time.... One sad question, though: What national politician -- pick a party, any party -- doesn't have dreams of greatness and doesn't, uh, fib reflexively?
Nurse K: There was no connection between Iraq and al Qaeda, the guys responsible for the 9/11 attacks. As a matter of fact Osama and Saddam hated each other. Saddam Hussein didn't want terrorists in his country. He was the boss and if there was any terrorism to do he would do it. If you knew anything about history you would know that, but as a reader pointed out you are well programmed by the right wing wackos. I would be willing to wager you are also a Jesus Jumper. It is sad really, and somehow disturbing that a health care professional would hold such extreme views.
I live right next to Fort Bragg, and I just got back from my son's graduation at USAFA-where the president spoke and also saluted and shook hands with over 1000 graduating cadets in unseasonably cold and wet Colorado weather.
First, the soldiers and families here still believe in what we are doing over there, and second, I think Bush is a man with a very difficult and lonely job. When my son shook his hand on stage, he told the president that"your approval rating is high with me, sir!" To which Bush replied that approval ratings do not matter, that doing the right thing does.
I am not saying he has been a perfect president, but I suspect if we knew all that he knows, we'd be inclined to cut him some slack.
I would be willing to wager you are also a Jesus Jumper.
Is that like Evel Knieval doing stunts at the Vatican?
"It is sad really, and somehow disturbing that a health care professional would hold such extreme views."
Wanna know why most health care professionals are Republican?
Because we see EVERYDAY the people that liberals are trying to help. You know what? They want the help because they don't want to have to fucking work. They're fucking lazy pieces of shit that think the government is their momma.
The ones that really need the help? They have a hard time obtaining it.
Sad.
"Because we see EVERYDAY the people that liberals are trying to help. You know what? They want the help because they don't want to have to fucking work. They're fucking lazy pieces of shit that think the government is their momma."
Interesting comments EE. I'm not going to argue with you or Nurse K anymore. We aren't going to influence each other's point of view and we obviously come from very different cultural, social and political backgrounds. We can leave it at that.
But, as someone who is about to enter the health care profession, I can speak for myself and say that I am not a Republican, nor is anyone I know a Republican who works in the field. But that may just have more to do with geography. This country is still very divided.
I'm about to start nursing school. To make sure I knew what I was getting myself into, I've volunteered in the ER of a very busy, chaotic public trauma hospital for the last year and a half. Oakland has the 6th highest homicide rate in the nation, not to mention deep problems of poverty, crime, drugs, economic inequality, lack of access to healthy affordable food, a defunct public educational system, lack of basic services like health care... you get the picture. I see drug addicts, the homeless, the poor, immigrants, AIDS patients, prostitutes, gun shot victims, battered women. You name it. Interestingly enough, on a number of occasions I've helped wipe the shit from some of their bottoms too. Changed their bedpans, helped mop up their vomit even. I've helped clean them, turn them, I've helped de-lice them. Done EKGs, chest-compressions, foleys. I've also helped feed them. I've helped comfort them. The point I'm making here is that I've helped them. And you know what? I've never once thought to myself that they were "pieces of shit." I thought of them as people. But hey, I guess I'm just a "liberal".
I'm not really angered by your comments EE, just more saddened.
I'm done with this thread. It's been disturbing to say the least.
Wounded Healer- when you get punched, stabbed at, shot at, kicked, spit at, puked on (when they do it intentionally), bled on (when they do it intentionally) and all that jazz, then come back here and try to tell us that they aren't pieces of shit.
I'm visablly pregnant. A dude punched me right in the stomach (saw it as my weakest point I guess)...he was drunk. He's on government assistance. No job. No reason that he shouldn't have a job, he's healthy and sane.
By the way, they don't put the vollies in with the potentionally dangerous patients. You're in for a rude awakening my dear.
EE. I'm sorry you got punched in the stomach. That sounds terrible, really. I'm also sorry that you have become so embittered by your experiences in health care.
I do need to clarify something:
"By the way, they don't put the vollies in with the potentionally dangerous patients. You're in for a rude awakening my dear."
Actually that's not true. You haven't been to Highland Hospital, so you wouldn't know who I've dealt with or what I've seen. The volunteers are considered vital to the ER. I deal with 51-50 patients, inmates, psychotics, drug-addicts. I've been threatened, spit at, sneered at, cursed at. No, I haven't been shot at or stabbed, but I did have a gun held to my head in an armed robbery last year in front of my apartment. If you think you can scare me or think that I haven't seen some hard stuff, think again. I know what I'm getting myself into. But I appreciate your concern. How thoughtful of you.
We have fundamentaly different views of the world my friend. I choose to blame the ills of society on the insanely rich and powerful, on the grossly unfair distrubution of wealth in our society and around the world, on the growing economic chasm between the rich and the poor, on the disappearing middle-class, on corporate corruption and greed.
You, on the other hand, have chosen to blame the problems of the world on the poor, on the weak, the sick, the mentally ill, on the uneducated, on those "pieces of shit" that you claim work with every day. I guess I see it as a top-down problem. We just see the world from different sides.
I find it really interesting that you excuse the president's record (a failing economy, a war created on false intelligence in which thousands needlessly died, more wealth concentration in the hands of the top 1% than we've ever seen), while at the same time showing not even a sliver of compassion for the people at the bottom – for those people who you classify as wanting the government to be their "momma". Maybe some of those people never had a mom. Maybe some of those people have been through things that you and I will never understand. Maybe some of those people can't make ends meet on a minimum wage job. Maybe some of those people need a little help. Maybe that's why you get paid to work with them? Did you ever think of that? Maybe it's time for you to choose a new career, something that might make you happy? With your attitude, I certainly wouldn't want you treating me or anyone I knew.
I'm almost positive there's no way for me to help connect the dots here for you, but I'm going to try one last time. Here are some facts for you to ponder:
- Amongst the top 25 industrialized nations in the world, the US has the highest level of economic disparity, and the worst health.
- 1 out of every 5 children in the US lives in poverty
- In Washington, a worker earning the minimum wage (7.01 per hour) must work 86 hours per week in order to afford a two-bedroom unit at the states median Fair Market Rent.
- The richest ten percent have almost 80% of the assets in this country. The richest one percent have almost half.
Here's a good synopsis by someone I read, Stephen Bezruchka, an ER doctor from Seattle,
"Another way to look at this is how much we pay our CEO's - the heads of our corporations. In 1980, we paid them 40 times what an entry level worker made. By 1999, they were being paid 478 times what an entry level worker made, and in 2001, for the Fortune 100 companies, the CEO's made a thousand times what an entry level worker made. If we ask what is the maximum wage in the US, it is around $150,000 an hour, and this person got a $10,000 an hour pay raise over the year before, while his company performed poorly and the stock price dropped 67%. As we say in America, nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if you try. Now in Canada, our much healthier neighbor to the north, the CEO/worker pay gap is twenty to one, while in Japan, the world's healthiest country, it is eleven to one. In the recent economic downturn in Japan, what did CEOs and managers do? Lay off workers and take pay raises? No, they took pay cuts rather than laying off workers. This isn't what our CEOs do. They lay off 40,000 workers and give themselves a bonus for increasing efficiency. This is not good for our health!"
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Honey, I was born into the slums. My momma decided she'd rather do dope and drink than take care of us. I know what it's like to freeze in the winter and burn up in the summer. I know what it's like to go hungry. I grew up in the streets, and I think that I'm a better person because of it.
You know how I'm different then these people who think their government is their momma? I WORKED MY ASS OFF TO GET OUT OF IT. I worked numerous jobs at once, flipping burgers, then going to wash cars, then going to answer phones...all in one day. I went to school everyday. I became an EMT. I furthered my education.
Now, I'm married and pregnant. Together, my husband and I own a house and 2 cars. I have zero debt. I'm almost done with my undergrad. Want to know how old I am? I'm not even of legal age to drink alcohol.
If you're physically and mentally able there is no reason you should be on government assistance. Fibromyalgia, migraines and chronic back pain and adult ADD don't count as disability by the way.
"You haven't been to Highland Hospital, so you wouldn't know who I've dealt with or what I've seen." - You don't know that.
"Amongst the top 25 industrialized nations in the world, the US has the highest level of economic disparity, and the worst health." If they'd get off their lazy asses and work out they'd have better health. Uncontrolled diabetes is something that SHOULD NOT happen. Heart disease SHOULD NOT be something that is as prominent. America needs to quit living a sedentary lifestyle. (I'm not bashing on people with stuff like Lou Gherig's and autism though, that is real, and frankly, something we just have to live with).
"1 out of every 5 children in the US lives in poverty." The pop them out like bunny rabbits, that's like a rule of thumb for government funded flakes.
"- In Washington, a worker earning the minimum wage (7.01 per hour) must work 86 hours per week in order to afford a two-bedroom unit at the states median Fair Market Rent." Move somewhere more affordable then. Hop on a bus and start a-new.
I'm sorta like EE to a lesser extent. I used to sleep on the floor in my kitchen next to the stove because my furnace didn't work and I didn't have $1300 for a new one...for 1 and a half winters. The same furnace gave me carbon monoxide poisoning before failing completely. I used to have my sewer lines freeze and so I'd flush my toilet and shit would back up into my bathtub.
The govt has been helping people with things they're supposed to be doing for themselves like caring for their children for about 4 decades now and the problems of illegitimacy and cradle-to-grave welfare aren't going away. Luckily, I, like EE, never gave up and decided to live off the govt instead of working hard, so my poverty was relatively short-lived (like 5 years instead of a lifetime).
I'm was not the person you see showing up in the ER for dumb reasons though because the poor people like I was at the time are too busy working 2 jobs and going to school full time while paying for their Regular and NPH insulin out-of-pocket.
That should read "decided to NOT live off the govt"!
"The same furnace gave me carbon monoxide poisoning"
That explains so much.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn you had a little lead paint chipping off the walls as well....
This is devoted to EE and Nurse K.
I'm very impressed by both of your stories. Congratulations on working hard, lifting yourselves out of poverty, and having a "can do" attitude on life. I think that shows resiliency, I really do. And I do think the symbol of the "American Dream" is still a beacon of hope for many. But the fact is, you are the exception and not the rule.
I would like to point out what I believe are some fundamental, but extremely pertinent, misconceptions on both of your parts.
EE, your argument in response to the cost of living in WA was "Move somewhere more affordable then. Hop on a bus and start a-new." You make it sound so easy. You and I know it's not that simple. Tell that to the folks in New Orleans.
The fact is, we are the richest country in the world, yet we have one of the poorest health care systems in the industrialized world. We spend more money on war than we do on educating our young people or on providing them with basic services like health care. EE, I agree with you, Type II Diabetes is for the most part preventable, as is obesity. The reasons are multifarious and complex, but the simple fact of the matter is that corporate profits are being put above people's health, people aren't being educated properly, families and communities are falling apart, and people don't have access to affordable and nutritious food. When your only food choices are high-fructose-corn-syrup-laden foods, what do you expect? That coupled with driving everywhere, lack of effective public transportation. So yes, I agree, these are problems that we, as individuals and as a collective society, could do a lot better with. As health professionals it's our job to help educate and empower people to make healthier choices so that they don't end up with these chronic illnesses; and yes, it's also our job to take care of them even if they do develop these diseases. I also believe that our government could do A LOT more to help. IE, stop the major food processing corporations from advertising junk food to children, not allow junk food in our schools, implement more after school and exercise programs, and an across-the-board health education initiative to raise nutritional awareness in society (but not funded by big food companies). These changes aren't going to come from simply blaming and branding people as "lazy". I'm trying to get you to see the larger picture.
I'd like to talk more about this conception you have of people "freeloading" off the government. In any society there are always going to be people that make poor decisions in life. But it is my firm belief that most people, if given the opportunity, if placed in the right environment, for the most part will make good choices and lead productive lives and contribute to the society. It's like a dog. If you beat a dog as a puppy it will grow up to be cruel and attack other dogs and people... once that damage is done it's hard to undo. My argument is that our society is fundamentally NOT working. We don't set up the conditions to enable human beings to thrive to their fullest potential. And I believe firmly that government has a role to play in this. As we are all tax payers, we expect that certain services can be taken care of by PUBLIC entities, and not PRIVATE corporations. Some services, like education and health care, should not be run for profit. These are basic human rights, and the basic backbone and fabric of any functioning society.
But I guess if you are still a proponent of laissez-faire free market Reaganomics, then you miss the whole point. Just in case you haven't noticed, the wealth that has been made in the last 1/4 century has not trickled down to the rest of us. Salaries for average Americans have actually gone down when you account for inflation. Meanwhile, as I mentioned in my last comment, the people at the top have seen more wealth accumulation that at any other time in our history. Quite simply, we've been debunked, fooled, hoodwinked, bamboozled, in effect BRAINWASHED into thinking that the very people that are robbing us blind are our heroes. Think Bush, a "C" student at Yale who's daddy was director of the CIA and former president, a wealthy Oil man, someone who was raised with a silver spoon, someone who never served in war, who always had money. Yet, miraculously, Rove was able to brand him as just your "average Joe" from the plains of Texas – a good old boy, someone you might like to sit back and crack a cold one with. Please. The fact that so many people fell for this PR stunt still baffles me. Well, most people are waking up, and I urge you both too as well.
You've been trained to think that all government spending is the big bad wolf (unless it's on war); that social services are not good for society because they create a lazy welfare class. Don't believe it. Any society needs a safety net to prevent people from slipping through the cracks, and to help them get back on their feet again when things get rough (and believe me, things are about to get SERIOUSLY rough). It's interesting to note that before Reagan took office in 82 there was little to no homelessness in America. Now go to any major city and you see droves of them. Lately I've been seeing more and more homeless with their children in tow. Reagan was the first to start implementing the free-market policies that have dominated Washington over the last 20 years. As an example, he cut federal programs for the mentally ill across the board. Just so happens that a HUGE percentage of homeless people are mentally ill and need to be in facilities getting treatment, but they've all closed down. But don't tell that to a Republican. Their response will always be, "this is America, you can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps!" Yeah, that's a nice argument for those of us that HAVE bootstraps.
If you believe that things are running well, then fine, go ahead and persist living in your fantasy world. Less government, more war spending. Yeah, that's really working great for us! The fact is that our government CAN do a better job than it has been doing. Look at most countries in Europe. They have higher taxes (I know that scares you). But guess what, they have way less economic disparity, they can go to college for FREE, and they don't have to go bankrupt when their wife/husband gets cancer.
I know you want to persist in your way of thinking. You're used to it. It's comfortable, like the cloak of "freedom" that so many tout. It's like home, like apple pie. I will resist the urge to call you foolish, as I don't think it's productive. Instead, and I don't mean this in a disparaging way, I think you are just misinformed.
Here are some of the realities we face in our time,
- In major news, just today the unemployment rate hit 5.5%; in the month of May alone the US saw the highest jump in unemployment in 25 years.
- Gas prices soared another $10/barrel today to $135/barrel. It's expected to go to $150/barrel by July 4th. (On a side note, the leading US oil companies have been posting record profits for the last several years... eg, the highest recorded profits EVER of any corporation). Just so happens your old pal Bush has repeatedly BLOCKED any governmental intervention to regulate the oil industry.
- The cost of the war in Iraq (which we all know by now was NOT about WMDs or promoting democracy). Over $525 BILLION. Yes, that's 12 figures for you. That seems like an abstract number to many, but let's just take a look at how that effects one state. Let's take my state, California:
- Taxpayers in California will pay $66.6 billion for total Iraq war spending approved to date. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
- 27,419,827 People with Health Care for One Year OR,
- 118,699,878 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year OR,
- 1,190,170 Public Safety Officers for One year OR,
- 941,123 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR,
- 10,011,987 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR,
- 199,413 Affordable Housing Units OR,
- 24,903,000 Children with Health Care for One Year OR,
- 7,968,871 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR,
- 956,837 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR,
- 841,424 Port Container Inspectors for One year
If you're wondering where I'm getting these numbers from, go here.
I know all these facts and figures may seem overwhelming to you, but I think this is an argument worth having. I firmly believe we are at a cross-roads as a nation right now. If we continue down the same path we've been on for the next four years, I fear we will indeed be looking forward to WW III.
Wake up America!
You are so naive.
Wow, the brevity of your words speaks volumes!
Let's all toast to EE when she turns 21!
well....i walked twenty miles to school every day barefoot...in 2 feet of snow...so there!
Oh, go ahead Nurse K. take on Drug Monkey, we want ya to. Why are you shying away from all his comments when you so readily blast everyone else's? Is it because you know that he would eat you up and spit you out? You only show your vast education and such powers to those who are weak, ill or in some other way far inferior to the likes of you. Or so you think anyway.
She doesn't comment because she would have just as much success trying to talk to a brick wall. F'n morons, all of them... There is no shred of common sense found in Washington, D.C.
"She doesn't comment because she would have just as much success trying to talk to a brick wall."
X2 on that comment.
Here's a quote for your sidebar nurse k:
"Nurse K is an intellectual bully who will slither away into silence the moment you stand your ground and metaphorically punch her in the nose. You will be helped in this task by using polysyllabic words and complex sentence structure, as she seems to have a grasp of neither."
Now I ask you this, detractors of the Drugmonkey, has a brick wall ever taunted you in this way?
Don't think so.
And just to be clear, because again, I know you have trouble with English above grammar school level, this is a full blown taunt. You know how a defensive lineman in football does a little jig over the body of the quarterback he's just taken down? Yeah, it's a lot like that.
The quarterback usually doesn't have much to say in those situations either.
I would encourage anyone who has been following this thread to watch and listen carefully to this interview with Chris Hedges.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Multi-paragraph insults from trolls are very frightening. I just pissed myself, I must admit. It's sort of embarrassing. Or some shit. I'll have to tell the teacher on you guys and, surely, you'll be kicked off junior varsity basketball.
I'm sure Obama will love to have all you people on his side. Feel free to talk like this to AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE when trying to get them to be liberal so that we have a very comfortable margin-of-victory.
Good Lord K,
Is that the best you could do? Seriously? I feel kinda bad now for taunting you into that lameness.
There's nothing there K. No wit, no facts, no funny stuff. A little half-hearted attempt at that trademark Republican condescending attitude, but man, reading that again, I gotta wonder if you're feeling OK.
Basketball? What the hell was that?
I guess I owe you an apology for provoking you into that embarrassing bit of wordsmithing, but then again, you Republicans are all about taking responsibility for your own actions, so maybe I don't.
I'm really just a little worried about you. No I'm not. I am kinda surprised with my ability to out argue someone to the point where they break like that though.
Maybe I could get a job at Guantanamo.
5:35 AM
I think you scared her back into her cave Drugmonkey. Good work.
Nurke K, if you come back, watch this,
http://www.imvotingrepublican.com/
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