Congress Makes Its Move

In its historic march to pass several major pieces of legislation during the first 100 hours of session, the Democratic Party has shown that they are determined to prove that they have the right stuff to keep the Nation on course by demonstrating that they can manage to keep themselves on course.

The Democrats are also challenging the delicate balance of Mr. Bush's version of what our world is like by moving on stem cell research, by trying to take the fattening effect of the pharmecutical companies courtesy of the Medicare Drug plan and by taking on Mr. Bush's biggest blind spot with the attempt to put our Country onto the right path by legislating reductions in global greenhouse gases.  In his usual tour-de-farce, Mr. Bush has vowed to veto these plans because he "feels" they won't do any good.

In my brief lifetime from 1965 to 2007, I was never so sure of the absolute stupidity of a world leader as I am in George Bush.  Yes, Presidents before him have stumbled on occasion.  Yes, some have had to quit, some have been unjustifiably been called for Impeachment and some were also guilty of criminal actions against the people of this country.  The difference is that all of his predecessors could recognize when the roof was on fire and take steps to put it out.

If I could give Mr. Bush a "Q" type set of gifts (from Star Trek-the Next Generation), I think it would be perfect health for the next 1000 or more years and a bump in his IQ from its current level of 87 (too high?) to at least 190.  I would want him to be painfully aware of what his policy decisions are doing to the planet we live on and how its going to impact not only humans, but every other species on this Earth.

With the Bush Administrations refusal to participate in Kyoto, the US has continued on its reckless use of polluting agents that permeate everything in the air, the land and the sea.  As the pollution in the air is absorbed by the ocean, it creates carbonic acids which have been determined to be destabilizing the delicate pH balance of the oceans ecosystems.  As the air around us warms up little by little, it's going to disrupt our ecosystems just as dramatically.  Our weather patterns are already behaving erratically in front of our very eyes.

What many of my fellow Americans haven't taken into consideration is the potential for dramatic outbreaks of new and unknown viruses and bacterial plagues due to a more favorable environment for previously unseen plagues.  In our arrogance, we tend to forget that we aren't the only residents of this planet that is now at risk of being damaged by this possibility.  Our entire food supply could collaspe in a matter of a decade, if the right combination of events were to happen as the biosystems beging to change.

It would appear that Mr. Bush and his team feel that the best policy is to avoid a policy, so its business as usual for the past six years.  Of course, playing it safe and taking actions to save ourselves and our fellow animal inhabitants of this planet is something that we've never done before as far as Mr. Bush is concerned so it couldn't be good for business and the economy.  Well, lets talk about the shocking truth when it comes to Mr. Bush and his economic thinking.  I hope you're sitting down.

According to CNN, the United States has now spent $355 billion in Iraq fighting a war that didn't need to be fought.  The World Bank has pronounced that the total war expenditures for the US will be more that $1.2 Trillion dollars by the time we can get out of there.  In the time it has taken you to read to this section of this article, the US government has spent another $500,000 of our tax dollars in Iraq~yep, it's about $500,000 every two minutes that we are spending to get our troops shot up, the Muslims energized against us, the friends of George and Dick richer than they ever dreamed possible, our national debt through the roof and all the while, George sits on his thinking end spewing out numbers like he has any idea of what he's talking about.

Here is the breakdown of what $355 BILLION dollars could do for America today:

1. We could hire 6,000,000 new teachers for K-12 grades.
2. We could build 700 new K-12 schools IN EVERY STATE OF THE UNION.
3. We could hire 8,000,000 police officers.
4. We could hire 17,000 Port and Border inspectors to secure the border for the next 20 years and still have enough left over to pay for 18 more generations of inspectors (17,000 x $1.1 million for each worker over 20 years equals $18.7 Billion divided by $355 Billion = 18).
5. We could purchase the gas for our cars for an entire year for every driver in the country.
6. We could purchase 16.9 million hybrids and give them away to help cut back on emmissions in the immediate term while giving the economy a tremendous boost.
7. We could equip 16.9 million homes in America with complete solar independence for their electrical needs. Over a five year period, we could reduce our dependence of foreign oil by 60-70%.  If anyone is worried about the economic impact of solar energy, don't be. One thing we can be assured of in America is that someone will figure out how to charge you for the sunshine you used this month too.
8. We could spend far more money on our own people by getting everyone a good education and making a home a reality with the money that has been wasted in Iraq.  Please read my previous article about the prototype $265 Billion F-35 Fighter jet that the defense contractors still haven't sent to production yet.

What does Mr. Bush have to say about helping out where it counts?  His mentality is so tainted by his billionaire friends that he can't even conceive of the notions that I have listed here today.  What about the rest of us in America?  Are we so lethargic and lazy now that we just keep writing out checks to the government so people like Bush can squander it with reckless abandon?  I don't know about you, but in the last two years I have had a federal tax liability of over $15,000 after deductions and credits.  This isn't even including SSI.  The two taxes together cost me nearly 24% of my income (plus another 4% to the state).  The War of Independence was fought over less taxation than this!

A possible insight to why we don't raise the alarm came from Canada today. A report just came out that gave the results of a 10 year study on procrastination in America.  What a shocker it was to hear that we have increased our tendency as a whole to procrastinate by over 30% in that time period.  While we are filling our homes and our heads with electronics and distractions, the government is robbing us, bombing others in our names and paying their corporate friends billions upon billions of our tax dollars to screw us from every possible angle.  I suppose that we are deserving of the fleecing since no one seems to mind that it happens to everyone, including you, everyday of the week.

In the final analysis, it's probably too late for this generation and the next one to make any real changes in our behaviour.  I, just like the rest of the masses have no desire to rush back to the stone age before the Internet, PC's and iPods.  But, our inability to make responsible and long-term oriented decisions to transition to better, cleaner power sources will be our undoing.  Our Mother Earth is going to have to kick our spoiled asses before we'll let go of our destructive and unsustainable way of life.  Intelligent design he says?  About as intelligent as Mr. Bush that is.