Tuesday, August 19, 2008

No Blood For Oil

So many things are wrong; so little time to fix them.

A Tome could be written about all of the mistakes, deceptions, errors in judgment and illegal acts of this Administration. It would read like a cheap novel and if everything were documented no one would believe that this could happen here. There is no single part of government that this administration hasn't destroyed or weakened. (And we thought Nixon was bad; at least he opened up China.)

I tried, in fairness to think of one good thing that Bush has done right and I just couldn't come up with one. I'm sure someone will enlighten me. I do tend to be biased. ;-)


And so, off the top of my head, I am listing the obvious ones first that even the most oblivious will find hard to refute. Remember, facts are stubborn things.

  • The economy is in the tank.
  • The horrible cost in lives and money due to the illegal and ruinous war with Iraq.
  • The environment has been ignored and allowed to deteriorate further,
  • The slowest job growth in 50 years.
  • The National debt is 9.5 trillion: the largest in history
  • The biggest divide between the rich and poor since the days of the robber barons.
  • The destruction of our image in the world. We are now a nation that is hated.
  • The infrastructure has been allowed to crumble.
  • Politics have been injected into the highest court in our land.
  • The housing market is imploding.
  • Big Corporations pay no taxes.
  • Schools are saddled with mandated tests and no money to pay for them and our educational system is becoming one of the worst compared to other industrialized nations..
  • Our voting system is becoming more unreliable with touch pad electronics and illegal meddling.
  • Placing Ideologues as heads of Cabinet positions who made decisions based on ideology rather than facts and science.
I could continue with sub-topics about Abu-Graib, torture, secrecy, Katrina, illegal wire tapping, the outing of Valerie Plame, etc. But people who read already know all this.It's the insidious small things that escape detection and that are also undermining our society. It all began when Bush came into office and was determined to undo everything Clinton had put in place. Treaties were canceled or ignored, The Israeli/Palestinian conflict was put on the back burner and shoved aside.. If Clinton did it, Bush undid it without any analysis of its merit. He was like a petulant child who stamped his feet if he didn't get his way. So, because the administration wanted to do some 'not-so-nice' and/or illegal things, they became obsessively secretive. It will be years for the extent of the complete damage done to see the light of day. Due to the illegal loss (?) of documents ("The White House is missing as many as 225 days of e-mail dating back to 2003 and there is little if any likelihood a recovery effort will be completed by the time the Bush administration leaves office), we may never know all of the sleazy things done by this administration. If the records finally are found and haven't been destroyed we may learn that this administration caused a popular governor to go to prison on trumped up charges. And other Federal prosecuters lost their jobs because they didn't prosecute Democrats or did prosecute Republicans. The independence of the judicial system meant about as much as checks and balances to these guys.

The Conservative belief that all things can be cured by privatizing them is undermining our society in ways that will last for generations. The disastrous Medical Reform Act has further weakened our health system that is now so broken that the only way to fix it would be to scrap it and start over. Of course, that would create such a furor that it will never happen.

Little by little more insidious facts are spilling out about what the Bush Administration has really done to our country under the radar. Sometimes deliberately and sometimes with sheer incompetence. A new fact just surfaced that people were sickened and some died because the FDA ignored. or glossed over, a report that 88 tainted shipments of chili peppers were turned away months ago. Since they took no action, more peppers were allowed in and people ingested Salmonella. This is just one example of incompetence at agencies that were once professional. And we all know about the mess in New Orleans.

Surprise, surprise !! The real reason we went into Iraq was one that some of us (including Barak Obama) believed to be true at the time. One word. OIL. Remember the people who cried, "No blood for
oil !"? They were vilified by the administration and called traitors. Now everyone should know that they were right and were the true patriots.

Prior to the war the oil industry was nationalized by the government of Iraq and they made it extremely difficult for foreign oil companies to do business there. But wonder of wonders, Hunt oil has just signed an agreement with the Kurds, four more American oil companies have signed temporary agreements, and seven more will be bidding. No wonder Dick Cheney deviously worked behind the scenes to make sure this war happened. And no wonder he has hidden his meeting on energy and refuses to release the documents.


Now, to add injury to insult, Bush is trying to weaken the endangered species act. If those in this administration were our enemies they couldn't do a better job of ruining our country. Wait a minute - maybe they are our enemies. Methinks they 'protesteth too much' on how patriotic they are. (Okay, that's over the top, but I couldn't resist. Forgive me.)

What is more sickening is the number of people who can't see that John McCain will continue all of these failed policies. He is no maverick, having voted with the administration 95% of the time. This information must be spread and understood by the electorate before we see the total destruction of our country.

Please continue on to the post script to this post.

10 comments:

Norma said...

Come to my blog and read the 11 things GWB has done right. You'll feel much better.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Norma, I was really looking forward to reading the 11 things GWB had done right. I sincerely wanted to feel better about him (and John McSame)but I couldn't find anything on your blog about GWB.

I will try again when you indicate to us just where to look.

Darlene said...

Norma, I'm sorry also. I checked your blog and found a post on the Corsi book (Incidentally, his many errors and misrepresentations HAVE been documented.)but was unable to find 11 things GWB has done right.

Anonymous said...

Norma,

I just came from your blog, too. Nothing right about George Bush that I could decipher, either. Feels like deja vu all over again. WHENEVER something good is attributed to Bush, it seems to go up in smoke before anybody can get a handle on it, you know? I think you've stated things pretty much the way they are, Darlene. Interesting, isn't it, that you don'y have to dig too deeply to come up with THOSE facts?
You GO, girl!
Zoë

Richard said...

Darlene, you listed the most widely known and even some lesser known crimes of BushCo. It was well written and I am hopeful others will read this post. I will link to it at the Foothills Opinion Post.

Unfortunately the continuing revelations of this guy's perfidiouness will go on for a very long time.

Rich

Darlene said...

Thank you Zoe and Richard. You encourage me.

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Darlene long ago you should have started "Darlene's Hodgepodge"
You are a storehouse of information.
Have a great day

Betty said...

Darlene: Thanks for visiting and commenting on my blog. I'm putting you on my blog roll, if you don't mind. The Main thing I'm worrried about with another Republican administration is what will happen to the court system. There will be nothing but idealogues on the Supreme Court, as well as Federal Courts. Scary!!

Kay Dennison said...

You have said it right here, my friend.

rob_tonus said...

Hello from Canada.
It's refreshing to see Americans who are critical of your government - we often get concerned about the blind allegiance many of your fellow citizens have toward your government's actions - especially the vociferous support by many conservatives. Unfortunately, this lower-tax, less-government philosophy has been getting increasing support here, and we have seen the erosion of our health care and education systems... We all want to avoid waste, but when taxes paid by individuals and corporations help us live fuller, healthier, more productive and happier lives, then the taxes are funds well invested!
Darlene, please keep writing, and support your fellow Americans!
Rob Tonus