Monday, August 14, 2006

Mood Swings

There seems to be a shift underway in the way US citizens are viewing terrorism. Bush’s failed efforts to address the threat of terrorism in any real way and the continued occupation in Iraq have contributed to the instability of both that country and our own and the American people are beginning to see it. Bush’s poll numbers have again reached an all time low and the politicizing of the thwarted attacks in London and the attempt to equate Lamont’s win in the Connecticut primary to a win for Al Qaeda, have not given him the political bounce he was hoping for. The times, they may be a changin’ and not in the way the Bushies anticipated.

The economy is failing and ordinary working Americans are feeling the pain. On paper, the economy may look fine (if you consider out of control debt, a growing trade deficit and an economy based on spending rather than production, fine), but out here in the real world it sure doesn’t feel that way. We are being squeezed from every direction, too much debt, high gas prices and stagnant wages. This economy may be working for the investor class, but the billions of dollars a day being spent on the Iraq occupation are draining our treasury and the American people are starting to notice where that money is going. On the surface it appears as if it’s going into the sinkhole of Iraq, but we are starting to understand that the deep pockets of the Halliburtons of the world look an awful lot like sinkholes until they start filling up. The economy may be working for Dick Cheney, but not so much for the rest of us. Perhaps if we could write US energy policy and war policy to our best financial advantage, we might feel differently. We might even sport the same shit-eating grin that Cheney does when talking about the economy.

I worry about what will happen to people when the housing bubble bursts. Far too many Americans have leveraged their homes in order to continue spending the money necessary to keep this economy afloat. I receive offers every day encouraging me to take equity out of my house to spend on whatever I want. The only problem is, I know the appraisals I’ve received the last few years are more smoke and mirrors than an actual assessment of what my house is worth. The Bushies keep telling us to worry about terrorism but not about the economy, “Just spend, spend, spend, it’s the patriotic thing to do.” I wonder how people are going to keep their families warm and fed when all they have left are their American flags.

While the shifting mood of the country as reflected in current polls is encouraging, I’m still a little nervous about what the GOP and the Bush administration will do in order to shift public opinion back their way. If color-coded terror threat levels and potential plots against American airliners aren’t enough to boost their numbers anymore, I hate to think of what they will pull out of their hat next. The only thing we can be assured of is, it won’t be good for us.

5 Comments:

Blogger Indie Mom said...

LB! WOW. I think about these things everyday -- it seems -- as I watch people pull into driveways of 3000 square foot 'energy efficient' homes in their SUV's drinking Starbucks with their kids in the back eating Happy Meals. I see Bush as the Wizard of Oz. And most of his followers are standing in front of him clicking the heels of their red, ruby slippers while whispering, "There's no place like the USA...there's no place like the USA...there's no place like the USA..."

11:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://whereisthemoney.org/

Here is a very informative website and it points fingers and names names.

The "Trilaterals" as they are personally referred to, have definitely parted company with the neocons. This is evident in Clinton and Gates both standing in the open speaking against Bush's policy on AIDS. Clintons, Gates, Carters, Murdock, et al - all Trilaterals.

To all these Trilaterals I say, fuck you all - you set this up for the reasons elitists do - self entitled narcissistic profits. And, I almost forgot - the Chairman and Founder, David Rockefeller. He didn't get his mother's Quaker belief system but instead he took on his father's Baptist bullshit and the neocon Zionist agenda joined hands to religiously purge the world while the Trilaterals forged the new economic paradigm.

Study G. Edward Griffin and also John Gliha.

Tell everyone you know about G. Edward Griffin and the information which John Gliha offers can help many people who are looking at the perils of economic collapse.

all the best,

2:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Bush’s failed efforts to address the threat of terrorism in any real way?"

WTF? I'll have whatever YOU're having.

Bush's post 9/11 record of protecting the nation is 100%. We have not been hit in 5 years and you're BITCHING about it?

That cinches it. I'm just not dumb enough to be a democrat anymore.

6:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"*Anonymous said"
*AKA, MORE than dumb enough
to be a Repug.

In a demonstration of typically impaired wingnutistanian logic you
narrowly define what constitutes "protecting the nation", and then do a
victory dance over Dubya's
what? Competence? Dumb luck?

You presume competence in one sphere when there is no evidence of it in ANY sphere. That's a leap of faith that only faith based supporters of Dubya can take solace in.

I KNOW what you're drinking. Lots more of that Repug KooL-aid available since the lines are shorter!

Leaving aside the depredations against the Constitution Dubya swore to protect and defend, take a look at the actions not taken to adequately protect us:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060102/alterman

"Where the 9/11 commission has been perhaps most impressive, however, is in its members' insistence on sticking around long enough to insure that its recommendations are not forgotten or ignored. When its mandate expired with the issuance of the report, the commission obtained private funding to monitor and report on the Administration's implementation schedule.
Well, the follow-up report is in, and the news could hardly be worse. The Administration's record remains one of consistent, and apparently willful, failure. The commission gave Bush & Co. a grade of F for:


§ failing to provide "adequate radio spectrum for first responders" from a variety of agencies to coordinate their actions in emergencies;

§ allocating homeland security funding based on pork-barrel politics, not on risk;

§ failing to make critical improvements in airline passenger pre-screening;

§ refusing to declassify the intelligence budget, thereby precluding effective Congressional oversight of budget priorities;

§ failing to set international standards for the treatment of detainees suspected of terrorism.

The panel also gave the government two incompletes, twelve D's, twelve B's and nine C's, but the grading process seems awfully generous. For instance, the panel did not issue a failing grade for the Administration's efforts to "secure WMD," even though it invaded Iraq and found nothing. Nor did it give an F regarding the creation of a "Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board," despite the fact that "funding is insufficient, no meetings have been held, no staff named, no work plan outlined, no work begun, no office established."

7:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

dale:

You point to a NATION article??? And not just a NATION article but one penned by someone living in an alternate universe, Eric "King of the Moonbats" Alterman to buttress your argument??! LOL

Okay I'll just keep pointing to the fact that the Bush administration has successfully stopped another terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9/11.

You get back to me when that is no longer the case. Otherwise have a steaming cup of STFU on me, sir:)

6:03 AM  

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