Even Joseph Goebbels would be astonished at how easy it was to manipulate the citizenry of the US to agree to any action that Bush wanted even when that action was proven absurd from the very beginning. Americans care not for truth, just a macho leader. And, with each successive season, Bush’s propagandists would place him in ever more testosterone-filled scenes where he would flex his masculinity for all to see. It was eye candy for the eager American citizenry and they lapped it up for weeks at a time. Their hero was seen holding a chainsaw and that became the topic du jour at the water cooler for the next few weeks. When he made the grandiose entry onto the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and declared that major military combat in Iraq was over and that the US had prevailed. The gigantic cute and symbolic banner behind him read, ‘Mission Accomplished,” for all to see. Of course, when you visit the White House website to see that speech once again, the huge banner is nowhere in sight thanks to the fortuitous cropping just below it. All Americans remember is the wonderful moment when Bush touched down on the carrier and stepped out in full military gear before giving one of the most pro-American speeches ever.
Throughout these past seven years, Bush and his admin have illegally entered into two wars based on hundreds of lies, deceit and blatant propaganda. They have destroyed our Bill of Rights. Posse comitatus, canceled in a signing statement, and other key legislation originally enacted to protect the rights of the citizens have been eliminated. They have committed horrendous acts of torture at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and other military bases. They have even expanded the torturing policies of the US by the use of extraordinary rendition. They have allowed Cheney’s one percent policy, basically a policy that states that if there’s one percent of a chance that a certain act may be committed by a terrorist or other anti-American group, then the administration must look at that possibility as a fait accompli and move to enact even more constraints on the citizenry.
This administration has destroyed the annual budget sent to Congress by removing one of the largest components of said budget, the military expenses accrued by waging two illegal wars. Indeed, the necessary financing for these illegal wars increases exponentially year after year, yet few in Congress or in the pubic dare to question it. Now we have a huge abyss opened up by this admin and stoked continually in order to perform their illegal shenanigans behind the curtains and away from the cameras. The amount of venom being spewed by the two main parties in this year’s election has reached new lows with everyone on both sides claiming that the US is done for if their candidate doesn’t win.
And throughout the years since WWII, the news media along with the NEA [National Endowment of the Arts?] have purposefully and shamelessly pushed forth the notion that Americans are better than anyone else. We are constantly told that the US feeds the world, the US invents everything, the US has the best health care system, the best infrastructure, the best employment system, the best military, the best economy, the best planes, the best trains, the best of everything. We have been told ad nauseum that everyone the world over envy us and only us and to such a degree that many prefer to kill themselves if they can’t live here. The media constantly bombards the airwaves with horrible scenes from other countries usually marked as “standard everyday fare,” while extolling the beauty of the US. We are told we have the best educational system, the best business model, the best government, the best judicial system, and yes, the best freedoms. At the same time, Americans feel a sense of duty to inform the rest of the world that their societies are almost devoid of meaning and if they get on our bad side, we could turn their country into a glazed parking lot by noon.
Of course, with just a modicum if investigation, anyone can see that most of this is outright lies, and essentially pointless. We are rated 37th overall in our health care system where we spend far more per person that anyone else on the planet. Cuba, which has had an economic embargo placed on it by the US since 1960 comes in at 39th. Just imagine what they could have done if the US didn’t try to starve their population out of existence. Since WWII we have lost three wars, including the two currently in process, and have interfered in dozens of countries with our economic hit men whose job it is to place third world countries in debt so much that they are forced to provide us with free resources while we keep their citizens imprisoned in a yoke of slavery.
We have started the overthrow of democratically elected officials from Chile to Iran. At the same time, we helped begin a government in those same countries that is so evil and dictatorial that even their own citizens must flee to safety to avoid near certain death. When a country stands up to us, we ridicule them on the world’s stage. Thus, French Fries became Freedom Fries because the French weren’t convinced that Saddam had WMDs. It turns out that the French were 100% correct and the US 100% wrong, yet no mention of the childlike tantrum played by these same people, no desire to admit a mistake and learn from it, no reason to do an about face. Americans don’t really care who they hurt, how they hurt them, and how long they must stay in pain.
Even today, when the two illegal wars have cost the lives of over 1 million foreigners, there is very little sentiment of regret. We have destroyed entire villages, raped young teenage girls, killed people on a daily basis, yet when you bring up these facts many Americans would yell back in ignorant retaliation, “Well, they killed 3 thousand Americans.” Even a person with very little intelligence knows that no Iraqi nor Afghan was aboard any of those planes. Not one from those countries has been found to be a part of that crime. Yet, as far as many Americans are concerned, that one statement gives them carte blanche to kill as many foreigners as they wish for the rest of eternity.
Since WWII, Americans have become increasingly obnoxious, argumentative, bellicose, and belligerent. And when they feel like they are wronged overseas, which apparently happens rather often in the eyes of the locals who live there, Americans have no problem insulting the person they feel slighted them and bemoaning the heathens who inhabit the area. They easily throw tantrums and create scenes and always in English. Americans simply refuse to learn any foreign language and expect the citizens of whatever country they visit to speak to them in perfect Americanese. I have been watching this trend grow over the years. As time passes the ego of many Americans grows tremendously and their insipid and egotistical attitude along with it. Even inside the borders of the US, Americans have no problem invading the private homes and back rooms of businesses to tear down and destroy any symbol that might appear anti-American, such as the flag of another country. They have no worries about forcing people to speak English, even if it means that subsequent communication will be worse as a result. For decades, inside the US and around the world, Americans have insisted and demanded that the rest of the world bow before them, treat them as royalty and only speak to them in English.
Well, we have finally seen the adage I stated at the beginning come to fruition, “What goes around, comes around.” For all these decades where Americans have bullied the rest of the world physically, emotionally and militarily, the sacred bird of retribution has finally returned home to roost. President Bush has ensured that Americans will soon be able to taste some of their own medicine. This will perhaps be just a taste, just a quick nip or a small sip, but incredibly important nonetheless. President Bush can be put in the history books as the one who fulfilled the promises set forth by that adage.
For years Americans have been living high off the hog. They drive gas-guzzling tanks, throw away 30% of the world’s waste, create and support illegal wars, and insult almost any foreigner they come in contact with. They get fatter by the year, spend billions of dollars on trinkets that not even the Mohicans would have accepted as proper payment. For decades Americans have used credit cards as if they were “get out of jail free” cards. They put everything on credit, including their national debt. They draw huge credit debt and turn around and expect the rest of the world to buy their currency and feed their economy. In the main schematic of tasks on planet Earth, most people around the world are forced to live in squalid conditions, survive on very little, and work from dawn to dusk in order to earn a few more pennies. The Americans, however, were expected to eat. Nothing more, just eat. The world works to feed America. Americans eat because it’s their only role anymore in society. Especially with more and more jobs relocating overseas, and an education system that turns out happy zombies with no possible brain power, the only thing Americans have left to do is eat the food prepared by others.
We and our beloved president have finally brought to completion the story of the American. When houses first started to increase exorbitantly in the US in 2003 and 2004, some economists raised their eyebrows with concern. When mortgage institutions began implementing a plan whereby anyone, even the poorest bloke in the whole country, could get a loan to buy a house, the economists' eyes widened. As houses made their mercuric rise in value, economists shook their heads. And when the banks started refinancing those loans increasing the monthly bill by thousands of dollars, all the economists could do was to shrug their shoulders and wait for the other shoe to drop.
Several shoes have now dropped. The US economy is in virtual free fall right now and things will only get worse. Already many countries have started looking to replace the dollar with other currencies. Iran and Venezuela are using a basket of currencies. China has also joined them. Other countries have started to reposition themselves vis-à-vis the US dollar. Germany has now promised to replace the dollar as soon as possible in their international trading. Meanwhile, Bush and his administration have been forced to show their true colors. They now show before the entire world that their system had actually very little to do with free markets and minimal regulations. It is now estimated that the US government alone will have to spend 2 trillion dollars or more just to keep a few major financial institutions solvent. At the same time, the costs of both illegal wars rises towards 1 trillion dollars. Unemployment is on the rise. Everyone is cutting back and hoping for a federal intervention in their infrastructure, but the
federal government has no money. With Bush, we have risen from a deficit of 1 trillion dollars to 12 or 13 trillion dollars. He has placed the future of the entire country on a precipice whose base is rapidly crumbling.
When the world moves away from the dollar, the total foreign debt will be way over 10 trillion dollars. It will be China’s turn to force the US to make concessions in order for China to do business. It appears that China has already started doing this as a hapless “Leader of the Free World” was forced to go to the Olympics in China or else be blamed for insulting the country. For the first time ever, a sitting American President has attended the games in another country. What’s worse is that he was reduced to the role of cheerleader. His new title probably should be “Cheerleader of the Free World.” The US teeters on the brink of total collapse. With but the smallest movement in any direction, the whole American economy could be destroyed and Americans would be reduced to third world status with money that is virtually worthless.
So I commend President Bush for his rare ability to perform life-altering events in real time. He has accomplished what no other president could ever do, preside over the disintegration of the US economy. Truly his prowess is very underestimated as he has done what no one else, foreign or domestic, has ever been able to do.
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