January 25, 2007 at 10:12:42

State of the Union:Condition Critical

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By Lydia Howell (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Lydia Howell - Writer

NOTE; This was written before Bush's speecg excelt for the "postscript" at the end.

Unless you want a rerun of Corporate trade happy talk, cowboy foreign policy and utright lies, skip Bush's State of the Union speech. Here's
what the Decider-in-Chief will NOT be saying about the state of our nation.

You are paying $8 BILLION every month for the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

You work an ENTIRE YEAR to make what a CEO makes in ONE DAY.

Bush wants to send another 21,000 troops to iraq. The only reason I can imagine for this is to guard Iraqi oil facilities after passing a new law that gives U.S. oil companies control over them for the forseeable future.

College tuition keeps gong up. Grants get cut.

If you're a youth in small town/rural America, Uncle Sam (or Wal-Mart) wants YOU! If you're a youth of color in our cities, your options are Mickey D's, Uncle Sam's military or a slot in one of America's few growth industries--private prisons.

The military budget balloons. Corporate welfare expands. All human investment is cut.

New Orleans remains in ruins. Homelessness keeps rising.

You may soon be REQUIRED BY LAW to buy the health insurance that you already cannot afford.

Haven't the American people had enough yet?

It doesn't have to be this way! Here's a hint: when a country or it's leader is demonized by the U.S. government, that's an attempt to snow
the American people--to keep us from seeing alternatives.

Take Cuba: that island nation of 11 million people has healthcare for all and better health outcomes (such as lower infant mortality rates)than the U.S. does.

Consider Venezuela. President Hugo Chavez is challenging corporate power and taking back his country's resources for the benefit of the
people--not a tiny elite. G.,W. Bush and BOTH U.S. political parties cater to corporations at the expense of everyone eles.

And Iran? IF Iran is even working on nuclear weapons, it would be five or 10 years before they could have weapons. However, Bush is pushing to build MORE nuclear weapons.

Reality-check: The U.S. is the ONLY nation on Earth to use atomic bombs on people--Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WWII. American weaqpons
of mass destruction (such as the "depleted" uranium bunker busters that have been dropped on Iraq in 1991 and in the current invasion/occupation), are the real danger--NOT Iranian weapons that do not even exist.

In fact. the Bush Administration is considering a nuclear strike on Iran that could come anytime.

The state of the Union is a democracy in disrepair.
Neither Democrats or Republicans represent ordinary people, the public interest and the common good.
George W. Bush thinks he's a king--and above the law.

We need a pro-democracy movement here at home.
It's overdue to push for impeachment of Bush/Cheny as step one to revive our democracy.Only We The People can do it.

Haven't you had enough yet?

POSTSCRIPT: Half of G.W. Bush's speech was various "promises and committments", but, given a track-record of empty promises and betrayed
committments (except when it comes to his corporate cronies),this is meaningless. Half the speech focused on Iraq--as exepcted. What's of some interest
is the Democrats' reply, given by freshman Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia).Drawing on his father's, his own and his son's current military experience, Webb forcefully confronted Bush on Iraq. The question is will the Democratic Party act as forcefully as Webb's speech? Will moves to bring the troops home come in the near future?

This weekend, peace activists hit the streets in Washinton,DC and around
the country. But, like ending the war in Vietnam, I suspect it's only
when there's a lot fewer bodies reliably in the pipeline, willing to kill or be killed for lies covering Bush's longtime petroleum patrons.
We must support the troops in resisting deployment, refusing to cooperate. We must escalate the counter-military recruitment movement on
high school and college campuses. We must bluntly talk about the hundreds of thousand of Iraqis slaughtered in this illegal, immoral occupation. We must also talk about the war at home that's destroying the infrastructure of decent standards of living and real democracy for all--not just the priviledged few.

http://blog.myspace.com/lydiahowell

Lydia Howell is a Minneapolis journalist, poet, activist and producer/host of "Catalyst:politics & culture" on KFAI Radio, all shows archived for 2 weeks after braodcast at www.kfai.org

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

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