It all amounts to an increasing level of insanity from a power-crazed administration as well as sounding much like Benjamin Franklin's wisdom who said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results." In the case of Iraq, doing it with more troops on the ground is even more insane as a greater occupying force there only guarantees a stronger resistance to it presenting more targets to aim at with virtually no chance for a peaceful resolution of the conflict short of a full unconditional withdrawal of all occupying forces, no strings attached, that won't happen. In the case of a future draft, now seeming more likely, it only guarantees this nation plans to stay in a permanent state of war against future enemies to be chosen with those in or to be included in the "axis of evil" heading the target list at some point ahead.
George Bush and others floating these lunatic schemes have no regard for the lives of those affected, and why should they. For now, their aim is to buy time, and as long as they can get away with it, they and their well-connected cronies and corporate friends stand to gain from the price everyone else has to pay - a huge one including the thousands of lives lost each week and the many more thousands of survivors whose lives will never be the same again.
Think what it means as the new year approaches. The nation is at war on two fronts, it's likely more ahead are contemplated by some in the administration, no substantive effort is being made to change course, and the condition at home is a relentless march toward becoming a full-blown national security police state we're already perilously close to. It's because the neocon-dominated Bush administration is reckless in ambition, out-of-control in policy, and the embodiment of a relentless and ruthless "weapon of mass destruction" unleashed on all humanity in its way.
It's underpinned by an extremist ideology based on rule by savage capitalism that's frighteningly close to and borders on the tipping edge of the classic definition of fascism combining corporatism with strong elements of patriotism and nationalism, a claimed messianic Almighty-directed and blessed mission, and characterized by authoritarian rule backed by the iron fist of militarism and 'homeland security" enforcers, illegally spying on everyone, and intolerant of dissent and opposition in an age where the law is what the chief executive says it is and all semblance of checks and balances no longer exist. In a word - despotism, but cloaked in the deceptive rhetoric of a modern democracy falsely claiming to serve the needs of all its people.
It's also an age of extreme greed and corruption infesting government and corporate boardrooms with the gap between rich and poor at levels greater than since the 19th century "Gilded Age" of the "robber barons." It's something economist Paul Krugman calls "entirely unprecedented" under George Bush that "For the first time in our history, so much (of the nation's economic growth has gone) to a small, wealthy minority" while the great majority can't stay even as inflation-adjusted wages fail to keep up with rising prices and poverty is growing in an age of affluence affecting tens of millions in the richest country ever in the world.
The grossness of this disparity was on the online business pages of the New York Times on Christmas Day in a story titled "Wall St. Bonuses" So Much Money, Too Few ($250,000) Ferraris. The article highlights that "The 2006 bonus gold rush has re-energized some luxury markets" like Manhattan real estate that had softened earlier in the year and echoed the lament of a real estate broker about a "dearth of listings for two clients trying to spend $20 million on Manhattan properties" while mentioning some of the Wall Street wealthy already in their luxury nests are buying $5 million apartments for their children and private resort vacation homes to boot.
The same ugly data is there overall worldwide in a newly released study by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the UN University that shows the richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of its wealth compared, on the other end, with the assets of about half the world's population accounting for barely 1% of global wealth - lumps of coal only for them and a "Ba Humbug" dismissal for their plight by those with everything wanting still more.
The Cost to a Society Based on Predatory Capitalism and Out-of-Control Greed, Corruption and Militarism
The societal breakdown in the US is a national disgrace and affects many millions. A sampling of some of it is listed below:
-- 47 million Americans can't afford basic health insurance.
-- Over 80 million in total have no health coverage during some portion of each year and most of them are employed.
-- The Bush administration just proposed sweeping cuts in payments to pharmacies to reduce the Medicaid benefits 50 million poor in the country rely on, can't afford to make up the difference for on their own, and may have to forego medications they vitally need if pharmacies won't fill prescriptions at lower prices.
-- The US ranks 41st in infant mortality, and the World Health Organization (WHO) ranks the country 37th in the world in "overall health performance" and 54th in the fairness of health care despite spending at a current level overall of around $2 trillion a year or about double the amount per capita of the OECD countries that deliver superior health care overall to their citizens as a national priority.
-- Well over 12 millions Americans struggle daily to feed themselves, and many thousands across the country can't afford housing and are forced to sleep on the streets including in winter cold.
-- A just released December 14 US Conference of Mayors report said these conditions continue to worsen based on a survey of 23 cities showing 7% more requests for food aid in 2006 following a 12% jump in 2005 during a period of economic growth.
-- The same report showed requests for shelter rose 9% in 2006 with requests from families with children rising 5%.
I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.
That Dear Sir, was the most comprehensive article that I have yet to read on the Bush administration, and the plight of our democracy. I agree with everything you said. I hope that the next year brings us closer to bringing back values that havn't been present in our country for many years. Thany you for a great article.
by
Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 574 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 11:28:00 AM
I'm very grateful for your comments. I just emailed Editor Rob Kall telling him this article was my venting to sum up all feelings I have about all other articles I wrote during the year. I'm glad you liked it.
by
Stephen Lendman (251 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 76 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 12:52:08 PM
I say this as a positive statement, not as a negative.
THAT WAS A GREAT ARTICLE.
But...
It goes off at a few points in some other directions and could probably be edited down a bit. It's not that ANYTHING you said wasn't worth saying, just that you can only say so much at once.
LIBRARIES will be filled to the brim with books on the evil and incompetence of the Bush Administration. Entire books can be written that won't even BEGIN to cover how much they have done to destroy our country and the world.
Nobody should even TRY to put it all into one article, no matter how noble a cause that might be.
Let's hope, some day, we can write about things getting BETTER for Planet Earth and her people.
CharlieL
Portland, OR
CLL2001@gmail.com
by
Charlie L (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 674 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 2:20:09 PM
Seems some of you obviously missed the memo after George was sworn in as President.The Constitution is null and void and it is the new Survival Game.Survival of the fittest. Old ,young and sick must go first.Money is the only measure of a man.See, you missed it too.!!!!
by
cluelessfl (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 184 comments)
on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 3:27:40 PM
If I may quote Stephen :
"At the end of the sixth horrific year under the reign of the Bush modern-day extremist Jacobin-neocons, we can now look ahead, but to what. We have an administration in charge for another two years one longtime analyst characterizes as "a bunch of crooks, incompetents and perverts" with the president's approval rating plunging as low as 28% in some independent polls and a growing number of people in the country demanding his impeachment and removal from office.
It's not likely from the new Democrat-led Congress arriving in January, as their DLC leadership took it off the table and so far only promises more of the same failed policy other than some minor tinkering around the edges to create an illusion of change no different than the deceptive kind of course correction proposed by the Baker "Gang of Ten" Iraq Study Group (ISG) that guarantees none at all. It doesn't leave members of the body politic with much hope for the new year that will likely just deliver more of the same rogue leadership and policy engendering growing public discontent and anger but not at a level so far to scare the those in power enough to want to address it."
In my opinion the very worst thing about this last six year "reign of terror" is the abysmal lack of opposition to it from the so-called opposition party. While more and more citizens of these United States are increasingly outraged by the excesses of this heinous administration we still hear silences and platitudes from the "loyal opposition". It is this climate of appeasement that allows Bush to continue to destroy our democratic processes.
Whenever one cites the numerous examples of such complicities by the Democrats the DLC supporters rush to both ignore the list and to castigate the left for being "unrealistic" or too "demanding". It is the ignoring of the record by these conservative democrats, so-called centrists or democratic libertarians that should make everyone understand that they do not have our best interests at heart. They seek only to restore the power of the Party and not the legacy of our nation.
I wonder at the slate of candidates for the office of the President in '08 that the Dems will field. Hillary, despite her vast accumulation of wealth, some of it from her buddy Rupert Murdoch no doubt, is slipping in the polls. Obama, the primary reason for that slippage is, at the same time, a neophyte to national office and extremely eloquent. He is also, apparently, enmired in a budding scandal as well, over cronyism. Edwards is positioning himself rather well and actually pounding on the real issues. He I would consider voting for.
The real problem in this nation remains that far to many folks would never vote for a man named Barak Hussein Obama, and that is a national scandal. The lack of a party of national stature that is willing to defend our constitution is another scandal as well.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 7:25:25 AM
particularly for his attention to detail. I still would like to add something:
Hypocrisy had always been a part of the US religion. It was needed to connect the official Christian set of values with the rule of mighty dollar. By no means it was aa unique endeavor: this phenomena more or less exists in any human society and if you read the world literature you can find it in Germany or Britain, Japan or Thailand or etc. But in the US it developed in the most ugly form of all- it became a 'genetic part of the character'. Hypocrisy in fact stopped being a tool and became a natural part of life. It effectively replaced the real human qualities. I characterise that as a deliberate madness.
In most societies totally consumed by hypocrisy the only way to cure was a catastrophe. We here are heading for one ( the neocon parasites are the symptoms of that) unless we introduce a new wording into the pledge of allegiance:
' US is the same as any other country
The US people are no different from anyone else
God, please, do not bless the US, bless the Humanity'
Amen
by
Mark Sashine (51 articles, 19 quicklinks, 244 diaries, 3454 comments)
on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 8:29:56 AM
7 comments
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