If anyone still harbors any illusions that the lame-duck CheneyBush Administration will taxi relatively harmlessly to its departure gate in January 2009, recent events suggest otherwise. It's been made abundantly clear that in the next ten months, these guys are going to behave even more brutishly in amassing and misusing their power, and in screwing things up, than they've already done in the past seven-plus years.
In essence, the message emanating from the White House to the country can be summed up this way: "You want us? You come and get us. Otherwise, get out of our way! We've got a whole lot of unfinished business to complete."
In foreign policy, we should expect CheneyBush to continue locking-in agreements with the Iraq government that will permit permanent stationing of troops and aircraft and missiles on that country's soil, which in effect means a continuation of the war perhaps for decades -- or, in the approving estimate of John McCain, for 50 or 100 years or more. (But you can bet that CheneyBush will withdraw some troops from Iraq, for partisan reasons, just prior to the election.) Then there's the prospect they will bomb Iran's military/scientific installations from the air, something Cheney and Bush and the other neo-cons, in and out of government, are salivating about.
In domestic policy, one can expect even more bad policy: placing a whole lot more incompetent ideologues into positions of administrative power and onto the courts, selling off more of America's public lands for energy exploitation, giving more sweetheart deals to their contributors (such as the one the EPA just cut with big agriculture so they don't have to report their factory-farm toxic-gas emissions), ( www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/25/AR2008022502472.html ) cutting more vital social and infrastructure programs as the economy continues to tank -- thanks to Bush policies of spending upwards of ##three trillion dollars ( www.alternet.org/waroniraq/77663 ) on the wars and associated costs), etc. etc.
Consider just four examples from last week:
1. ENJOY YOUR "DOWNER" BURGERS
Americans were justifiably horrified when they saw recent hidden-camera footage on the nightly news of emaciated, scrabrous cows being dumped into the food supply that winds up as hamburger meat in schools and prisons and who knows where else. According to Department of Agriculture regulations, those so-called "downer" cattle (those too sick or weak to stand) are not permitted to be placed into the public food-supply chain, for fear of passing on "mad cow" or other horrific diseases.
Nearly 145,000 million pounds of such potentially tainted meat from the slaughterhouse in question had to be recalled, 37 million pounds of which already had been consumed in school lunches and other nutrition programs.
Good, the meat-processers in question were shamed and embarrassed. The government's regulatory system was in place and all was well in the world. Right?
Wrong. CheneyBush and their GOP enablers in Congress are in hock up to their eyeballs to their corporate benefactors, and ideologically opposed in any case to the concept of regulating a free market. So, how did the Administration handle this black-eye episode?
Were the fines increased for meat-processors that skirt the rules? Their corporate owners shunned and contracts canceled? Nope.
Instead, last week, the CheneyBush Administration officially authorized the use of "downer" meat ( www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022804117.html ) as fit for human consumption. A few more random inspections were ordered at meat-processing plants, but no systemic overhaul of the limited inspection protocols were devised to increase protection for the public.
"So you caught us red-handed bowing to the meat-processing industry," Bush&Co. seemed to be saying. "What are you going to do about it? Bugger off and get out of our face."
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
It will be a long 9 months, but I am interested in your opinion on whether a peaceful transition to a new administration is a certainty. There are prominent former high officials that say otherwise; Paul Craig Roberts for instance. Questions have been raised about the Continuity of Government policies that were implemented on the morning of 9/11, the fact that members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, not being informed of that action, and of the inability of the House Homeland Security Committee to gain access to the plans the White House now holds for COG. Rep. Peter Defazio, having security clearance as a committee member, requested to be informed of the current COG policy last summer, and was denied access. I posted an article here on OEN discussing my fears about it.
What scares me a bit more than republicans winning the elections and remaining in government are the ideas held by so many that if democrats win the elections the republicans will just fade off under the house like the wicked witch of the west. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The republicans, in the last two decades, have established a tick hold on our country, infiltrating our democratic bases, with much cooperation from many of our trusted democratic leaders.
Where were our so-called liberal leaders when we needed recounts in the 2000 elections? How about when any fool could see that a vote for the war was an asinine right wing power play being perpetrated on the American people, where were the NO votes? Were our dem leaders so stupid that they didn't know that they were being lied to when most of the American people did? The dems have turned their back on us and now want us to "forget about it", they were just duped. How much can we trust them if they can be had that easily? Where was Ted through all of these shenanigans?
Sorry, as far as I'm concerned we're on our own, trust no one. Every single step made by democrats that don't run 180 degrees away from republican policy must be questioned and rejected. We're in big trouble. After the elections, win or lose, things will go on as they have for seven years, nothing changes. What happened to all of the changes after the dems took congress in 2004? Nothing changed. Where are impeachments? None.
Be wary my friends, we are under attack and if you don't believe it wonder how an inside attack could be perpetrated on our largest city and our most powerful govenrment security establishment and no heads rolled. We can't be this stupid. If we are then we don't deserve freedom.
by
PeterJ (7 articles, 2 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 117 comments)
on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 9:03:31 AM
Those expecting a return of our Constitutional government after the November election may well be in for a big disappointment. If Bush/Cheney do step away without declaring martial law; they will be replaced by another CFR member. Take your pick: Hillary. Obama, McCain? All members of Rockefeller's New World Order think tank. An interesting sidebar; on MSNBC 's Morning Joe show a few mornings ago, they were discussing an incident where a young man was arrested for asking Bill Clinton about 911 at a stump speech. One of the commentators on the show said "He should be hauled off to one of our "Secret Prisons"! It's on You Tube and shows just how far we have fallen in America. And we thought the Nazi's were defeated.
by
ronheri (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 123 comments)
on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 9:40:39 AM
