Jerry Tenuto: OUT OF THE BLUE -- Which takes more effort, staying stupid or achieving enlightenment? History will show we have been saddled with the laziest prez, veep, and cabinet in history.

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At a very tender age, when tests proved that young Forrest was possessed of limited intelligence, his Mother philosophically summed it up thusly:

?Stupid is as stupid does.?

As he traveled life?s serpentine, sometimes happy, often harsh, road, Forrest never lost sight of that simple yet valuable maxim.

And his life, as well as the lives of those with whom he came into contact along the journey, were far better off for the kind, non-assuming nature imbued within the man.

Now, I know the ?Forrest Gump? analogy has been used repeatedly to describe George W. Bush and his Comedy of Terrors desecration of the United States, the Constitution, and our very way of life. From pundits to essayists, op-ed pieces to cartoonists, one doesn?t need six degrees to equate the 72 IQ hero of Winston Groom?s 1985 novel with our Fearless Leader.

The similarities don?t stop there: They hail from the South, although Forrest was actually born there; they like to run; they would be approximately the same age; both are fictional heroes.

The big problem is that Forrest Gump is far more of a humane, sensitive, compassionate creature than George W. Bush.

Would George have befriended the poor girl who lived in the shack outside the periphery of accepted society? Not a snowball?s chance in hell.

Forrest got into university through his own achievement, then earned grades at least as good as, if not better than, those received by George.

Oh, don?t forget ? where George was a cheerleader, Forrest actually played football.

During the VietNam unpleasantness, George hid under his bed by day, partied by night, even went missing from flight training. Forrest got shot in the buttocks and still managed to save Lt. Dan.

Forrest took a decrepit shrimp boat plus nothing more than a promise to his fallen comrade, Bubba, and along with the legless Lt. Dan turned them into a multi-million dollar business.

George took any number of companies, well-financed with moneys inherited from Granddaddy Prescott as a profiteer of dealings with Hitler and the Nazi Reichsbank, supported by daddy George H.W. Bush, and throughout the 1970s-1980s ran them from solvency directly into the ground.

In five short years as governor he oversaw the utter ruination of the great state of Texas.

Now, in the same short amount of time as ersatz president of the United States, would-be King George XLIII has done more damage to this Nation and the Planet than even H.G. Wells could have imagined in his worst nightmare scenario.

Where Forrest Gump was a kind soul, George W. Bush exhibits absolutely no compassion whatsoever ? except when it behooves his purpose for the cameras.

And there are many times when he can?t even get that right.

Several months ago, when he made an early attempt at an ?impromptu? question and answer session with one of his handpicked audiences, someone actually queried him on how many Iraqis had been killed since the (illegal) invasion. King George did his usual slovenly, non-presidential lean on the podium, complete with rolling of the eyes as if to come up with a good response, then casually stated, ?Oh, about thirty thousand, I guess.?

I?m taking the liberty of paraphrasing here, but I distinctly remember the number, because worldwide media sources were estimating well above 100,000 by then. And I shall never forget his cavalier, ?so what? attitude as he threw the figure out.

The man didn?t blink an eye while making this comment, on camera worldwide, that he had set in motion events which had cost the lives of some 30,000 innocent children, women and men ? human beings. Worse, he knew it was a bogus response, at lease 70% short of reality.

They simply are not real to him. Nobody who dies on his watch is real to him, or deserving of his consideration.

The first three days of this week King George XLIII has made three appearances to convince America and the World that not only is the war in Iraq a just war, but the U.S. and its dwindling coalition will be victorious.

Everyone knows in war there are no victors.

That?s virtually all the guy talks about in public anymore ? Iraq.

Except when he?s trying to convince Congress it?s a perfectly sound policy to allow ?guest workers? in so his Big Biz cronies, already reaping huge profits from outsourcing cheap labor, can circumvent unions by hiring cheap labor right here at home.

That way the Bush Pioneers can make money coming and going while they enjoy their hefty tax breaks ? and American workers are forced to settle for lower wages and longer hours.

Forget everything else that we need taken care of within our Nation?s borders.

And he expects the largest chunk of our tax dollars to go to military spending, tossing it away on Rummy?s Follies in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I do not want the largest portion of my tax dollars to go to military spending; to be wasted on death and destruction in foreign nations; to disrupt the legitimate governments whom the RoveBush Fascists don?t like; to be usurped for regime change, which is against American law.

Okay, so we invaded Iraq to stop Saddam from launching any of his weapons of mass destruction.

Wait? it was because he had aided and abetted Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda pull off the 9/11 attacks.

No? we bomber Iraq back into the Stone Age because Saddam was trying to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger.

Oh, I?ve got it now? we hafta spread Democracy all over the Middle East, because Daddy, Dickie and Donnie are responsible for th?levashun of Saddam and all them other dictators.

Why did we invade Iraq?

It?s the oil, and Bush and his Gang are willing to spill as many pints of blood, American and whatever other nationalities, it takes to acquire the black gold.

The office of president, even if its holder had a 99% majority vote, is not free to make up laws off the cuff. George W. Bush, with the ever-present Herr Oberst Karl Rove and Dark Lord the Dick Cheney buzzing in his ear, has this wrong-headed delusion that with an edge of less than 1%, a gift from Diebold?s CEO and the Ohio Republican hierarchy rather than the will of American voters, he can do whatever he wants.

So on Monday Bush went to Cleveland and spoke at the City Club of Cleveland, where he expected a regime-friendly audience. While painting the usual rosy picture scenario, King George XLIII threw in another of his fanciful tales that can?t be proven. He related the story of Tal Afar, a city in northern Iraq of some 200,000 that was an al Qaeda stronghold now cleared out and in the process of being rebuilt by Iraqi and U.S. troops.

Of course, as usual George left some vital information out of his Faery Taele. Such as it?s the only Iraqi city of any size that had been quieted down. He also failed to mention the part about the recurrence of insurgent activity to take the city back.

Funny how Right-wing, Neo-con talk show blowhard Laura Ingraham went to Iraq and the only success story she came back with was the very same tale of Tal Afar.

During Tuesday?s ?surprise? press conference, King George again made a throwaway reference to ?sure, some people are gonna die? in his war without end. Matter-of-fact, no sorrow or remorse in his voice, no hesitancy.

And promise us a war without end did he, verifying that some future president would have to clean up the mess and bring our brave troops home.

Yet he assures us of victory. All this doublethink makes my head hurt.

The surprise press conference has been traditionally used when a president wishes to make an announcement of unique or emergency stature. Bush calls them whenever Herr Oberst Karl Rove feels the Party needs a boost in the polls.

The polls Fearless Leader never pays any attention to, because he doesn?t give a rat?s ass what the people he has sworn to serve need and desire.

Have you ever noticed how every time George actually does answer a question regarding policy he prefaces it with ?I think it should?? or ?My feeling on that???

It?s always what he wants, never what might be good for the aggregate group.

And what Bush wants is never anything based on reality within the physical time-space continuum of the Earth?s planetary confines.

In short, what he says never materializes unless it results in death and destruction.

What does King George care if two-thirds of the country thinks he?s a complete screw-up?

Virtually every sane and sober adult with access to a free speech newspaper or newscast realizes that Donald Rumsfeld is, and always has been, wholly incompetent to be Secretary of Anything, especially Defense of the World?s most destructive War Machine. Still, upon repeated calls to dump him for someone who is? let?s say, qualified, Bush refuses, saying this 72-year-old fossil ?is doing a fine job.?

Geez! Where have we heard that before?

To its credit, even CNN refused to air King George?s speech on Wednesday, adding the comment that it was ?just more of the same? of what we?ve heard the past two days.

Of course, it doesn?t help when King George XLIII, Dark Lord the Dick Cheney, Rummy, and their minions, led by dullards such as RNC honcho Ken Mehlman and talk show host Laura Ingraham, blame the media for the horrendous mess in Iraq.

Hey, the media allowed the RoveBush Fascists to have their war, now they, too, are trying to correct mistakes.

There?s a lot of ?stupid is as stupid does? to go around, beginning with about half of the people who voted for George W. Bush because he claimed Christianity, or because Bill Clinton proved to be human. There?s even more to go around among those who voted for George W. Bush the second time. Fool me once, shame on me?

And there doesn?t seem to be an end to it.

Yes, I know Forrest Gump is just a character in a novel and a movie.

Nevertheless, maybe we wouldn?t be in this mess if Mother Barbara had used that ?stupid is as stupid does? bit of wisdom around the Bush mansion some 58 years ago.

Y?think?

1,935 days since the Rehnquist Supreme Court illegally allowed this illegitimate takeover of our Government by the RoveBushCheney Fascists. Impeachment is our legal recourse to deal with Bush, but can we get rid of the rest by tarring and feathering, and running them out on rails?

(This column has previously appeared in THE LONE STAR ICONOCLAST, Crawford, Texas, and at www.LoneStarIcon.com)

© 2006, The Lone Star Iconoclast

Authors Website: www.lonestaricon.com

Authors Bio:
An erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator, Jerry Tenuto is a veteran of seven years service in the U.S. Army. He holds a BS and MA in Broadcast Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. For two decades Jerry filled the airwaves with rock, roll and banter as a disc jockey -- until greed, the rebirth of payola, and de-Reaganlation ruined that medium. Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly "Out Of The Blue" feature in THE LONE STAR ICONOCLAST, Crawford, Texas, www.LoneStarIcon.com -- because somebody from that community has to do the world right.