W's on Vacation. Don't Bother Him. He' Busy Clearing Brush!!!

Well, George blew another chance to redeem himself and his administration. Three days after what is probably the worst natural disaster in modern times Bush is shamed into acknowledging it. Not only doesn't he interrupt his vacation in the face of this disaster he makes excuses for the minimum of interest and the minor amount of financial aid he offered.
This guy is the leader of the free world from the most powerful country in the world. Wouldn't it be his job to be the first to step up to the plate and take control of the relief effort. I mean, this is not the kind of thing that can wait until he finishes his sabatical in Crawford. Let's put this whole situation in perspective.
When 9/11 happened the world rallied around us. We heard from leaders of other countries immediately. This country grieved. I mean, even the late night shows like Leno and Letterman couldn't bring themselves to joke for about a week. That was a loss of about 3,000 people and two enormous buildings. To put this into context, the tsunami event killed, at this writing, approximately 120,000 people. Thousands are missing, thousands more are injured, tens of thousands more have no food, water or shelter. Most of the heavily devastated areas won't be rebuilt for a generation. So, George stays on his vacation and offers up $15,000,000 in aid -- raised to $35,000,000 after wind of his being stingy blew his way.
When he was accused of being stingy he starts coming up with his lame excuses. We put up the largest amount of money, we spent 2.4 billion in relief last year. There are absolute numbers and there are proportional numbers. Bush, being an MBA, knows you deal with proportional numbers. But he says 2.4 billion dollars like it's some huge amount, when that's what Iraq costs per week.
Consider the cost to be spent on his inaugural festivities -- a little more than 30 million. Consider Wall Street bonuses totalling $15.9 billion. An example of propotionate numbers -- We offer up $35,000,000 and Australia offers up $27,000,000. Absolute numbers show that we gave more. But proportional numbers read as follows: Australia -- $1.35 per person, U.S. -- $.09 per person.
He could have made a diplomatic gesture, that we need to mend our relations with Muslims, by making an emergency exit from Crawford and dealing with this head on. But the way he's dealing with this, it's as if he doesn't care because most affected are Muslims. When he had an election looming he high-tailed it down to Florida during it's hurricane seige to insure the votes he needed in his state. MORAL VALUES -- COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM or SELECTIVE VALUES -- SELECTIVE COMPASSION.
There are some people that say Bush could deal with this from Crawford -- with all the high tech services like the internet and other satellite communications. But consider the situation closer to home. You have a parent and a sibling living in a distant state. The sibling is having problems with the parent. Medical, emotional and financial. Which would be the better way of dealing with it. Mail out a couple of hundred bucks and make a few phone calls voicing your sympathy and support or would it be better to rally your family and deal with the situation in person. Seems to me the sacrifice of interrupting a vacation to deal with a disaster at your workplace might work wonders.
That's my opinion.

2004 out HAPPY NEW YEAR ! ! ! 2005 in

Compassionate Conservatism/Moral Values vs Support Our Troops

Donald Rumsfeld's response to the soldier that questioned the lack of proper equipment for our troops was from the heart. The problem, is it was just more proof of how cold that heart is. How can you tell our troops that when you go to war you work with the equipment you have?
This is a war of choice, not necessity. So, there was time to prepare for what you were about to face. But Rummy the Dummy wanted to do it on the cheap against the advice of his advisers in uniform.
Greg Rund was a freshman at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in 1999, when two students shot and killeda teacher, a dozen of their fellow students and themselves.Rund survived that, but he was killed in Fallujah on December 11. Because of severe military shortages many of our troops are on more than one tour of duty. Greg Rund was one of them. He served his country and had to be sent back only to be killed.
Imagine the feeling of anticipation as you count down the days until you can go home to your family, not to mention the anticipation of your family counting those days down. So, it's two weeks and you are outta here. Then the bad news comes -- your tour has been extended. That'll take the wind out of your sails. How do you psyche yourself up for that situation? And if you are able to do it, what if it happens again?
The Army National Guard revealed last week that it had missed it's recruiting goals for the past two months by 30 percent. This translates into the back door draft being used as the tool to keep up troop strength. But you're sucking the lifeblood out of these guys by doing this. Mental health problems for our troops is going to be one of the biggest medical stories of this war.
With all the "support our troops" talk that this administration hangs onto, you have to ask if they practice what they preach. The answer is no.
Consider the tax cuts to benefit the rich but the lack of funding for armour, pay, safety and compassion. I don't think these guys know the definition of compassion. If they did Halliburton would not be getting no-bid contracts and fleecing taxpayers who are footing the bill. Weren't the Iraqis going to rebuild their country? Instead they have an extremely high unemployment rate which translates into an angry population. They can only directly or indirectly take it out on our troops. Directly by taking up arms against our troops. Indirectly by aiding and abetting the insurgency.
From the beginning the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in this administration's incompetence. The original reason for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates for troop strength were wrong. The Iraqi response to the 'liberation' was wrong. The cost estimates were wrong. I SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. But I support them in stopping their valiant effort for an administration that administers bad faith and shoddy treatment. These guys put up with an Iraqi army that they can't really trust. We can't compound that with an administration that they can't trust. Compassion? Moral Values? Bulls--t!!!!!!!!!

TOP TEN LIST OF CONCERNS

not necessarily in this order -- except for #1

10.) Intelligence -- unless we get this area together we're out there with blinders on.

9.) Homeland Security -- borders are porous, 95% of docks imports not checked. A lot of what

we do in this area seems to be just going through the motions.

8.) Social Security -- casino or financial adviser?

7.) The Draft -- If we keep following the leader it's inevitable. That's why we have to wake up

and see that this is a waste of lives.

6.) Direction of Government - here we have the basic problem of interlocking church and state.

This direction has to change. It's a theocracy not a democracy.

5.) Health Care -- Cut the pork and we have a healthier country. Two meanings for pork.

4.) The Economy - We need to redefine what is a good economy. Corporations are doing great

and that translates to a booming economy. But it's at the expense of the outsource refugees.

3.) Environment -- You can't depend on a great economy to invent miracles to save the planet

from the apparent dangers it faces.

2.) War in Iraq -- We, and I say we because somehow this guy's still president, are war

criminals. I hate to say it but we are. From Abu Grahb to Fallujah we've been brutal, even

discounting the Geneva Convention.

1.) How all this affects me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1