Does he have a vision or is he wearing blinders?

President Bush, in his press conference today, said he has this vision to spread democracy throughout the world. Freedom is every man's dream. To a certain extent I would have to agree with that. I, personally, would prefer freedom to tyranny. I suppose I have a few questions regarding his vision.

Why are we spending unbelievable amounts of money and lives in Iraq when the money and human resources could be better served in Sudan and the Asian area where the tsunami struck? In Iraq we are killing people in a quest for freedom. In Sudan we can help the people who are being killed in what , I suppose, borders between ethnic cleansing and genocide. We sent 350 million dollars for relief efforts after the tsunami. Money spent in this region in the amounts we're spending in Iraq would energize this region out of poverty. I may be wrong but doesn't it make more sense to save lives and rebuild than it does to destroy lives, create a breeding ground for terrorists, line the pockets of companies like Halliburton (I believe Halliburton would be rebuilding the tsunami struck area in Asia if Bush had control of the finances for reconstruction), jam "democracy" down the throats of Iraqis and put everyone in jeopardy that has anything to do with Americans?

While all this money is being spent our economy is in jeopardy. Our deficit is huge and 1/3 of it is owned by China. China, by the way, has been growing it's economy at our expense and the expense of the rest of the tech world. China pirates big time. Their software, dvds, and other computer components are copied from others and sold for pennies on the dollar compared to what we sell it for. Whether they know it or not, they are positioning themselves to be one of the next great superpowers at our expense. President Bush puts the environment and global warming on the backburner with the logic that it would hurt the economy. By his approach it won't be long before we have neither an environment or an economy.

Bush speaks of spreading freedom like he was going fly up in a crop duster and sow the seeds of freedom throughout the land. Seriously, if you listen to his speeches he speaks in very broad terms. Condoleeza Rice is the right person for the job because she is just a good person and the right person for the job. Her confirmation hearings gave specifics from Democrats as to why she should not be confirmed -- she lied to get us into Iraq, remember the smoking gun being a mushroom cloud, faulty intelligence that she took for gospel. Alberto Gonzales -- he's a good man and the man for the job -- how about the guy that wrote the opinion that allowed the torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, defined torture as coming just short of organ failure or death.

I guess I just don't think you can have much of a vision when you have two empty paper towel tubes over your eyes when you see your vision. And that's what I think.