"Sometimes, words have consequences you don't intend them to mean. 'Bring 'em on' is the classic example, when I was really trying to rally the troops and make it clear to them that I fully understood, you know, what a great job they were doing. And those words had an unintended consequence. It kind of, some interpreted it to be defiance in the face of danger. That certainly wasn't the case." ~ President Bush - Thursday January 13, 2005
Well, it's great to hear that the newly re-elected President of the United States has finally learned this important lesson that the rest of us learned in elementary school. Words have consequences...who woulda' thunk it?
Has anyone been keeping a tally on how many times the President has apologized for major mistakes in the past 4 years? It really feels like Bush is the husband that cheats all the time and we are the wife that keeps taking him back after he smoothly apologizes to us and lures us back into bed with his charms, even though we know our lives would better if we would just get a divorce.
"Well, it seems we were wrong about those weapons of mass destruction after all. I'm real sorry about that. I was just trying to protect your freedom. You know I love you." [close up on the puppy dog eyes, endearing chuckle, "waaah waaaahh" music, laughter from audience, shot of family smiling and hugging, end scene]
Friday, January 14, 2005
Friday, January 07, 2005
Do the House Republicans have ears?
Yesterday, the Congress formally certified Bush as the winner of the Presidential election...but, not without a little bit of a fight. A small group of House Democrats sent out a letter to U.S. Senators outlining some of the problems that occured in Ohio and asking for support so that the issue could be formally discussed by both the House and the Senate. California Senator, Barbara Boxer, stepped up and objected to the certification. This led to two-hour "discussions" in both the House and the Senate yesterday. I tuned into C-span last night before I went to bed (as usual) and watched some of the House coverage. I was fucking horrified by some of the things I was hearing. The deal is, representatives request speaking time, 5 minute blocks at a time. I watched, probably, a half hour of this madness. One Democrat would step up and talk about the voting problems that occurred during this past election, then a Republican would pretty much rebuttle with statements that showed they were totally missing the point of why these objections were raised in the first place. This is from Reuters today:
California Sen. Barbara Boxer and Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, formally lodged objections because of Ohio, although they said they recognized Bush had won and were not trying to overturn the results.
They said their goal was to force lawmakers to heed problems that had been particularly evident in Democratic-leaning minority and urban neighborhoods and to consider the need for more voting reforms including standard election rules in all states.
"This objection does not have at its root the hope or even the hint of overturning or challenging the victory of the president," Tubbs Jones said. Boxer called it a matter of "electoral justice."
So, instead of discussing election reform and the problems that occurred (on both sides!), the Republicans spent the whole time (that I was watching at least) talking about how these discussions were a waste of the American peoples' time and that the Democrats should just move on and accept defeat. The thing is, the Democrats have accepted defeat, and they've made it clear as day (please see above statements by Tubbs Jones), yet, for some reason, these Republicans had a hard time processing this. So...after every Republican comment, the Democrats were forced to continually reinforce the purpose of these debates. Democrat after Democrat stepped up to the mic and began his/her comments with "Listen, what you have to understand is that this issue is not about red or blue, black or white or who won and who lost, it's about protecting the American peoples' right to vote." It was kind of maddening because these Democrats were out there just trying to be heard and no one on the other side was even listening.
I commend those Representatives who spoke out for the concerns of their constituents and I also commend Barbara Boxer for stepping up and giving those Reps the chance to have their concerns brought to light. I hope that, in the future, the Congress will team up and look further into election reform and work on making the American election process as flawless as possible.
California Sen. Barbara Boxer and Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, formally lodged objections because of Ohio, although they said they recognized Bush had won and were not trying to overturn the results.
They said their goal was to force lawmakers to heed problems that had been particularly evident in Democratic-leaning minority and urban neighborhoods and to consider the need for more voting reforms including standard election rules in all states.
"This objection does not have at its root the hope or even the hint of overturning or challenging the victory of the president," Tubbs Jones said. Boxer called it a matter of "electoral justice."
So, instead of discussing election reform and the problems that occurred (on both sides!), the Republicans spent the whole time (that I was watching at least) talking about how these discussions were a waste of the American peoples' time and that the Democrats should just move on and accept defeat. The thing is, the Democrats have accepted defeat, and they've made it clear as day (please see above statements by Tubbs Jones), yet, for some reason, these Republicans had a hard time processing this. So...after every Republican comment, the Democrats were forced to continually reinforce the purpose of these debates. Democrat after Democrat stepped up to the mic and began his/her comments with "Listen, what you have to understand is that this issue is not about red or blue, black or white or who won and who lost, it's about protecting the American peoples' right to vote." It was kind of maddening because these Democrats were out there just trying to be heard and no one on the other side was even listening.
I commend those Representatives who spoke out for the concerns of their constituents and I also commend Barbara Boxer for stepping up and giving those Reps the chance to have their concerns brought to light. I hope that, in the future, the Congress will team up and look further into election reform and work on making the American election process as flawless as possible.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
My overdue comments on the tsunami
So, the tsunami hit almost 2 weeks ago and what have we learned? The anatomy of an underground earthquake and the resulting walls of water? How to donate money to the Red Cross online? The difference between Sri Lanka and Indonesia? Awesome.
World leaders everywhere are hocking this tsunami as the worst natural disaster of our lifetime. Colin Powell took a helicopter ride over some of the effected areas and claimed that he'd never seen anything like it. Everyday, we all gasp in disbelief and horror at how much higher the death toll has gotten since the day before. We read the stories about the dead bodies that wash up on the shore, about the vacationers who were sunbathing and then suddenly washed away and the townspeople who are lucky to be alive, but have no home and no town left. This was certainly a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad disaster...but, there are still wars going on, still people running around the earth voluntarily killing one another. This disaster has affected us little civilians...but what about those inflicting death on others? Did this whole thing mean anything to them?! Apparently not.
I can't help but be sickened by the fact that America is wasting billions of dollars in Iraq, killing people (and being killed). As of now, 156,000 people are dead from an "attack" by nature...or God, as the upcoming new American language will probably have us all saying. We're "deeply saddened" by those deaths and rushing to get medical assistance to those who are alive, but wounded. Yet, we were fine with bombing civilians in Fallujia and then cutting them off from accessing their own hospitals. If someone can give me a real explanation for this disgusting hypocrisy, I'd love to hear it (and "well, the Iraqis are our enemies and that's just what happens in a war" doesn't cut it). With all of the money in this world that is paying for destruction, we could have rebuilt these peoples' towns by now and paid for all their medical treatment.
Now, a couple little notes:
- I heard on the Democracy Now radio news program this morning that a meteorological department (or something) in Thailand could have given some warning about the tsumani (apparently, tens of thousands of lives could have been saved), but didn't because they thought the government would be mad at them for putting the country's tourism industry in jeopardy. Good one, guys.
- Also from Democracy now...the suicide bomber who blew himself up at a US military mess tent a month ago was a Saudi medical student, who came to Iraq to fight against the Americans. Damn those Iraqis! Right guys?!
World leaders everywhere are hocking this tsunami as the worst natural disaster of our lifetime. Colin Powell took a helicopter ride over some of the effected areas and claimed that he'd never seen anything like it. Everyday, we all gasp in disbelief and horror at how much higher the death toll has gotten since the day before. We read the stories about the dead bodies that wash up on the shore, about the vacationers who were sunbathing and then suddenly washed away and the townspeople who are lucky to be alive, but have no home and no town left. This was certainly a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad disaster...but, there are still wars going on, still people running around the earth voluntarily killing one another. This disaster has affected us little civilians...but what about those inflicting death on others? Did this whole thing mean anything to them?! Apparently not.
I can't help but be sickened by the fact that America is wasting billions of dollars in Iraq, killing people (and being killed). As of now, 156,000 people are dead from an "attack" by nature...or God, as the upcoming new American language will probably have us all saying. We're "deeply saddened" by those deaths and rushing to get medical assistance to those who are alive, but wounded. Yet, we were fine with bombing civilians in Fallujia and then cutting them off from accessing their own hospitals. If someone can give me a real explanation for this disgusting hypocrisy, I'd love to hear it (and "well, the Iraqis are our enemies and that's just what happens in a war" doesn't cut it). With all of the money in this world that is paying for destruction, we could have rebuilt these peoples' towns by now and paid for all their medical treatment.
Now, a couple little notes:
- I heard on the Democracy Now radio news program this morning that a meteorological department (or something) in Thailand could have given some warning about the tsumani (apparently, tens of thousands of lives could have been saved), but didn't because they thought the government would be mad at them for putting the country's tourism industry in jeopardy. Good one, guys.
- Also from Democracy now...the suicide bomber who blew himself up at a US military mess tent a month ago was a Saudi medical student, who came to Iraq to fight against the Americans. Damn those Iraqis! Right guys?!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)