Friday, September 16, 2005

Bush's Jackson Square Speech: I Just Laughed

MSNBC: My hubby, baby girl and I listened to Bush's speech in the car while picking up a very late dinner pizza (hubby worked late). We were just rolling & cracking up at some pts of the speech: 1) NOLA will be rebuilt and much of the work should include local workers/ companies. Really? Then why is your minion Rove the Toad overseeing the rebuilding? (via NY Times): "Repubs said Rove, the WH deputy chief of staff and Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort, which reaches across many agencies of govt." Can we say cronyism, anyone? Looks like Josh at Talking Points Memo sees the cronyism/ Halliburton no-bid contracts writing on the wall: "Rove runs political operations and manages coalitions through patronage. That's what he does. And that's what this is about... Take the politics out of the reconstruction effort. Bush put his chief spin-doctor in charge of the biggest reconstruction and refugee crisis the country's probably ever faced. That tells you all you need to know about his values. Nothing that happened in the last couple wks meant anything to him. And nothing has changed. Same as Iraq. Same stuff." Amen brother Josh. 2) Bush says we need to "fix" the rampant poverty problems in the Gulf and the racial issues. We just looked at each other in the car and laughed & laughed. Well then, how does Bush & the GOP explain the addition of 4.1 million MORE people added to the the poverty level since 2000, and how can they possibly back up the wealthy tax breaks, repealing the estate tax, wanting to gut Soc Sec, killing the availability of bankruptcy for those who need it, slashing every single social program needed and used by the poor/ mid class, and deep wage cuts for the people who will do the reconstruction work by suspending the Davis-Bacon Act? As Congressman John Dingell (D-MI) said in his statement out this evening: "W/ a stroke of the pen, in one of his 1st Katrina directives, the President cut the wages of the workers who will undertake our largest reconstruction project since the Civil War." So, let's recap: The Katrina Reconstruction will turn into the Iraq Reconstruction Sequel w/the same Halliburton cronyism & the same fleecing of tax-payers' money, and how can we credibly believe Bush's goal to lessen poverty/ racial tensions when he's so responsible for the huge gap between the rich & poor/ black & white? Tax breaks for the rich = putting more in the pockets of those who don't need it, while slashing medicaid, food stamps, and other programs which the poor and minorities heavily depend upon. Those actions are not compatible. Bush has cleared the path so workers will be forced to take less pay, and not get the prevailing wage of the area in all the places devastated by Katrina. What does that mean? Well, rich people will get richer, while being able to pay people less- the very people who will work hard to rebuild the region. And who needs those jobs most? The poor, those w/out homes, or with homes nearly destroyed, and Bush's answer is to pull the rug out from under them. Bush's lies are pathological and reveal Bush's true sociopathic inability to be human. No wonder John Kerry said this about Bush after the speech: "Leadership isn't a speech or a toll-free number. Leadership is getting the job done. No American doubts that New Orleans will rise again, but they do doubt the competence and commitment of this Administration." Read this from MSNBC to see some early reactions to Bush's speech.
Posted by Tina :: 12:36 AM :: 2 Comments:

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