The State of Disunion

"This Tuesday, the presidential State of the Union Address rolls around yet again. Only four Januaries have passed since the President used a State of the Union Address to brand Iran, Iraq, and North Korea -- the first two then bitter enemies, the third completely unrelated to either of them and on the other side of the planet -- as a World-War-II-style "axis of evil." It was the first great State of Disunion deception of the Bush administration's regal reign of error. Only three Januaries ago came the second. The President stood before Congress and pronounced those sixteen little words on his bum's rush to war with Iraq: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

On this, the eve of another of Bushs' State of the Union addresses, this author goes on the mention Bushs' other addresses. He gives a comprehensive listing of this administrations failed promises and policies, with links to relevant articles sprinkled throughout. This was meant to refresh the readers mind on just how badly this president has governed us. All these should be kept in mind while listening to whatever new promises and policies he'll be speaking on tomorrow.

It's amazing to me, that in all the time he's been in office, all the time the Republicans have controlled the Legislature, that we find ourselves in such a mess. Practically nothing they've done has really benefitted us, the American people. We've lost more jobs, had more bankruptcies, watched our national debt climb, watched our trade deficit grow, witnessed growing numbers of corruption scandals, a shrinking standard of living for the middle class, and an overwhelming increase in corporate profits. With all that, just what is it that we're getting out of this?

In years past, a President could blame a Congress led by the opposing party for all his woes and inability to push policies. That's not the case right now. With Republicans in total control, why has it been so hard to come up with effective policies, at least here at home? You could say that terrorism and Iraq have taken so much time and energy away from them that they haven't been able to concentrate on domestic issues, properly. You could say that, but then you'd be forgetting that they each have staffs to do whatever they need to, and can get as much help as needed. You'd also be forgetting how much time off they take. If you run a business, and times are tough, do you drop everything just because it's time for vacation? If you care about your business, you'll cut play-time short to work through immediate problems. But not our government. It's almost as if they feel everything's going according to plan. Like everything is as it's supposed to be. Maybe it is. If you look into the policies that have been put in place, you just might find that a certain segment of the population has indeed profited by this Republican controlled government, and it isn't us.

Whatever he has to say tomorrow (some say it's about health care with built-in tax shelters for the rich), it was timely that I posted the C-SPAN link yesterday, so you can be assured of hearing every word, without relying on talking-heads to show you 15 seconds of it and tell you what you should think.