The "stuff happens" Presidency...great WP editorial-Meyerson

[bribri16]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/06/AR2005090601363.html

snip> "The radical-capitalist conservatives of the past quarter-century not only haven't supported the public expenditures, they don't even believe there is such a thing as the public good. Let the Dutch build their dikes through some socialistic scheme of taxing and spending; that isn't the American way. Here, the business of government is to let the private sector create wealth -- even if that wealth doesn't circulate where it's most needed. So George W. Bush threw trillions of dollars in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, and what did they do with it?" - Meyerson

A CEO's Weakness -- Ignatius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/06/AR2005090601364.html



These two op-eds are really great and they nail the Bush administration for what it really is.

[bribri16]

1. BTW, i love this term: "radical-capitalist conservatives "

we should start using it.

[MissMarple]

5. Brilliant. And along with "criminally negligent administration"...

This criminally negligent administration collaborating with the radical-capitalist conservatives are driving our country and the American people to ruin and dispair.

And that is a fact, not an opinion.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. good stuff... thx... kick

As a matter of social policy, the catastrophic lack of response in New Orleans is exceptional only in its scale and immediacy. When it comes to caring for our fellow countrymen, we all know that America has never ranked very high. We are, of course, the only democracy in the developed world that doesn't offer health care to its citizens as a matter of right. We rank 34th among nations in infant mortality rates, be

[CrispyQ]

3. This may be the saddest comment of what our country has become:

But these are chronic conditions, and even many of us who argue for universal health coverage have grown inured to that distinctly American indifference to the common good, to our radical lack of solidarity with our fellow citizens. Besides, the poor generally have the decency to die discreetly, and discretely -- not conspicuously, not in droves. Come rain or come shine, we leave millions of beleaguered Americans to fend for themselves on a daily basis.

[fasttense]

4. Ah, the sound of the truth.

Some Nuggets of gold:

"A shouldn't-do spirit, guides the men who run the nation. And it's willing, apparently, to sacrifice any claim America may have to national greatness rather than inconvenience the rich by taxing them to build a more secure nation."

"It's just a lot more noticeable in a horrific rain, and when the ordinary lack of access to medical care is augmented by an extraordinary lack of access to emergency services."

"The radical-capitalist conservatives of the past quarter-century not only haven't supported the public expenditures, they don't even believe there is such a thing as the public good."

"So George W. Bush threw trillions of dollars in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, and what did they do with it? Did the Walton family up in Bentonville raise the levees in New Orleans? Did the Bass family over in Texas write a tax-deductible check to the Mennonites for the billions of dollars they would need to rescue the elderly from inundated nursing homes?"

We still have over three years to put up with these heartless monsters. Hang on, the next disaster maybe your own.

[gratuitous]

6. Yeah, what HAS happened to all that wealth that got redistributed?

It sure hasn't gone into creating more jobs. The projected job loss from Katrina will put the Bush administration back into a negative job creation status.

It hasn't improved our infrastructure. Roads and bridges continue to crumble due to age and neglect, endangering all Americans.

Schools in my area get older and more crowded every year, but we've built a shiny new jail that we can't afford to open.

Whatever modest "break" I might have had on my federal taxes has been eaten up entirely by increases in state and local taxes. The money from our now empty Treasury went somewhere, but none of it seems to have manifested itself where I live and work.

The military is decimated, underequipped and stretched beyond the breaking point. The blunder of Iraq will haunt our nation for a decade to come just in terms of military preparedness. It will scourge us in other ways for the rest of our lives.

But Dick Cheney got an extra $75,000 last year thanks to the tax cuts. Aren't you happy for him?