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The INDEPENDENT, March 20, 2003
» . INDEPENDENT
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Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice
monthly, on the first and third Thursdays of each month,
by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge Street, Ver
nonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Editors and Pub
lishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-
9410, e-mail: noni@vernonia.com
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President Bush is far
more than a buliy
There are many ways to bully people - name calling,
physical intimidation, bragging about how much you
have and how little they have, knocking down some
one’s little sister while knowing they aren’t big enough
to do anything about it, ignoring the legitimate con
cerns of others because they aren’t your concerns,
shoving everybody aside while you swagger down the
street knowing that your daddy’s money will take care
of anyone who has the temerity to object.
There is nothing new about any of this, but calling
George W. Bush a bully - while he orders the killing of
innocent civilians and puts our sons and daughters in
danger - is too easy; he is far more complex than that.
While he makes the nation focus on Iraq, what is
happening here?
The September 11 tragedy brought together an in
ternational coalition that has been cooperating against
the threat of terrorism. Instead of building on that, the
selfish political self-interest of this administration pro
moted terror and confusion in the public, deliberately
fabricating links between Al Qaeda and Iraq.
The result (the motive?) has been gross misalloca
tion of shrinking public funds to the military, while sys
tematically weakening the safeguards that protect
American citizens from government.
The economy was damaged by 9-11 so the presi
dent provided tax relief for the wealthy, thereby further
damaging the economy and helping the nation slide
into a recession. Now that there is a recession, he
wants to stimulate the economy by again providing tax
relief for the wealthy. The little problem of how to fi
nance a war he has not included in either his proposed
budget or his economic forecasts, is being solved by
raiding the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
If people get too loud about these skewed priorities,
the administration can fall back on their latest home
land “security” overtures by declaring that certain folks
are security risks and tossing them in jail...without
charges, without bail, without legal representation,
without even notifying their families. It has already hap
pened.
Some people have expressed the opinion that oil is
the reason this administration wants war with Iraq, but
that is simplistic. The reason is power, political power,
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economic power, absolute power. Re
member the adage: Power corrupts; ab
solute power corrupts absolutely.
“Of course the people don’t want war.
But after all, it’s the leaders of the
country who determine the policy, and
it’s always a simple matter to drag the
people along whether it’s a democra
cy a facist dictatorship, a parliament
or a communist dictatorship. Voice or
no voice, the people can always be
brought to the bidding of the leaders.
That is easy. All you have to do is tell
them they are being attacked, and de
nounce the pacifists for lack of patri
otism, and exposing the country to
greater danger. ”
Hermann Goering,
Nazi Reichsmarshal
at the Nuremberg trials
Goering didn’t mention the word
“falsehood” because it was unimportant
to him. It should not be unimportant to
us. In his State of the Union address,
Jan. 28, 2003, the president said:
“We will not pass along our problems
to other Congresses, to other presi
dents, and other generations.”
Reviewing Bush’s proposed budget
on Feb. 3, 2003, the Associated Press
noted: “Even though hundreds of other
government
programs
would
be
squeezed, the president projects the
deficit will still hit record highs of $304
billion this year and $307 billion in 2004.
Over the next five years, the deficits
would total $1.08 trillion... Taken togeth
er, the new stimulus measure and mak
ing the tax cut permanent would add up
to $1.3 trillion in new tax relief, on top of
the $1.35 trillion tax reduction” passed in
2001.
No, George W. Bush is no simple bul
ly. In just two years he has done more
damage to our country than our enemies
have accomplished in decades - he has
destroyed working, effective coalitions
that date back as long as 40 years. He
has destroyed a budget surplus and re
placed it with long-term debt. He has de
stroyed surpluses arduously built up in
Social Security and Medicare to handle
the needs of the baby boomer genera
tion. He hasn’t yet totally destroyed
habeas corpus, but he has two more
years to work on it.
When this administration sets policy,
we now know there are two important
questions to ask:
Who profits? Who pays for it?