A Matter Of Priorities

The last 2 weeks have been an eye-opener for me. Yeah, I despise George W. Bush and his whole administration, and I’ve given so many examples why over the course of my column, but these past 2 weeks I’ve seen a particular arrogance that deserves special attention.


Prepare or Attack?

It started with a horrible catastrophe out of the Gulf of Mexico. I’ve read so many accounts of how the Bush Administration is to blame for what you’d normally think was an act of God. After all, how can anyone control the weather? Whether it’s preparation or response or anything in between, clearly George W. Bush hasn’t done anything right over what is arguably the worst natural disaster in United States’ modern history. There can be no arguing the undisputed fact that a disaster like this was well warned, and the Bush Administration chose to avoid doing anything about it. Instead, they chose to wage war in Iraq. Instead of protecting the homeland, they chose to lie to us about national security, and bomb the crap out of a sovereign nation that was no threat. Instead of addressing domestic issues of vital importance, they chose to concentrate their resources on grabbing the Middle East oil.

It’s a matter of priorities. Instead of aiding the poor, needy, sick & elderly, George would rather help his rich friends get richer. Instead of securing the levees in New Orleans and preserving the wetlands to protect the Gulf coast from a major catastrophe, George would rather give his oil company friends subsidies to drill in ANWR.

So where are we now? If the price of gas hadn’t climbed up enough over George’s complete-and-total-fuck-up in Iraq, his complete-and-total-fuck-up here at home caused the natural disaster of Katrina to be utterly catastrophic, and that opened the door for his oil buddies to gouge the price of gas even more. Has there been a shortage of gas? I certainly haven’t seen any gas lines like the early 70’s… just outrageous prices. And you can mark my words – these gas prices will have an immense impact on our economy. We haven’t even begun to see the domino effect of the skyrocketing cost of energy.


Appointments: Competence or Loyalty?

Another one of Bush’s many complete-and-total-fuck-ups was appointing someone as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) who was (and still is) utterly unqualified. We’re hearing recently that what little experience Michael Brown had dealing with emergencies was fabricated… er … exaggerated on his resume. Before heading up the government’s critical agency for disaster preparedness, Michael Brown served in the International Arabian Horse Association (IAHA)…. where he was fired.

This has been one of the many hallmarks of Bush’s fucked-up priorities – appointing people to responsible positions based on loyalty instead of qualifications, capability, competence, & experience. And if you don’t believe that, do a little research on the extent of former Enron executives attaining positions in the federal government long after that scandal broke. In addition, Bush has consistently & repeatedly appointed people to positions of regulation & oversight, who came from the lobbies or industries they are tasked to regulate & oversee. In addition, Bush has consistently & repeatedly appointed judges who have previously attacked the very fiber of our civil rights.


And speaking of judicial appointments…

Once again, it’s a matter of priorities. George barely cut his 5-week vacation short by a couple of days, but long after the worst natural disaster in history had already destroyed much of our Gulf coast. However, no sooner did William Rehnquist’s dead body hit the floor did George have John Roberts’ nomination upgraded to Chief Justice. When I heard this, I simply could not believe my ears.

John Roberts, who has just over two years of judicial experience, is questionable to even be on the Supreme Court in the first place, and now George wants him to take over the highest court in the country? This is the same John Roberts who heard arguments involving the Bush Administration’s Guantanamo Bay torture policies, while at the same time interviewing for the Supreme Court job.

Clearly this is a power play move to control the last bastion of our government (as if he didn’t already have enough control over the Supreme Court). He’s already taken over the Legislative branch with Tom Delay, Bill Frist & company doing much of his scandalous dirty work, and now he’ll completely control the Judicial branch too, for years to come.

I guess any semblance of ‘checks-&-balances’ in our Government just went right out the window, right behind conflicts-of-interest. Can you say “dictatorship”? How ‘bout “fascism”?