Mission Accompli.......er......

I woke up after a long night with my son by an obnoxious nasaly whine coming through my radio speakers this morning. After stirring, I realized that whine was coming from the mouth of the President of the United States and the man was attempting to give a live news conference before Christmas (the one day of the year the government officially ignores the First Amendment and Thomas Jefferson's philosophies about it). Here's what the clown said:

We will provide every tool and resource for our military, we will protect the homeland [no battle armor, though; troops over-drafted, over-extended, under-paid, and yet reports are showing HUGE cutbacks for the military in next year's budget. In protecting the homeland, yet ANOTHER missile defense system test failed. Bush, in wanting to live out Ronald Reagan's dream of playing video games in outerspace with taxpayer dollars is showing to be a disaster while those who wish to wreak havoc on Americans by detonating a nuclear device just need to smuggle one across the border. Cargo ships, suitcases, hell, airplanes seem to work well, too].

He said he would "maintain strict discipline in spending tax dollars. [Yet then why has he wracked up the largest amount of deficit spending and national debt in his term than any president? Please, someone, correct me if I'm wrong, because I really want to make sure I get my facts straight. No veto of any GOP-based bill, all jammed with pork, and yet it seems that the propaganda machine still paints the Democrats, THE MINORITY PARTY, LET US NOT FORGET, as the taxers and spenders. I'm just frightened of the tax cutters and spenders].

he will submit a federal budget that will cut the deficit in half in five years and maintain strict spending discipline [as my good friend, Spencer, pointed out, notice that he'll be out of office in five years? What will any of this matter, anyway? Read between the lines on strict spending discipline: environmental cutbacks, educational cutbacks, military cutbacks, social security cutbacks. Need I go on? The dismantling of the entire concept that the federal government owes something to the people it protects, aids, guides, drafts, threatens, taxes, demands, and sometimes kills. Imagine that].

Bush defended his Pentagon chief.

"Beneath that rough and gruff no-nonsense demeanor is a good human being who cares deeply about the military and the grief that war causes," Bush said, batting away criticism that Rumsfeld had not personally signed condolence letters to the families of troops who have died [remember the Pottery Barn Adage: You broke it, it's yours. How's Iraq doing? Looks like the Reconstruction South in 1973 but instead of the rise of the KKK with guns its fundamentalist jihadists with nukes. Nice going. Name a neoconservative policy that was carried out successfully that brought positive results. Keep thinking. Give yourself some time, you'll be here a while].

Bush pointedly acknowledged that Iraqi troops are not ready to take over their country's security, and cautioned that next month's elections there are only the beginning of a long process toward democracy.

"I certainly don't expect the process to be trouble-free," Bush said

I would call the results mixed [remember how long the Marshall Plan took to implement. FIVE YEARS and troops are still there. I hope that May 1, 2003 will be the date inscribed on Bush's and Rumsfeld's tombstones; it is the day that buried much of the U.S.' reputation in the Arab and Muslim world. Mission Accomplished, my ass].

On Social Security, Bush said "The first step in this process is for members of Congress to realize we have a problem," [the problem is Bush's plan to take money away from people who need it and give it to people who don't need it who will gamble with it like they did when they bought Enron and Pets.com. The problem isn't how the people have spent their Social Security money; it's how poorly Republican presidents (remember, they've wracked up the greatest amount of post-WWII debt) have handled it. LBJ could've gone down in history as the the most effective president in the nation's history. He cut down poverty in half in just four years. While Vietnam wrecked him, Bush seems to be learning from Richard Nixon - imperial-style policies, opportunities to help the poor cut in favor of cowtowing to white Southerners, foreign debacles that have your cabinet members deemed war criminals. I can't wait to put together the lesson plan comparing Henry Kissinger and Donald Rumsfeld].

Bush also defended his failed nomination of former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik to be the Homeland Security secretary [mafia ties, criminal record, geesh, you'd think he nominated Dan Rostenkowski as department head. Anything to milk 9/11, though. Anything to milk 9/11. I'm surprised Bush didn't raise the terror alert level the day that Kerik's reputation got smeared in the press].

Chris and Steve - am I right at all about any of this? I know I'm preaching; I know I'm an indignant snot, but is there the slightest bit of truth in anything that I say? This navel-gazing gets depressing when no one gives you props. Subtle hint there, folks. Oh, so subtle. Do I need to land on an aircraft carrier to make my point clear?