George W. Bush is famous for the use of his
bullhorn. The would-be president, selected rather than elected,
was a cheerleader at Yale university where he honed his public
relations persona which he blatantly put into service in New
York City on the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Never missing an
opportunity to project a self-image to cover up his ineptitude,
George W. Bush turned New York's tragedy into his personal political capital, and the
devastation of New York's twin towers by Al Queda into the devastation
of Iraq. George W. Bush, himself, admitted that Iraq had
nothing to do with the World Trade Center attacks. With the current horrific aftermath of hurricane Katrina,
in large part a result of his regime's incompetence and greed,
the G.W. bullhorn is finally being revealed more and more for the
bullshit that it is. George W. Bush is sounding like bullshit even
to his established base. The imposter in the White House can only
fool the people for just so long. Frank Rich, in the September 4, 2005, New York
Times op-ed piece entitled "Falluja Floods
the Superdome", writes
You could almost see Mr. Bush's
political base starting to crumble at its very epicenter, Fox News, by
Thursday night. Even there it was impossible to ignore that the
administration was no more successful at securing New Orleans than it
had been at pacifying Falluja.
Frank Rich's piece might have been titled "Bush's
Bullshit Floods the Superdome". Rich is far less
uncomplimentary toward the clueless, lying president, than many people,
perhaps the majority across the country have now become. The
failures, however, are much deeper than that of the symbolic head of wealth and power in the United States. The
failures are endemic of the United States' corporate-state system which is one
of unbridled greed, wealth and power. In the tragedy that is
New Orleans, the priorities of the greedy for-profit system
are now self-evident. As horrified viewers witnessed bloated
fellow-Americans floating face down in raw sewage, the established
capitalist order continues to take time out from its news coverage to
sell us penis enlarging products on national television. On
satellite radio, news of the tragedy and of $6.00 per gallon gasoline
is interrupted by advertisements selling opportunities on how to make a
killing in "fuel futures" by hoarding gasoline and home
heating fuel until the winter. Imagine it. As the people in
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are getting shafted by the system,
the system is offering them the opportunity to shaft each other.
Making a profit on your neighbor's misery is good for business. God bless the "free market".
Money buys survival. If you have
more money than you know what to do with, the odds of surviving events
such as Hurricane Katrina are greatly enhanced, often guaranteed.
If you have little or no money with which to evacuate, you die.
How many rich people died as a result of Hurricane Katrina? I
could not help but wonder what the preparations and responses might have
been like if Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane, were slamming
into Kennebunkport, Maine? Would it take 5 days for search and
rescue to get rolling? Would people be dying due to lack of means
to use the evacuation routes or emergency contingencies? Would the Bush crime
family be holed-up in Kennebunkport's clothing
and jewelry boutiques and art galleries? Would people be
defecating on the floors of the finest restaurants on the Maine
Coast awaiting rescue the way the Superdome survivors did on the Gulf Coast?
In the aftermath of Cindy Sheehan's Camp
Casey successes, George W. Bush had one major priority on his mind.
It was the same priority that he had on his mind in the aftermath of
September 11, 2001, and now again, in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. In fact, it is the same priority he has on his mind every time
he is called to be accountable for his actions and to take
responsibility for them. George W. Bush pulls out the bullhorn
bullshit and covers his backside. As Frank Rich put it,
As always, the president's first
priority, the one that sped him from Crawford toward California, was
saving himself: he had to combat the flood of record-low poll numbers
that was as uncontrollable as the surging of Lake Pontchartrain. It
was time, therefore, for another disingenuous pep talk, in which he
would exploit the cataclysm that defined his first term, 9/11, even at
the price of failing to recognize the emerging fiasco likely to engulf
Term 2.
With the bullhorn bullshit come the props
and the contrived political choreography masking buffoonery in
its attempts to create an effectual presidential appearance. The
facade of fakery of the man in the White House becomes more apparent
every time he speaks. As George W. Bush visited the death and destruction in Louisiana, he at least spared
us the infamous and monumental bulge in the crotch of his pants.
Compassion demanded at least that much. He did not, however, spare
us the bullshit of the photo ops carefully contrived to create an air of
caring amidst catastrophe. Frank Tiggelaar, a Dutchman comparing
CNN's and the German TV news ZDF on the Laura Rozen website's coverage
of Bush's latest public relations ploy writes,
ZDF News reported that the president's
visit was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open
air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was
torn down immediately after the president and the herd of 'news
people' had left and that others which were allegedly being set up
were abandoned at the same time.
Then, there is George W. Bush
decrying the breakdown of law in New
Orleans. Looting must be stopped says the man who looted Iraq's
art treasures, wealth, oil, sovereignty, land and dignity. Bush
just spent five weeks on vacation, being transported to
and from Crawford in a 747 jumbo jet that also carries his
armored limousine. Then he goes on national television telling
the country to drive only when they have to. Well, Mr. Bush, poor
people had to drive to get out of New Orleans and many do not
own a car, nor could they afford to do so, nor was the means provided
for them to get out. Don't speak to me of looting as you loot the
working men and women of this country while further enriching the
powerful and wealthy class of which you are a member.
George W. Bush is bullshit,
and people are not listening any more. They have
had enough. It has become clear to the majority of the
United States' populace, as it is to the vast majority of the world, that George W. Bush doesn't relate to them, and he could
care less about them. George W. Bush has no comprehension of what
it means to make an annual salary less than six-figures. Like his
father before him, King George III, has little idea how the working man
or woman struggles to make ends meet. He can
no more relate to people's struggles in paying their bills then he can to
quantum mechanics.
Mr.
Folksy Cowboy with a swagger and a smirk, and an afternoon nap, can no
longer hide from the fact that he has done irreparable damage to the
United States. This has become evident to most of the citizens of
the United States, even to those that have been programmed
into believing the bullshit of the invincible mythological superpower in
the first place. On September 3, 2005, the New Orleans Time-Picayune article
written by Michelle Krupa reported,
Three tons of food ready
for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers
Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as
air traffic was halted because of President Bush’s visit to New
Orleans, officials said...The food was expected to be in the hands of
storm survivors after the president left the devastated region Friday
night...
This speaks volumes about
George W. Bush's priorities. Lest the reader think this criticism is too
harsh, consider the recent words of the United States Senator from Louisiana,
Mary Landrieu,
But perhaps the greatest
disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this
critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to
be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of
this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning,
less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we
witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo
opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this
morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and
decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast – black and
white, rich and poor, young and old – deserve far better from their
national government.
Yes, the people of the
United States deserve better from their government, and the people of
the world deserve better from the United States. The people of the
United States, however, are about to demand that George W. Bush and his
regime finally be held accountable for their crimes, and for
their dereliction of duty. The people no longer will tolerate
Bush's bullhorn bullshit. See you in Washington D.C. on September
24, 2005, as the mobilization marches past the White House with the
people's bullhorns saying "No!" to G.W. Bush's
bullshit.
For more information on the
mobilization for the weekend of national events and actions taking place
in Washington D.C., September 24 - 26, 2005, contact the following two
organizations: International A.N.S.W.E.R. at http://www.internationalanswer.org/
and United for Peace and Justice at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/
See you in Washington D.C.
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