Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Iran, noting what the U.S. has done in Iraq, is not about to "lie down and play dead."  Iran calculates that if Bush can go to war, without a valid reason, very likely the U.S. might do the same thing in Iran.

Lest we forget the United States supplied Saddam, the man we now call the diabolical dictator, with weapons of every description when Iraq was fighting Iran.  Rest assured that Iran has never forgotten those Iranians who died in that war engineered by Saddam, with help from the U.S. with all those weapons.

Could anyone in the audience during the State of the Union message deny that George Bush has strengthened extremist elements in the Middle East?

Hamas won the recent Palestinian election.  Fundamentalist hard-liners won last year in Iran.  It is claimed that they are determined to develop nuclear power, which could serve as a threat to the U.S.

Could this really surprise anybody listening to the State of the Union Address, where the opposite viewpoint carrying democracy and freedom to the entire Middle East was declared as the near victorious outcome of the Iraq War?

If the Bush Administration track record is objectively analyzed, one can only recognize the frightful consequences we can anticipate, unless Bush is promptly impeached and a new political mindset takes over.  

While North Korea was watching the Middle East debacle, and Iran with the U.S. armies close by, observed the death and destruction going on in Iraq, could North Korea and Iran be thinking of nuclear power as their only defense?  

As horrifying as the thought might be, the reality is that after 9/11, the U.S. rushed into war against a nation that had nothing to do with attacking the U.S. on that fateful day.

Has there been one thorough investigation of what propelled Osama bin Laden to mastermind the 9/11 World Trade Center attack?

Where is the accountability for giving U.S. passports to the killers who launched the hideous attack?  Where was the CIA?  Where was the FBI?  When some information was relayed to Condoleezza Rice about the threat of an attack on buildings in the U.S. by using aircraft, were they all sleeping?

Does it make sense that the Administration and its multiple agencies paid to protect U.S. citizens and failed so miserably be applauded with standing ovations every few minutes?  What a sorry spectacle the sordid State of the Union Address was in the light of what is happening in and to America!

"Don't blame me for the high price of gas!  Don't blame me for the obscene profits of oil companies."  Remember that the oil companies contribute mightily to campaign coffers.

"Don't blame me for the FEMA delays when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans!"    We recognize that FEMA head Michael Brown had no qualifications and had previously been involved in the horse business, but he meant well.  

Now he is giving seminars on what not to do in emergency situations.  Even though Bush praised him for a job well done while Hurricane Katrina victims were huddled in massive numbers at the Superdome, remember that nobody's perfect!

While Bush was lambasting the terrorists who don't believe in freedom and democracy, the news had already leaked out about U.S. airplanes taking suspected terrorists to foreign locations, where news of torture was being used to protect us.  The question must be asked, "How can we fight terrorists when the U.S. is using terrorist tactics and ignoring the Geneva Code's rules of conduct for civilized nations?"

The hypocrisy apparently didn't bother those who continued leaping to their feet to applaud Bush's every word as he carried on about the Republican Administration's achievements.

As Helen Thomas, America's most senior syndicated political columnist, put it, "the Bush Administration wanted unfettered freedom to spy on whom it wants, when it wants with no legal constraints whatsoever."

Is that the brand of freedom and democracy the robots in the audience at the State of the Union Address believe in?  If so, every one who leaped to his or her feet should be voted out of office swiftly.

If these Republicans and democrats who let Bush have his way with Judge Alito with his tragic track record do much more damage to freedom in the U.S.A. today, can't they show some concern for future generations?

Claiming to be "conservatives" in the light of this Administration's spending spree is the biggest hypocritical lie of all.  The Iraq War is costing $100,000 a minute at the same time the Administration demands tax breaks for the rich should be permanent.  Medicaid and Medicare funds are being cut, along with programs for the poor.

Eight trillion dollars and soaring, that is the national debt.  Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt and they named Dulles Airport in Washington after him.  With this spending spree perhaps every airport should be named Bush following that confusing logic.  

Perhaps there was some problem with all that thundering applause.  Many of the hands applauding were worn out from accepting lobbyist Abramoff's bribes for their votes.  Nightly television newscasts showed their faces as their soiled hands hastily handed back the money to save their political skins.  Like rats leaving a sinking ship, they were escaping.

But when politicians claim God is on their side, is that blasphemy?  Even the Bible declares, "by their fruits ye shall known them" in determining if they are a valid spokesperson for the Almighty.

Not one so-called extremist Middle East religious leader has claimed to have conversations with the Almighty.  But when Bush was asked if he consulted his father, the Elder Bush, he declared, "I consulted my other father."  

Considering the God is on our side theory, this claim looks less credible every day.  For many months Bush invoked religious themes to justify the Iraq War.  What politicians can learn from this, Republican or Democrat, is that one should think twice before proclaiming that God is on your side.  Unfolding events might make those pious claims look mighty foolish!