Yellow Dog

In tonight's State of the Union address, Bush will once again try to prop up his failed policies, paint a rosy picture of Iraq and the economy, and try to convince Americans that he is breaking the law and spying on us without warrants in order to protect us. As Dennis Kucinich points out, Bush's rhetoric does not match reality:

The facts are clear. Our economy is struggling and leaving tens of millions of Americans behind. According to the non-partisan National Journal, since President Bush first stood before Congress and the nation in 2001, the median income in this country has decreased, the jobless rate has jumped from 3.9% to 4.9% and the number of families living in poverty has increased from 8.7% to 10.2%. Our trade deficit has doubled. Inflation has gone up. Personal bankruptcies have gone up. Consumer debt has gone up. College tuition has gone up. And, the price of gas has gone up. All the while, this Administration has turned a $128 billion federal budget surplus into a $319 billion deficit.

Today, almost 6 million more Americans do not have any health insurance than when President Bush took office. In total, over 45.5 million Americans, or over 15% of our total population, have no health care coverage at all.

During his 2003 address, President Bush told the nation that Saddam Hussein "had biological weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax", "materials sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin", "as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent" and "upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents".

Today, almost three years after the start of the President's war of choice, we know Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, had no connection to al-Qaeda and posed no threat to our nation. Yet, our armed forces are bogged down in the middle of civil war that our own generals say cannot be won by military force. Our presence in Iraq is counterproductive and has cost the lives of over 2,200 US troops and $250 billion.

President Bush has delivered four State of the Union addresses since the attacks on our nation on 9/11. In four speeches, the President has never once mentioned Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the terror attacks on this nation. The status of the FBI's most wanted man apparently is not important to the state of our union. Yet, in the same four speeches, President Bush has mentioned Saddam Hussein 24 times, and Iraq 78 times.

President Bush used the opening of his 2003 State of the Union to praise the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. This year our nation, and the world, saw the result of the failure of this massive reorganization of our government. As Katrina rolled ashore, destroying large cities and small towns in four states, it was FEMA, once an independent cabinet level agency--but now rolled into Department of Homeland Security--that failed to react. The searing image of thousands of Americans stranded without food and water dying on American streets will be the lasting legacy of the Department of Homeland Security, not a reorganized government "mobilizing against the threats of a new era" as the President described in his speech.

In his 2004 and 2005 addresses, the President spent a considerable amount of time advocating policies that would roll back much of the social progress made since the New Deal. In 2004, the President touted a Medicare prescription drug bill that will fatten the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry, endangering the future finances of the entire Medicare program, while leaving seniors confused and empty handed as they try to fill their prescriptions under the new plan. In 2005, the President used his address to promote his plan strip seniors of the guaranteed promise of Social Security, and replace it with a risky scheme to gamble their future in the stock market.

What the President has in store for his message this year is not known yet. But, we do know the President Bush will speak in glowing terms about the state of our union. The truth is the state of our union is in great peril. This Administration is conducting a war with no end in Iraq, illegally spying on Americans at home, overseeing an economy that is increasingly leaving more and more Americans behind and abandoning Gulf in their hour of great need.

If recent history is any precedent, then next week we should see more of the same old dance around reality that has been the hallmark of President Bush's annual address.

The Truth About the State of our Union

I wrote a couple letters to Tennessee's senators today, including Dr. Frist (who liked to adopt cats from animal shelters and kill them for medical experiments when he was a med student.) Not that it will do any good, but I think it's good to remind Frist once in a while that he's a creepy slimeball.

Senator Frist:

Recently you diagnosed Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito as the Democrats' "worst nightmare." I found it surprising you are supporting a nominee who is a "nightmare" for over 60 million Americans, including me and a million other Tennesseans, who are registered Democrats; but, I am thankful that you seem to understand why senate Democrats have legitimate justification to filibuster Alito's confirmation vote and to try to prevent the "worst nightmare" prognosis from becoming a terminal reality.

Should you achieve cloture on debate today, I urge you to reconsider your support for the "nightmare" nominee, and vote tomorrow to NOT confirm Alito. Use your senate leadership position to advise President Bush to nominate a reasonable Supreme Court justice who represents all of America, not just the radical right wing of the Republican party.

Sincerely,
Stick Thrower

In other news, a Senator from Massachusetts stood up on the senate floor today, got fired up, and explained why this Alito nomination matters.

KENNEDY LEADS FIGHT AGAINST CLOTURE VOTE ON ALITO NOMINATION

The Bush Administrations has lots of compassion, if you are a rich CEO or corporation that can give them a big donation. But if you are poor or elderly, a struggling college student or a child, they have no use for you.

From the New York Times:
"Millions of low-income people would have to pay more for health care under a bill worked out by Congress, and some of them would forgo care or drop out of Medicaid because of the higher co-payments and premiums, the Congressional Budget Office says in a new report.

In response to the new premiums, some beneficiaries would not apply for Medicaid, would leave the program or would become ineligible due to nonpayment," the Congressional Budget Office said in its report, completed Friday night. "C.B.O. estimates that about 45,000 enrollees would lose coverage in fiscal year 2010 and that 65,000 would lose coverage in fiscal year 2015 because of the imposition of premiums. About 60 percent of those losing coverage would be children."

I guess it's not enough that the prescription drug program for Medicare is already a disaster, kicking sick elderly people out of the system, forcing them to pay more out of pocket, and helping only the big drug companies, who are making a fortune off other people's misfortune. And now we have a new bill under which 60% of children would lose coverage? That's just sick.
Budget to Hurt Poor People on Medicaid, Report Says - New York Times