My response to the President's weekly radio address

[timontheleft]

I apologize for the length; I couldn't help myself. Nothing profound here . . . just a total rant.

• THE PRESIDENT: "Good morning.This week I met with my national security, counter terrorism, and economic teams. We've set clear goals: We will defeat the terrorists and expand freedom across the world, we'll protect the American homeland and work tirelessly to prevent attacks on our country, and we will continue to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of America and build a more prosperous future for all our citizens."

We’ll “defeat the terrorists and expand freedom across the world” . . . the way we’re doing in Afghanistan and Iraq? Wow; I’m sure the world is really looking forward to that. Mr. Putin has already chimed in on that one; I guess maybe you weren’t “looking in his eyes” when he made that comment, so you didn’t catch it. Why don’t you stop spewing rhetoric and start doing your job? And “we will continue to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of America” . . . you mean like setting up huge American corporations (like Halliburton) in foreign countries to build huge compounds that . . . hmmm, does anyone know why these are really being built?

• "On Monday, I visited the Pentagon and the State Department, where we discussed the war on terror, including the recent conflict in Lebanon, a conflict which began with an unprovoked attack by Hezbollah on Israel. Thanks to the leadership of Secretary Rice and Ambassador Bolton at the United Nations, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution that will help bring an end to the violence and create a foundation for a sustainable peace."

Made some visits on Monday? The country’s business didn’t impose on your vacation did it? You need to ensure you get enough time off, being the leader of the free world and all. My understanding is that its “hard work”. Although after looking at the credentials of the person that told us this I’m having a tough time seeing where he had any exposure to “hard work” in order to make such a declaration.

• "The resolution calls for a robust international force to deploy to the southern part of Lebanon. This force will help Lebanon's legitimate armed forces restore the sovereignty of its democratic government over all Lebanese territory and stop Hezbollah from acting as a state within a state. The resolution will help make it possible for civilians in both Lebanon and Israel to return home in safety and begin rebuilding their lives without fear of renewed violence and terror. The United States is now working with our international partners to turn the words of this resolution into action. The conflict in Lebanon is part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror that is unfolding across the region. Terrorists and their sponsors recognize that the Middle East is at a pivotal moment in its history. Freedom has brought hope to millions, and it's helped foster the development of young democracies from Baghdad to Beirut. Yet these young democracies are still fragile, and the forces of terror are seeking to stop liberty's advance and steer newly free nations to the path of radicalism. The terrorists fear the rise of democracy because they know what it means for the future of their hateful ideology."

THEIR hateful ideology? When do we address the hateful ideology endorsed by our own religious right? I always thought Christians were about love and understanding, showing others what Christ is about by actually attempting to live according to the example he set. With all this war mongering it appears to me that most Christians have failed to look into what they signed up for. I don’t recall Christ needing to lead great armies to get his point across. His philosophy has existed now for roughly two thousand years; he never once picked up a weapon. I really wish you so-called right wingers would stop prostituting his teachings for your own political and economic gains.

• "It is no coincidence that two nations that are building free societies in the heart of the Middle East, Lebanon and Iraq, are also the scenes of the most violent terrorist activity. We will defeat the terrorists by strengthening young democracies across the broader Middle East."

Um, isn’t Iran a democracy? And Lebanon? Creating democracies is great and all, but when your actions are such that it causes all those newly freed voters to hate us I’m not sure it’ll provide all the wonderful benefits you keep predicting. And, with Hezbollah providing so much humanitarian aid to the people of Lebanon who do you think will be up to gain a few seats in the Lebanese government during their next round of elections? As long as we continue to meddle in their affairs for our own financial gain I don’t see a lot of promise in the extermination of terrorists.

• "The way forward will be difficult, and it will require sacrifice and resolve. But America's security depends on liberty's advance in this troubled region, and we can be confident of the outcome because we know the unstoppable power of freedom."

Yes, and when you start becoming viewed as the oppressor guess what that means.

• "On Tuesday, I went to the National Counterterrorism Center, where I was briefed by the fine professionals who work day and night to protect our Nation from terrorist attacks. Their efforts are vital, as we saw with the recent terrorist plot to destroy airliners headed for America. I thanked the men and women of the intelligence community for all they did to help the British government uncover and disrupt this vicious plot. This attempted attack is a reminder to us all: The terrorists remain determined to destroy innocent life on a massive scale, and we must be equally determined to stop them."

And don’t forget that it reminds everyone that despite the billions and billions of taxpayer dollars WE have spent in Afghanistan and Iraq the terrorists still have the capability to organize and plan another attack. Bin Laden is still not in custody, and you “don’t spend that much time on it”. Aren’t you guys the ones always screaming about justice?

• "On Friday, I met with my economic advisors at Camp David, where we discussed our efforts to keep our economy growing and creating jobs. Our economy has created more than 5.5 million new jobs since August of 2003, more jobs than Japan and the 25 nations of the European Union combined. The unemployment rate is 4.8 percent. The productivity of America's workers is rising, and our economy grew at a strong annual rate of 4 percent during the first half of 2006."

What’s the average wage of those jobs? And, it also seems that non-citizens are filling all most of the “new” jobs I see created. At my current place of employment there are so many foreign born that I’m starting to feel like I work in a colony from another sovereign nation (BTW, did you ever figure out what a sovereign nation is?) Don’t get me wrong I don’t blame them; they are just looking after their own welfare. I blame you and your Republican government allowing big business to sell out American citizens.

• "To keep this momentum going, we're pursuing a strategy to sustain our economic growth and keep our economy competitive for decades to come. We will keep taxes low, restrain federal spending, open new markets for American products, invest in new energy technologies, and help American workers develop the skills they need to compete for high wage jobs."

RESTRAIN FEDERAL SPENDING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! You’ve got to be kidding. I will say it takes some kind of bold for someone in your administration to call attention to government spending. Just exactly what is your idea of “runaway” spending? I really think you guys might want to think about refraining from using the “anti big-government strategy”. Your words mean nothing once you have a track record on the subject.

What American products are going to these new markets? I’m having trouble finding anything in my home that was manufactured in America. Even my American brand car sitting in the garage was made in Mexico.

And “ . . . help American workers develop the skills they need to compete for high wage jobs”. Does this include learning how to speak Chinese and studies in Chinese culture, so we can move to China and actually GET those high paying jobs?

• "American workers also need affordable, high quality health care, and more transparency in our health care system can help. Next week, I will travel to Minnesota to discuss ways to ensure patients have access to more information about their health care. When patients know the facts about the price and quality of their health care options, they can make decisions that are right for them."

You can drop all the health care adjectives. There’s a large and growing number of Americans that would just like to GET health care. I can give people all the information they need: it’s too expensive, too cumbersome, too restrictive, and too hard to understand. None of the “decisions” that most of us have are in any way “right”, but they’re the only ones we have.

• "With all these steps, we're working to improve the health, security and prosperity of the American people. Our Nation does not fear the future because we are determined to shape the future. We will build a more peaceful world and leave behind a stronger and better America for our children and grandchildren."

Words are cheap, Mr. President. When does all this start happening? It takes leadership to do these things you mention in your last paragraph. I guess that answers my question.

• "Thank you for listening."

Too bad I can’t say the same.

[Webster Green]

1. Mine...

Fuck you, war-chimp!