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musclebrains
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by Chris Barillas
One week and one day after the horrific September 11 attacks that murdered some 5,000 innocents, The Wall Street Journal urged the Republican Party to push through a $100 billion corporate welfare package because "the bloody attacks have created a unique political moment" that made its passage possible.
In other words, the sudden weekday morning slaughter of so many of our countrymen and women had so stunned the nation and united its people in shared sorrow and pain, it was a great time to pull a fast one on the grief stricken, flag-waving saps.
Ladies and gentlemen, if the motivation of tax-slashing Republican conservatives beholden to their corporate donors was ever in doubt, we can thank the editors of The Wall Street Journal for hauling it out into the cold light of day.
While the rest of us were busy consoling each other, the GOP was quickly slamming together a package of billion dollar handouts that wouldn't stand a snowflake's chance in hell of passage were the rest of the country not distracted by lighting candles, giving blood and donating blankets.
With grandly expansive rhetoric about defending the livelihood of American workers, House Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay have succeeded in squeaking through the House a "stimulus package" that gives the nation's wealthiest individuals and corporations two and a half times what the federal government spends on education in an entire year.
It is an act of naked greed and patronage that deserves to be unmasked for the disgraceful act of corporate bootlicking that it is. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, IBM could receive $1.4 billion under the plan, General Motors $832 million and General Electric $671 million.
Kevin Phillips, in a commentary on National Public Radio, said this week, "Neither house of Congress has ever passed this kind of major tax bill in wartime, and no one in the House assumes that the Senate will accept it in whole. But the more extreme the House bill, the further that will drag the eventual compromise in that same inexcusable direction. The only real solution is a public outcry, tens of millions of pointing fingers and voices saying, 'Shame.'"
George W. Bush, wrapping himself in the flag and riding a period of national mourning like a bucking bronco at a pony show, issued a statement through White House spokespersons declaring he was "very pleased" with the House stimulus package.
But it doesn't end there, of course. Bush last Friday called again on the U.S. Senate to pass a broad energy bill that would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, arguing that the country's energy policies are still in need of an overhaul. "We need to be more self-reliant and self-sufficient. It is in our nation's national interest that we develop more energy supplies at home," Bush said.
Nice try. Of course, if we phased in increases in fuel economy standards to 40 miles per gallon by 2012, we'd save 15 times more oil than the Arctic Refuge is likely to produce over 50 years, but shoot, where's the fat cat money in that?
With all due respect, Mr. President, gentlemen and ladies of the cabinet and distinguished members of the House, we're not a bunch of hand-chewing idiots. Continue to press narrow and short-sighted policies that benefit the very few over the needs of the very many, and those stratospheric approval ratings enjoyed by the Commander in Chief will whistle to earth faster than ordinance unleashed from the belly of a B-52.
This country did not go to war with the memories of our dead pushing at our backs so that Dick Cheney's friends in the petroleum industry could receive billion dollar subsidies from the federal government. Armey and Delay and political advisors working with Bush who urge him to capitalize on this moment do the president and the country a monstrous disservice.
The wave of patriotism that swept across the country in response to the horrifically brutal and pitiless murder of so many thousands was spontaneous and genuine. The flag that bloomed on cars and fire escapes and lawns and public squares was a show of empathy and unity. Politicians that raise that same banner and wave it to distract the rest of the country from their true intentions are guilty of more than callous opportunism; they dishonor the symbol, their office and show contempt for the people they govern.
The singularity of national purpose that Bush campaigned on and promised was handed to this administration at a terrible price, but it came on September 11. A new tone swept the capital and the nation on the heels of devastating human tragedy, and no less than seven weeks after this epochal turning point in American history what did the flag-waving Republican president and the patriotic members of his party do? They decided to milk it for partisan gain.
Congratulations, fellas. You do our nation proud.
One week and one day after the horrific September 11 attacks that murdered some 5,000 innocents, The Wall Street Journal urged the Republican Party to push through a $100 billion corporate welfare package because "the bloody attacks have created a unique political moment" that made its passage possible.
In other words, the sudden weekday morning slaughter of so many of our countrymen and women had so stunned the nation and united its people in shared sorrow and pain, it was a great time to pull a fast one on the grief stricken, flag-waving saps.
Ladies and gentlemen, if the motivation of tax-slashing Republican conservatives beholden to their corporate donors was ever in doubt, we can thank the editors of The Wall Street Journal for hauling it out into the cold light of day.
While the rest of us were busy consoling each other, the GOP was quickly slamming together a package of billion dollar handouts that wouldn't stand a snowflake's chance in hell of passage were the rest of the country not distracted by lighting candles, giving blood and donating blankets.
With grandly expansive rhetoric about defending the livelihood of American workers, House Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay have succeeded in squeaking through the House a "stimulus package" that gives the nation's wealthiest individuals and corporations two and a half times what the federal government spends on education in an entire year.
It is an act of naked greed and patronage that deserves to be unmasked for the disgraceful act of corporate bootlicking that it is. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, IBM could receive $1.4 billion under the plan, General Motors $832 million and General Electric $671 million.
Kevin Phillips, in a commentary on National Public Radio, said this week, "Neither house of Congress has ever passed this kind of major tax bill in wartime, and no one in the House assumes that the Senate will accept it in whole. But the more extreme the House bill, the further that will drag the eventual compromise in that same inexcusable direction. The only real solution is a public outcry, tens of millions of pointing fingers and voices saying, 'Shame.'"
George W. Bush, wrapping himself in the flag and riding a period of national mourning like a bucking bronco at a pony show, issued a statement through White House spokespersons declaring he was "very pleased" with the House stimulus package.
But it doesn't end there, of course. Bush last Friday called again on the U.S. Senate to pass a broad energy bill that would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, arguing that the country's energy policies are still in need of an overhaul. "We need to be more self-reliant and self-sufficient. It is in our nation's national interest that we develop more energy supplies at home," Bush said.
Nice try. Of course, if we phased in increases in fuel economy standards to 40 miles per gallon by 2012, we'd save 15 times more oil than the Arctic Refuge is likely to produce over 50 years, but shoot, where's the fat cat money in that?
With all due respect, Mr. President, gentlemen and ladies of the cabinet and distinguished members of the House, we're not a bunch of hand-chewing idiots. Continue to press narrow and short-sighted policies that benefit the very few over the needs of the very many, and those stratospheric approval ratings enjoyed by the Commander in Chief will whistle to earth faster than ordinance unleashed from the belly of a B-52.
This country did not go to war with the memories of our dead pushing at our backs so that Dick Cheney's friends in the petroleum industry could receive billion dollar subsidies from the federal government. Armey and Delay and political advisors working with Bush who urge him to capitalize on this moment do the president and the country a monstrous disservice.
The wave of patriotism that swept across the country in response to the horrifically brutal and pitiless murder of so many thousands was spontaneous and genuine. The flag that bloomed on cars and fire escapes and lawns and public squares was a show of empathy and unity. Politicians that raise that same banner and wave it to distract the rest of the country from their true intentions are guilty of more than callous opportunism; they dishonor the symbol, their office and show contempt for the people they govern.
The singularity of national purpose that Bush campaigned on and promised was handed to this administration at a terrible price, but it came on September 11. A new tone swept the capital and the nation on the heels of devastating human tragedy, and no less than seven weeks after this epochal turning point in American history what did the flag-waving Republican president and the patriotic members of his party do? They decided to milk it for partisan gain.
Congratulations, fellas. You do our nation proud.
