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Planet Waves | May 12,
2005
"Politics is the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. Although it is generally applied to governments, politics is also observed in all human group interactions including corporate, academic, and religious." [Wikipedia] The thing about politics -- the reason it feels so overwhelming -- is that you have to connect the dots from one bit of information to another in order to form a Big Picture of what's actually happening on the ground. That's not always easy, it's always time-consuming and the results are usually disheartening. We used to have trusted people to do that for us but not so much these days. I suppose you've heard all the yelping about mainstream media not doing it's job -- not asking the hard questions that we've depended on from reporters in generations gone by. "Who, What, Where, When" lays out the bare bones of the news -- but repeating statements that people make without a critical eye to the truth of the matter "does not a reporter make." Investigative reporting is becoming a lost art ... the "cost" of crossing the Powers That Be appears too high, lest one become "Rathered" [...and there goes the portfolio, doncha know.] So today, lets just review the actual statements of the least candid and most carefully scripted president in memory -- perhaps we will find some hint there of "truth in government." Thanks to the American Progress Action Fund, who publishes one of the bits you will find below on a daily basis -- this is a sampling over the last six months: I live in a transparent country. I live in a country where decisions made by government are wide open and people are able to call people to – me to account, which many out here do on a regular basis." ~ President George W. Bush, 2/24/05 VERSUS "Secrecy in [the United States] government appears to be on the increase." ~ Judge Robert W. Sweet of the Southern District of New York, 2/24/05 "And the great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East." ~ President Bush, 2/21/05 VERSUS Egypt's new election regulations are "seen by the opposition as putting a gag on serious contenders, as all the elected bodies are dominated by Mubarak's ruling party and its supporters. 'These regulations are utterly disappointing, totally undemocratic,' said Hamdeen Sabahi, an independent lawmaker in the lower house." ~ Los Angeles Times, 5/9/05 Thank you all for coming today to hear this conversation about how to make sure [Social Security] functions well for a young generation of Latinos and people from all walks of life. ~ President Bush, 5/4/04 VERSUS "Under the 'progressive indexing' benefit structure backed by Bush, an average wage-earner retiring in 2045 would have benefits cut by 16%, analysts estimate." ~ L.A. Times, 5/5/05 I do not believe … the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide.… This is especially true given the incomplete state of scientific knowledge of the causes of, and solutions to, global climate change." ~ President George Bush VERSUS "There is a better scientific consensus on this than on any other issue I know – except maybe Newton's second law of dynamics." ~ Scientist D. James Baker, former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration "Unfortunately, we are seeing a disturbing pattern, where too often judicial confirmations are being turned into ideological battles.... They seek to undermine the nominations of candidates who agree with my philosophy that judges should interpret the law, not try to make law from the bench." ~ President Bush, 3/13/02 VERSUS "Once competency is established, the most important qualification for a judge is commitment to following the law as it is written - regardless of personal philosophy. Justice Priscilla Owen is clearly competent, but her record demonstrates a results-oriented streak that belies supporters' claims that she strictly follows the law." ~ San Antonio Express News, 7/21/02 "Too much politics in Washington, D.C. There's too many people saying, well we can't work with this group because it might help them get an upper hand, or can't work with that crowd because they might get an upper hand.… We've got to rise above the olitics…." ~ President Bush, 4/26/05 VERSUS "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told her senior staff she was disappointed about the stream of allegations and said she did not want any information coming out of the department that could adversely affect the [John Bolton] nomination." ~ Washington Post, 4/20/05 "The American people did not place us in office to pass on problems to future generations and future Presidents and future Congresses." ~ President Bush, 3/12/05 VERSUS "[A]doption of the policies proposed by the [President's 2006 budget] would increase the deficit by $104 billion over the next five years (2006 through 2010) and $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years (2006 through 2015), compared with the deficits that would occur if there are no changes in current policies." ~ CBPP, 3/8/05 "This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table." ~ George W. Bush, 2/22/05 VERSUS "Again, all options are on the table, and – but one thing I will not allow is a nation such as Iraq to threaten our very future by developing weapons of mass destruction." ~ George W. Bush, 3/13/02 "We're working closely with Britain, France and Germany as they oppose Iran's nuclear ambitions...The results of this approach now depend largely on Iran." ~ President Bush, 2/21/05 VERSUS "A senior administration official said the United States had no intention of directly joining ongoing talks aimed at restraining Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program, although many European officials have expressed concern that the talks involving Britain, France, Germany and Iran will fail without U.S. involvement." ~ Washington Post, 2/21/05 "Now we need to focus on giving young people, especially young men in our cities, better options than apathy, or gangs, or jail. Tonight I propose a three-year initiative to help organizations keep young people out of gangs." ~ President Bush, 2/2/05 VERSUS The White House has "proposed a 40 percent cut in federal juvenile justice and delinquency prevention funding, which supports anti-gang programs in communities across the country. That's on top of a 44 percent overall reduction in delinquency-fighting and anti-gang funds since 2002." ~ Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 6/1/04 "If we failed to act in Iraq, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day." ~ President Bush, 2004 State of the Union VERSUS A revised CIA report titled "Iraq: No Large-Scale Chemical Warfare Efforts Since Early 1990s," will state that "former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein gave up his chemical weapons program after the 1991 Gulf War." ~ AP, 2/1/05 "Members of Congress could take some lessons from Chile, particularly when it comes to how to run our pension plans." ~ President Bush, 4/16/01 VERSUS "Chile's Retirees Find Shortfall in Private Plan" ~ NY Times headline, 1/27/05 "I agreed to allow federal funding to go forward on existing stem cell lines … Out of those 70 lines, some 22 are functional now. And out of that 22 lines, there's over 300 different projects that are going forward." ~ President Bush, 9/20/04 VERSUS "All human embryonic stem cell lines approved for use in federally funded research are contaminated with a foreign molecule from mice that may make them risky for use in medical therapies, according to a study released Sunday." ~ LA Times 1/24/05 "There should be no excuse saying, well, it's an unfunded mandate. Forget it – it will be funded." ~ President Bush on No Child Left Behind, 1/12/05 VERSUS "The bipartisan National Governors Association voted unanimously in 2003 to name No Child Left Behind an 'unfunded mandate,' which means the federal government isn't supplying the money needed to make the law work." ~ Bloomberg, 1/12/04 We're all "political" according to the Wikipedia definition -- we're all in a constant act of decision making. Those decisions cannot depend on taking anything at face value, today -- what we believe can no longer depend on what we're being told. Or, to put it another way ... "...fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. Fool me ... you can't get fooled again." ~ George
W. Bush, September 2002
We will have to connect the dots ourselves. Peace ~ Jude Eric Francis is on holiday. Jude, the editor of
Political Waves, is standing in for his daily blog this week.
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