Wednesday, July 23, 2008

My State of the Union Address

My fellow Americans, greetings. I would like to point out some important truths that we must not ignore. Here is the State of the Country as I see it. We have thumbed our noses at the models that govern the rest of the world. We all watched with fascination, as our housing market ballooned like Jabba the Hut 6-7 years ago. We nodded approval at the lenders offering sub prime loans to people who would ordinarily NOT be able to afford a home. We smirked when our leader smirked at sending brigade after brigade to bring down a dictatorship that violated OUR mandates. We bought, hook-line-and sinker, the tales of terror and weapons of MASS DESTRUCTION, even though the rest of the world was urging us to stand down. We chose to accept that Abu Graib prisoners were treated no more harshly than fraternity pledges from one of our State Colleges, despite the fact that pleas were resounding around the world in horror and outrage at our lack of understanding and compassion. We were indignant when they struck back and beheaded one of our journalists, crying out at their brutality.
We sat complacently watching as the 9/11 commission was denied testimony from the Whitehouse staffers. We thought little more about the intentional sabotage of one of our own spies, then did less when Scooter Libby was let off the hook. We stood before our televisions for days, stupefied at the MASS DESTRUCTION in New Orleans that we neither had the management nor the armed reserves to deal with humanely. We worry terribly about salmonella tomatoes, diseased meat we served to thousands of school children, Ecoli in lettuce and spinach, vaccines containing mercury or tainted bovine resin, and drug contaminated water supplies, but never once DEMAND to know why the USDA and FDA and the CDC all failed us (but still got paid.)
While the oil companies are making billions of profits at our expense TODAY, we are still granting them tax breaks on these profits, and offering to let them drill everywhere they want. While the CEOs of the sub prime lending companies were buying Mexican Retirement Villas, their market was shuttering under the strain of rising foreclosures. We watched in confusion as the Whitehouse offered a stimulus package to ease our financial pain. . . and then scratched our heads as they offered to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac the largest corporations on our markets. We were told this will help patch our leaking economy. I'm still pondering the DRILL MORE oil petitions that the Whitehouse feels are our only hope to stop the unbearable price increases, while these same oil companies sit on all the patents for alternative fuel sources and supplies. And all of us are still sitting here wondering where this is all heading. OK, I'm not really wondering now. I KNOW where this is heading. BAD DECISIONS, AFTER BAD DECISIONS, will rarely produce a good outcome.
Our government has role modeled bad policy, no integrity, and no accountability for 7 years. It continues rewarding companies that share this lack of character and shortsightedness. I think I can say with confidence that GEORGE W. BUSH, single handedly destroyed this country, to the likes of which we just barely experiencing now. IT WILL GET MUCH WORSE. And the best of politicians will not be able to stop this nasty boulder from rolling down the hill.
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. Now, is the time to stop using fossil fuels in your homes. Start now, turning off your A/C units, retire the SUVs and park the cars in the garage. Fire the lawn service and start planting fruit trees and orchards in your front yards. Unplug everything that isn't necessary. Downsize to one TV, one PC and one stereo. Open your windows, and listen to the sound of less cars on the road and kids in the yards. Our consumption of oil now must stop, so that we will have enough oil left to convert our nation to NON Fossil fueled economy. But I think more than this our complacency about why are country is such dire straits must end here too. We need to DEMAND and Protest, boycott and SCREAM that our Congress fight to get back OUR HUMAN RIGHTS. The right to have access to affordable food, shelter, and fuel, necessary FOR SURVIVAL. We need to confiscate and sell all the assets of the criminal corporate thugs that profiteered at the price of our soldiers, and our communities. DO SOMETHING OTHER THAN SCRATCH YOU ASSES AND NOD at the television, that refuses to report NEWS.
I have had my A/C off for over a week now. I live in San Antonio, Texas. My children were miserable for 3 days, then strangely they stopped complaining. In fact, they came in from the pool yesterday and complained that it was cold. We run our unit now from 8 pm to 6 am and it is set at 78 during these times. I haven't run my Van in 2 days. My daughters and I are riding bicycles to the store. We each have baskets. I also just harvested 2 cantaloupes from my garden in the dismal area that sprawls behind everyone's detached garages. Yes, homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, spinach, okra, green beans, and strawberries do taste better than store bought. If everyone tries what we are DOING, we will change the demand side of the supply issue, slow the rising cost and buy the time we need to change our fuel supply forever.
Good night, and God Bless.

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