This is a glorious time of year!

Well, in my universe all times are glorious, but I am personally equipped to enjoy some days more than others and the last few have landed square on my happy spot. The body has trouble keeping up with the surge of activity brought on by 59 degree mornings, but like my son Thomas says, "That's why aspirin comes in big bottles!" I have big bottles on hand of the aging, has been, wannabe, athlete's two main food groups...Aspirin and red wine. If the temps drop just ten more degrees, the hot tub becomes the heaven I probably don't deserve.

We have another hurricane headed our way up here in Tennessee. Number six is aimed at the bottom end of Florida before number five can finish off the pan handle. It is at times like this that people like me like to point out that New Orleans is mostly ten feet below sea level and has a storm with a fifteen foot surge pooking along inside headed that way. Stupid stupid Army Core of Engineers made this possible by failing to point out the inevitable to 200 years worth of developer greed. At least they could have said, "You'll be sorry..." somewhere along the way, as they spent billions to keep the Mississippi River out of it's natural course and destroyed the Delta in the process. Along with that, they destroyed the livelihood of thousands of fishermen and whole industries that caught the bounty of the bayous and provided the rich and wholesome food New Orleans is famous for. The Delta is sinking fast. Lot's of it are gone but if Ivan can land just right...Well even I won't wish for that, even though it would serve a few folks right. I just hope the French Quarter survives.

The French Quarter is built on the only high ground on the waterfront. Boy, those French are really dumb, aren't they? Pointing out what a stupid thing it is to start a war in Iraq and building towns on high ground...They seem to piss every body off by saying things that are are 100 percent true at precisely the most inopportune moments...Hmm, I must have a bit of French DNA diluting the purebred English, Scotch Irish, mulatto redneck American blood coursing through my only partially clogged arteries. The Ambassador to the United Nations from France stood up and pointed out an uncomfortable fact about the document that Colin Powell had just presented to the General Assembly proving that Saddam was trying to buy niclear weapons material from Niger...The uncomfortable fact was that Colin Powell's document was a forgery!

Damn those French! They must be cowards, right? They didn't want to start a stupid war that can't possibly be won for reasons that are obvious lies, right? Cowards?

Maybe we have the wrong definition of what a coward is. Maybe a coward is someone who lies to get other people to do bad things for them. Maybe a Coward is someone who does those bad things knowing they are wrong and based on lies. Colin Powell spent one and a half hours standing up in front of the United Nations General Assembly presenting a slickly done presentation "proving" that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and was going to use them. George W. Bush made a famous scare speech warning that anyone who did not believe Saddam had Weapons of mass destruction could be proven wrong by a "Mushroom Cloud!" The Prime Minister of France said he did not believe Saddam had these weapons, A preemptive war with Iraq is a mistake. This week, Colin Powell said something after 1006 American soldiers have been killed. He said it after thousands of Americans have been wounded and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed. What he said was this:

"It is unlikely that we will ever find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

Oops! 1006 Americans have died bravely for the wrong reason.

They died in the service of our President George who is supposed to be a brave man, after all. He bravely used all his Daddy's pull to get out of danger when it was his turn to fight for his country. He bravely quit going to the marching drills he was supposed to attend after losing his flight status for not passing the drug test he would have taken had he "Bravely" shown up for his physical examination. Personally, I don't think what a man did thirty years ago should be held against him, so let's let bygones be bye, shall we? I say a man has time to be brave every second of every day. George has the chance to be brave when he steps out to face reporters at a Press conference. A coward wouldn't do that unless he had the questions given to him three days in advance...Just like in college, George?

George had a very well known chance to be brave when his aide whispered into his ear,

"Sir, America is under attack!"

He had the chance to be brave for the famous seven minutes he sat there with his eyes darting back and forth, Looking less like the leader of the free world than a man trying not to wet himself. (Doubt me? look at the tape and make your own decision! Your chance to be brave might simply be watching Fahrenheit 9-11 before you vote!)

I remember what I did, the instant I found out about the first plane flying into the World Trade Towers. I immediately changed my plans and started trying to find out what was going on and what it meant. While I was going to the Reuters web site to learn more, the Man in charge was reading a book about a goat. We were both scared, the President and I, but I needed him to spring into action because that is his job! I would have done that and you, dear reader, would have done that, but the one man on earth whose job it was to act... didn't!

Now, in spite of spending one and a half Trillion Dollars we don't have, our economy is sputtering, unable to get the traction it needs to produce enough jobs for our work force.

In spite of the fact that 70% of Americans favor the assault weapon ban, the President's man in the Senate says it is the "Will of the People" that it expire.

In spite of the fact that Millions of Americans can not afford health care insurance, the President says it will cost too much to help American Citizen. We can't divert money from the war.

In Spite of the fact that our environment shows growing signs of getting sicker and sicker, our President backs further and deeper destruction of the earths natural processes.

In spite of the fact that the average American's earnings went up by five thousand dollars a year under Bill Clinton and have gone down by nearly two thousand dollars under Bush, our President says things are great for those who count. You know, the "Owners" he is so fond of in his fantasy world of the Ownership society! That is the world where George and his friends own all the stuff and you flip burgers at your "factory" job.

Well the chance to be brave gets passed around and maybe it is our turn. All I know is that the one guy in the whole world, we, as Americans, have to count on has not once, not ever, stepped up and been brave. He has always hid behind his Daddy. his momma, or that plastic turkey last Christmas. He won't face an open Press conference, he wouldn't testify for the 9-11 Commission under oath or without Dick Cheney as his keeper, and now he is doing his best to avoid Presidential debates. George 'Bush is only the second President in US history to abandon the White House when America was under attack. Before that, he sat frozen in front of a room of grade school children, and then, in America's moment of greatest need, George W. Bush spent another 20 minutes getting his picture taken. Brave? I don't think so!

Why don't we as Americans call him out?

Hey, George! Why don't you come out and face America? If you've got what it takes to lead us, we'll know, and if you don't?

We'll know that too!

Courage, Americans! It is your time,now!

Steve



Oh yeah, and by the way, the French were right about this war being unwinnable!

Fact is, Bush has lost the war in Iraq. Let's face up to it and figure out what to do now.

"Events in two Sunni Muslim cities that stand astride the crucial western approaches to Baghdad have moved significantly against American plans to build a secular democracy in Iraq."

"Both the cities, Fallujah and Ramadi, and much of Anbar Province, are now controlled by fundamentalist militias .... "

"American efforts to build a government structure around former Ba'ath Party stalwarts ... have collapsed. Instead, the former Hussein loyalists, under threat of beheadings, kidnappings and humiliation, have mostly resigned or defected to the fundamentalists, or been killed. Enforcers for the old government, including former Republican Guard officers, have put themselves in the service of fundamentalist clerics they once tortured at Abu Ghraib."


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/15/02033/2476


My ramblings are at:
http://whitescreek.blogspot.com/
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