President Bush is pushing Congress aggressively to
approve drastic budget cuts "that will show the
American people we're capable of being wise about the
money and, at the same time, meet our priorities."
Really? Since when did Bush become a fiscal
conservative?
This is just another politically empty statement to
push through a budget that includes drilling in the
Artic Wildlife Refuge while bringing the Medicare and
Medicaid budgets to their knees.
He keeps missing the target that the working class
has painted for him: tax the rich and give it back to
the poor you took it from.
The oil drilling he wants so badly - in a refuge that
must not be touched - will only give the United States 6
months worth of oil while destroying the habitat of
hundreds of species for years. Why is this so important
to Bush?
It is one of many budget proposals that have little
economic sense but huge impacts on the natural world of
people and wildlife. The cuts to entitlement programs
are the worst. In the aftermath of three hurricanes,
these programs need to be increased - not slaughtered to
keep tax cuts for those living in luxury.
In the New York Times, North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad,
a senior democrat on the budget committee, said it best:
"I have never felt that a budget going through the
Congress of the United States is more disconnected from
reality than this budget."
Bush hasn't had a grasp of reality since his first
day of campaigning for president. He is immune to the
real needs of this country, from his slow reaction to
the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the non-existent weapons
of mass destruction in Iraq to his latest, now failed,
choice for the supreme court-Harriet Miers. The last was
so ridiculous, she was forced to withdraw.
But there is cruel reality in every choice Bush makes
because he always favors big business and government
involvement in the personal lives of Americans. He has
made the no-bid contract a normal function of government
business. He has consistently chosen extreme
right-wingers for the highest court in attempts to
dismantle civil rights. He steps over 2,000 dead
American soldiers in continuing to spout that the Iraq
War was inevitable and that more lives must be
sacrificed.
With the still potential indictment of key Bush
adviser Karl Rove and Friday's indictment of Vice
President Dick Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis Libby
Jr., maybe America will finally wake up to the tyranny
it's been under for the last five years.
Then there's the indictment of former House Majority
Leader and Texas Republic Rep. Tom Delay on campaign
finance violations.
It's time to clean out the White House and the
Congress of all the cronies who stand on the backs of
working class Americans. It's time for some trickle-down
justice.
McKee, a wheelchair user, is a poet and producer.
You can e-mail her at chairgrrl@chairgrrl.com.
Her column runs on Tuesdays.
