LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

 

I want to be relevance

 

— Bumper sticker of the week: The world is full of apathy, but I donÕt care.

— Quotes of the week: ÒThe past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future.Ó Jessamyn West

ÒPeople get the history they deserve.Ó Charles de Gaulle

— Privatization is a bad idea: Admittedly, the government has a bad record for running business ventures. But as fate would have it, private business is worse. People have a way of cheating one another. In a capitalist society, we call it profit, to disguise the theft. You deserve a return on your investment. Seems reasonable, until that return gets out of hand, and the safety and well being of the public gets undermined and trivialized. To quote Marx, ÒCapital is reckless of the health and length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society.Ó Government regulations are necessary in a democracy. Business is ruthless and uncontrollable. It always has been.

— Latest approval rating of Bush: 24%

— The country is in worse shape than it was before his presidency: 66%

— Those that approve of his handling of Iraq: 29%

— Those that approve of his handling of the economy: 28%

The worst president in our history is going out like a true chump. He will end up with the worst approval rating of all time. Clinton went out with an approval rating of 66%. The moral of the story: Bush needs a blow job.

— Bonus bumper sticker: Impeach Bush/Torture Cheney. (Cruel, but theoretically possible.)

— Imagine:

¥ everyone having a place to live.

¥ no one going to bed hungry at night.

¥ getting adequate health-care when you need it.

¥ a Department of Peace.

¥ a college education being free.

¥ that we placed environmental concerns ahead of profit.

¥ a fast rail train system between all our major cities.

¥ no laws or policies being passed by Congress without first giving consideration to how they would effect the next seven generations.

¥ no single individual or family being about to accumulate more than 25 million dollars of wealth.

¥ being able to retire after 25 years of work.

Someone imagined going to the moon. Someone imagined a device that could store unlimited data and immediately feed it back. Someone imagined a defective human heart could be repaired or replaced. Someone imagined a cure for polio. Someone imagined we could fly like birds. We no longer have to imagine those things. So the question becomes: Why not the above list? Imagine that.

— President Bush is looking to remain relevant as a lame-duck president. I got some real bad news for him. He wasnÕt relevant when he was involved with the Texas Rangers (he was the managing partner after putting up only 1% of the cost, but he did get the taxpayers to build Arlington Stadium for the Rangers), or when he was in oil (Arbusto, and Spectrum 7 Energy Corp., both bought out by his daddyÕs rich buddies before going bust), or when he was Governor of Texas (he presided over 143 executions, the most ever in our history by a governor, drove the educational system into the ground, and helped Texas become the most polluted state in the union), or when he landed on that aircraft carrier pretending to be a soldier. So I ainÕt quite sure how he intends on becoming relevant now. He has taken us on a trip down mediocrity lane, which has apparently been a life journey for him. Hail to the Chief.