Molly Ivins: 'Could lunacy explain Bush's policies?'

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" Zepp " <zepp

Tue, 16 May 2006 10:05:21 -0700

[Zepps_News] #Molly: could lunacy explain Putsch's policies?

 

 

 

 

*Molly Ivins: 'Could lunacy explain Bush's policies?'

*Tuesday, May 16 @ 09:31:32 EDT

 

 

Molly Ivins,

 

AUSTIN, Texas--I hate to raise such an ugly possibility, but have you

considered lunacy as an explanation? Craziness would make a certain

amount of sense. I mean, you announce you are going to militarize the

Mexican border, but you assure the president of Mexico you are not

militarizing the border. You announce you are sending the National

Guard, but then you assure everyone it's not very many soldiers and just

for a little while.

 

Militarizing the border is a totally terrible idea. Do we have a State

Department? Are they sentient? How much do you want to infuriate Mexico

when it's sitting on quite a bit of oil? Bush knows what the most likely

outcome of this move will be. He was governor during the political

firestorm that ensued when a Marine taking part in anti-drug patrols on

the border shot and killed Esequiel Hernandez, an innocent goat herder

from Redford, Texas. That's the definition of crazy--repeatedly doing

the same thing and expecting a different result.

 

I suppose politics could explain it, too. It's quite possible that

lunacy and politics are closely related. It's still damned hard cheese

for the Guard, though. The Guard is heavily deployed in Iraq, currently

20% of those serving, down from 40% last year. Some soldiers are sent

back for multiple tours. Lt. Gen. James Helmly, head of the Army

Reserve, said the Reserve is rapidly degenerating into " a broken force "

and is " in grave danger of being unable to meet other operational

requirements. " Happy hurricane season to you, too. The Guard is also

short on equipment and falling short on recruiting goals.

 

But right-wingers are very unhappy with Bush right now, and this is a

strong, red-meat gesture that will make them happy, even if it does

nothing to shut down the border. You want to shut down illegal

immigration? You want to use the military as police? Make it illegal to

hire undocumented workers and put the National Guard into enforcing

that. Then rewrite NAFTA and invest in Mexico.

 

Meanwhile, further proof that the entire party is cuckoo comes to us

with the passage of another big ($70-billion) tax cut for the rich. The

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says the average middle-income

household will get a $20 tax cut, while those making more than $1

million a year will get nearly $42,000.

 

The Washington Post editorialized, " Budgetary dishonesty, distributional

unfairness, fiscal irresponsibility--by now the words are so familiar,

it can be hard to appreciate how damaging this fiscal course will be. "

 

Both President Bush and Veep Cheney are still going around claiming if

you cut taxes, your tax revenues increase. No, they don't. Now we're

just in whackoville. It's not true. Their own economists tell them it's

not true, but they go about claiming it is with the same desperate

tenacity with which they clung to false tales of weapons of mass

destruction in Iraq. How pathetic.

 

Speaking of lunacy, the saddest report from Iraq is that American

soldiers showing signs of psychological distress and depression are

being kept on active duty, increasing the risk of suicide. The Hartford

Courant reports that even soldiers who have already been diagnosed with

post-traumatic stress syndrome are kept on duty. This has led to an

increase in the suicide rate--22 soldiers in 2005. And as I have

reported before, the military is unprepared to deal with the flood of

head cases coming back from Iraq. How many ways can we mistreat our own

soldiers, while the right makes an elaborate show of devotion to " the

troops " ?

 

The consistent pattern that runs through all these problems is the

failure to distinguish fantasy from reality. Mexican immigrants keep

crossing the border because they can get jobs here--and most of those

jobs are provided by companies whose CEOs support George W. Bush. That's

where he can have an impact on the problem, should he choose to do so.

 

The $70-billion tax cut is part of a continuing right-wing fantasy going

back to the Laffer curve. Of course, clinging to demonstrably false

economic precepts is understandable when you benefit from them, but at

some point reality does intervene.

 

As for the Iraq fantasy and those who pushed it on a reluctant country

through lies, disinformation and bending intelligence--isn't there a law

against that?

 

Copyright © 2006 Truthdig, L.L.C.

 

*Source: Truthdig

**http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060515_molly_ivins_lunacy/*

 

 

 

 

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