Talk Walker

After listening to my umpteenth right-wing Bush/Cheney supporter espouse how safe that administration kept us since 9/11, I have to ask: Why did 9/11, which occurred nine months into their administration happen in the first place? Why is it these guys think Bush/Cheney and their cohorts deserve a  gimme of such magnitude?

 The fact remains Bush was asleep at the wheel, going on various vacations of which he was setting records, and who knows what Cheney was doing (if you believe the conspiracy theorists).

In effect B/C made us vulnerable in more ways that one. The fact that the US was not attacked physically one more time is faint praise in light of the economic ripple effects of 9/11, not to mention (and they won’t) their decision to expend our blood and treasure in Iraq, which further damaged our country’s people,  and decimated our economy and families.

Shame on them and good riddance.

With all the talk , speculation and analysis about an economic meltdown (read Depression II), I can’t help but wonder why no one is talking as if no one could have seen this coming. I’ve lost count how many “Financial Experts” I’ve heard recommend all we (the people) need to do is stop spending and start saving (with what?). Never mind the big red flag about this meltdown having to do with a freeze on credit, I don’t get why no one is talking about $1billion dollars the U.S. is spending on the Iraq Occupation (even though Iraq has a $59 billion in oil revenues), hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost due to NAFTA, and American corporations getting tax credits for offshoring their manufacturing facilities (and jobs) overseas.

I’ve often heard people say if you want to get to the root of a problem, follow the money. Well, what about following the loss of money. It’s bad enough our middle class had been taking it in the shorts since the passage of NAFTA and ensuing loss of ”living wage” jobs, without President Bush and Vice President Cheney lying our country into Iraq, for an open ended occupation that is costing U.S. taxpayeres $1billion a month. Those two factors alone would drive any economy into the ground, without Senator Phil Gram coming up with legislation to deregulate banking and mortgage practices.

My conjecture is when income’s started falling, the financial industry came up with no-cost, no-interest loans that would balloon in 2-5 years. That way, no one would realize how poor they had become, because interest-only payments made it possible to live like they would if they could afford it. Unwitting victims signed contracts they did not want to believe they could not afford, even though their creditors did. When they defaulted on those loans, the creditors foreclosed on their homes and tried to start the cycle all over again, banking (in more ways than one) on property would continue to appreciate. Can you say house of cards?

John McCain and President Bush have a lot of nerve acting like they never saw this coming. If they are as naive (read blind and deaf) as they claim, they have no business holding their positions, but that’s another story.

If Congress and the President really want to fix this sinking US ship, they need to renegotiate NAFTA (and any other similar trade agreements), stop granting tax breaks to American corporations who offshore manufacturing facilities, end the Iraq Occupation, and force anyone holding paper on an ARM of ARM-type loan to down to lenders to negotiate home loans so the homeowners can afford to affordable rates.

That way, we can start spending money on our own needs and not those of Halliburton & KBR, and people will be able to stay in their homes until manufacturing jobs can come home.

We have known for awhile about private contractors being used in Iraq to for security, or similar jobs the army could do, but at more than thrice the price. In addition to  driving us deeper in debt, a major issue of this policy is contractors like Blackwater are not held to the same military code of conduct of this man’s army — nor are they held accountable.

In April 2005, when four contractors were brutally beaten, dragged through the streets and two left hanging from a bridge, I could only wonder what was the source of such rage. Contrary to President Bush’s opinion, it is not likely the citizens of Iraq picked out these men just because they do no like “our way of life.” That kind of rage-killing had to be revenge of some sort. Of course, there was no investigation, at least that was made public, and for the most part this fading memory is probably going to be used by Bush to justify staying in Iraq until he leaves office.

Now, at a time when conditions in Iraq are precarious at best, we find out a Blackwater employee fired at and killed an Iraqi taxi driver for reasons unknown, which led to a conflict between the U.S,  Iraqi Minstry forces and Blackwater “security guards”. According Eugene Robinson, of  the Washington Post:

“A Blackwater guard shot and killed an Iraqi driver Thursday near the Interior Ministry, accordingto  three U.S.  officials and one Iraqi official who were briefed on the incident but spoke on condition of anonymity because of a pending investigation. On Wednesday, a Blackwater-protected convoy was ambushed in downtown Baghdad, triggering a furious battle in which the security contractors, U.S. and Iraqi troops and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters were firing in a congested area.”

WTF. In plain English, we now have U.S. forces and private contractors, fighting the very military our U.S. army and marines are trying to “stand up.” What is WRONG with this picture?

It’s tough enough putting our soldiers in harms way, often in untenable positions, without compromising their safety further by companies making huge profits, and mercenaries whose primary objective is a huge paycheck. If we can’t bring our soldiers home, at least we can cancel the contracts for Blackwater. The American taxpayer should not be paying inflated prices for mercenaries who are making a bad situation horrifically worse. I would also conjecture with the savings, our own soldiers could be provided adequate up-armored vehicles, shock-proof helmets and bullet proof vests to help protect them in the aftermath of what these contractors have wrought. 

I think President Bush mis-spoke when he said (again), at the end of his press conference today, ”I will continue to reach out and work with the Democrats.” I think what he meant to say was : ” I will continue …”and choke their throats.

The Democrats should not allow the President to fracture our unity. They should vote NO on today’s supplemental bill, and if the Republicans, a few Blue Dogs and Joe Lieberman want to continue the Iraq Occupation, let them vote for it. Apparently, they did not get the November memo on why they were elected.

The American voters and public need to know who they are — our new Target Group.