DO YOU FEEL SAFE NOW?

DO YOU FEEL SAFE?

By Peter Fredson

September 24, 2005

George Bush has been running a propaganda scam for years now, basically telling us that he will keep us safe while scaring the Hell out of us. Well, we have spent several billion dollars on airport security and what do we have to show for it: several bushel baskets full of nail clippers, manicure scissors, pocket knives and assorted sharp instruments for practical applications. How many terrorists has Bush caught with all that “security?”

Let’s see: there was that one nutty guy with shoe linings that could have exploded, but a stewardess caught him. There have been several hundred people under suspicion of doing something, held under the imperial ruling for an indefinite period of time, with how many people convicted for actually planting explosives?

There have been a number of people of dark skin, looking like Muslims that were handcuffed and held with a lot of nasty prison treatment and much difficulty in seeing attorneys. There have been several people that we couldn’t convict but we sent them to some foreign country where they were tortured and abused. Let’s see: oh, there was that one guy who bombed abortion clinics, which they finally caught after chasing him around mountains and woods for years, and then caught him getting food from some dumper. There was also Tim somebody that successfully blew up a Federal building, but he was a white American so was never suspected.

There have been thousands of people killed by Bush troops in Iraq that he called terrorists, or “thugs.” At first there were NO terrorists there, but Bush with diplomatic genius attracted many terrorists there with his flypaper strategy, so he could kill them and keep them from coming over to Crawford and upsetting his brush piles. That was probably worth the 300 billion dollars we spent, and certainly gave Millennium executives a very nice and comfortable living forever for them and their descendants.

We also gave employment to thousands of “contractors” to “reconstruct” Iraq, and sometime we might even stop destroying it and let the Iraqis rebuild. Although right now ordinary Iraqis report that they are terrified by Bush bravado.

We certainly showed those “thugs”, which during the American Revolution might be called Patriots, that anyone threatening the security and income of the neocoms will be dealt with severely. We killed thousands of them in Fallujah, making all Americans in Davenport, Iowa, feel very safe, although the thousands of women and children killed by Shock and Awe might feel different about it.

And we still have thousands of US troops knocking down doors and houses, lobbing grenades, pointing automatic rifles ceaselessly, showing those stupid Iraqis that we respect their sovereignty. We have brought freedom and democracy to Iraq with cruise missiles, helicopter gun-ships to spray whole neighborhoods, and various types of high explosive to demonstrate our love of peace. Don’t forget to mention that Black Angel of Death, Condi Rice, parades the world threatening other countries unless they bow to our demands. Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Rove will issue orders to kill anyone without hesitation. John Bolton was the obvious choice of Bush for the type of diplomat of the future: bellowing, bullying, and blustering.

Doesn’t the fact that George Bush has control of our nuclear arsenal give you a warm feeling of safety? Do you really think he is so unpredictable, irritable, irascible, and preemptive that he would hesitate to use his atom bombs against anyone for any reason? He actually IS above the law: his own attorney told him so. He is the War President, from a war he declared by deceit and lies, and wants to keep being a War President because it makes him swagger and strut and feel important.

The recent hurricanes, Katrina and Rita showed how ill prepared this nation was for an emergency. Bush emerged as an impotent, careless, exploitive Texan, who has now taken more vacations than any other president in history, because he feels it is so hard being president, making all those decisions about praying, gays, abortion, sneaking Judges past the senate, and his daily lies about keeping the nation secure. But his photo-ops showing him patting little black kids on the head will give all his True Believers that warm feeling of superiority.

Of course, the hurricanes might not be Bush’s fault. God did it.

To be serious, Rita and Katrina demonstrated how ill prepared this nation is for any real emergency. We all watched the traffic flow (or halt) from Galveston where cars crawled along and ran out of gas, dumping people out on the highway. There are too many people for the highway system, too few emergency programs that work.

The News reported that a number of motorists, after hours of waiting on the highway, turned back and went home to Galveston. Some of them found an open tavern and they held a hurricane party and rode out the storm in fine style. Perhaps that is the solution.

We had 3 days notice for the hurricanes. What if some actual terrorist with a suitcase atom bomb would give us three hours to evacuate New York, Chicago, Washington or any other large city? And people insist on building homes below or at sea level, on barrier islands, beach fronts, sand dunes, and other nice scenic places that will be inundated or destroyed.

Bush would undoubtedly ask us to pray, make a speech about “staying the course”, swagger into his private plane, and then head for his ranch or a nice bunker in some damn place where he should immediately retire. But first he has to shovel about 300 billion dollars into corporations, contracting companies, and Senatorial boondoggles after making sure homeless people will work for below minimum wages.

A dozen new billionaires will emerge from the largess of taxpayer money, and several thousand people who can be put in trailer homes made by corporations who will only charge double for their shoddy domiciles. What wonderful opportunities now for corporate executives, neo-cons and True Believers. Roberts can probably help considerably to bring about the Rapture or a theocracy. Hallelujah!