The Angry Liberal Commentary Archive:
The Top Ten Bush Administration Policy Mistakes
Yesterday the White House changed its mind. . . again. After cutting the FY '02 funding for cooperative nuclear security programs with Russia and the other independent states of the former Soviet Union by 32%, the Bush Administration suddenly decided that allowing bad guys acquire nuclear material might not be a good thing after all. Of course, the move was overshadowed in the popular press by a defiant Bush vowing to capture Osama bin Laden again. So between that shocker of a headline and the funding change announcement coming smack in the middle of the holiday season, about four Americans will actually hear about the policy change.
It's interesting. Upon entering office, Bush announced a host of Clinton-era policies were to be scrapped. The pattern here is clear. Bush, who clearly has no grasp of science, takes office with his ignorant conservative six-guns a' blazin', and kicks ass on those pointy-headed scientists who used to make fun of him back at Harvard. Then, as the scientific community gradually rewrites its position papers using words small enough for Dubya to understand, he catches on and changes his mind. If the conservative community okays the policy change, he then sneaks the announcement into the middle of a holiday. This occurred last October 31 with the EPA's reinstatement of the Clinton Administration-mandated reduction of levels of arsenic in drinking water. Trick-or-treat.
Well, George, as long you're pulling your head out of your backside long enough to correct two of your policy mistakes, here is The Angry Liberal's Top Ten Bush Policy Mistakes that you may wish to reconsider as well:
10. Scrapping the Kyoto Protocol. Growing oranges in Alaska might sound neat, but who will want to stand in line for twenty minutes at a theme park in brother Jeb's state when the average daily temperature is 140 degrees?
9. Abandoning federally mandated appliance efficiency increases. Unless you own utility stock, watching the lights dim every time the refrigerator kicks on is really not considered entertainment.
8. Poking holes in ANWR looking for oil. Only a moron would wreck a national treasure to replace the energy wasted by #9 above.
7. The Incredible Tax Giveaway of 2001. Now that we've seen that Bush was wrong about the tax cut stimulating the economy without busting the federal budget, can we have our surplus back?
6. Star Wars II: The Imbecile Strikes Back. When the next terrorist outsmarts this multi-billion dollar missile defense system by transporting a nuke to New York on the roof of a '74 Grand Safari Wagon, history will record this initiative as a laughable waste of money. The fact that it's our money and our lives that will be lost sort of sucks the humor out of it, doesn't it?
5. Letting campaign contributors formulate national policy. Do we really want America's energy future planned behind closed doors by Enron executives? Remember the good old days when the worst campaign contribution the White House received was from Buddhist monks?
4. Faith-based Initiatives. Under Bush's version of this in Texas, Al-Quida could open a religious school for terrorists and the government would be powerless to interfere with this faith-based learning center. Still want to give religious schools carte blanche?
3. Social Security Privatization. Grandma buying Enron at 86 with money that could have been used to feed her is not going to make her life easier. Or ours, for that matter.
2. Backing out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Do we really want to piss off everybody in the civilized world just to shoot at pretend missiles for the next fifty years? Maybe if we would stop pissing off everybody in the civilized world, the folks with the real missiles wouldn't want to aim them at us. Just a thought.
And The Angry Liberal's Number One Bush Administration Policy Mistake is. . .
1. The 2000 Presidential Election Recount. Gore, who wouldn't have made any of the aforementioned policy mistakes, won the popular vote. He also would have won a statewide recount in Florida under any of the competing "chad" standards. You lost, George. What's more, you're clearly in over your head. Doesn't running some business into the ground that you picked up cheap from one of Dad's friends sound like more fun than searching caves for terrorists and presiding over a recession?
Say it with me, George:
"Bush for Private Citizen!"
. . .The Angry Liberal
12/29/01
