New Atrocious Sh*t
Why You Should Be Mad!
By Laura De Paulo

It’s difficult to talk about new “sh*t” without talking about old sh*t. So, let’s begin with a little history. George Walker Bush did not win the 2000 presidential election. He didn’t even come close, as he lost the popular vote by more than 500,000 ballots. So, why is he the president now? It started with Katherine Harris, former Secretary of State of Florida. She came up with a “purge list” that was ostensibly meant to prevent convicted felons from voting. This list targeted mostly African-Americans and other registered Democrats with common names such as Smith and Johnson, and dropped them from the rolls. Over 90% of those dropped were innocent of any felony conviction. Since Al Gore “lost” Florida by a mere 537 votes, it is obvious that this tactic worked very well.

Why you should be mad: Because as many as 90,000 eligible voters were illegally denied their constitutional right to vote. The people of the United States did not get the president they voted for. When this happens in other countries we call it a coup.

The U.S. Patriot Act was passed by Congress on October 26, 2001, with almost no debate, in response to “The War on Terror.” Essentially it gives the government such broad powers of spying on American citizens and/or anyone else who lives here that it renders the Bill of Rights meaningless. As Alan Westin wrote in Privacy and Freedom, “The essential methods of totalitarianism is to keep its own actions secret while putting everyone else under surveillance.”

Why you should be mad: The Patriot Act allows the government to spy on your Internet use, monitor your phone calls and enter your house in “sneak-and-peek” operations WITHOUT INFORMING YOU! You can be arrested without being told the charges against you and held indefinitely without being allowed to consult an attorney!! Furthermore, the Act has made the definition of terrorism so broad that matters once handled by local police, such as gang violence, or the illegal manufacture of drugs, can be reclassified as “domestic terrorism,” with greatly expanded prison sentences or even execution. Also, legitimate activities such as protesting at an antiwar rally could be interpreted as “terrorism.”

You’ve heard about the Bush tax cuts for the richest one-percent of the population. This amounts to 800 million to a trillion dollars of lost revenue over the next 10 years.

The money being cut from their taxes is being added to ours in the form of lower wages, decreasing standards of living and a decline in the quality of public education, public health, welfare and the environment. The beneficiaries of this cut are the same one-percent of the population whose wealth has grown by 157% in the last 30 years. Their combined income is equal to the income of half of the rest of us (47% of the population). Why you should be mad: For the super rich, tax cuts may mean an extra vacation home in Aspen, a bigger yacht, or perhaps a designer make-over for the jet; while for us it means yet another emergency room forced to shut-down, another preschool closed, another family without health care. In two years the Bush administration has managed to cut essential social and medical programs in order to give more money to the tycoons while spending unprecedented sums on waging wars. In the process he has turned a huge budget surplus (about $500 billion) into a $550 billion dollar deficit. Someone has got to pay. Guess who? You and I, our children and grandchildren.
Disrespecting the international community: As soon as Bush took office he got busy undermining our international obligations. The U.S. abandoned the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, the anti-ballistic missile treaty, the germ warfare protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention, The Comprehensive Test ban Treaty, The International Criminal Court and the land mine treaty. Then after 9/11, he ridiculed and undermined the United Nations.

Why you should be mad: Global warming is destroying the environment, our 70,00 nuclear weapons could destroy the world, chemical and biological warfare could kill everyone on the planet and the criminal court prosecutes international criminals including those who might hold an American passport. WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER, WE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER TO SOLVE OUR GLOBAL PROBLEMS!

Lying about Iraq’s “Weapons of Mass Destruction”(WMD): Why did we go to war with Iraq? Oh yes, Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons he could launch against us in 45 minutes. He had supposedly developed biological weapons as well. The truth is he didn’t have any WMD even before we went into Iraq. The “evidence” was all made up. Scott Ritter, a former chief weapons inspector, said they’d been destroyed. Hans Blix, the U.N. weapons inspector and his cast of thousands, couldn’t find any. Since our occupation of Iraq, we’ve found nothing. So why did we go into Iraq and kill thousands of civilians not to mention losing about two American soldiers a day (more than 500 as of February 2004)??? There are about ten good reasons: oil, oil, oil, oil, American dominance, oil, American empire, oil, war profiteering, and finally, the guys running this country will do anything for power and money.

Why you should be mad: The war cost around 160 billion dollars and the occupation of Iraq is costing the U.S. taxpayers about one billion more dollars per week. Bush just got another $87 billion. Do you find it hard to imagine how much one billion dollars is? Try this: Jesus was alive one billion minutes ago. Or, if you began to count to a billion right now and counted twenty-four hours a day it would take you 95 years to count to a billion.

The Bush administration has trashed the economy: After only two years in office, under Bush tax cuts and enormous increases in military spending, not to mention corporate thievery (Enron, Anderson, World Com, Adelphia,etc.) the nation has lost 3.2 million jobs!! Furthermore, the Federal Government has decreased the money it gives to states. Many states are now facing bankruptcy, which means all of the services (schools, hospitals, libraries, etc.) are facing disaster.

Why you should be mad: This is our money!! The money spent on destroying Iraq could fund health care, housing, education and jobs programs for millions of Americans. We could use it to create a world of peace and plenty, not a world of war, destruction and the domination of the few very richest one-percent of the population over the rest of us.

The Bush administration isn’t just trashing the global environment, but is undermining environmental regulations in the U.S. as well. Protection for fresh air, fresh water, wild life and wild spaces are all being eroded in the name of corporate profits. For example, The Clean Air Act allows industry greater leeway in polluting the air. The Healthy Forest Act permits industry to cut old growth forests. Furthermore, laws that are still on the books aren’t being enforced. The same people who once worked for those industries now run our official regulatory agencies. For example: Mark Rey, Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and the Environment used to lobby for the logging industry. Bennett W. Raley, who once lobbied for industries that pollute our water now regulates those same industries. Rebecca Watson is in charge of regulating mining operations. She once worked for the big mining companies. YOU GET THE PICTURE!!

Why you should be mad: We pay regulators to regulate. Why aren’t they doing their jobs? Their dereliction of duty is already undermining our health and welfare. After years of decline, smog is again reaching dangerous levels in cities such as Los Angeles and Houston. Contaminated water is destroying waterways and the fish and wildlife that depend on them. Contaminated groundwater is causing serious diseases and premature death in humans. Climate change is destroying the entire planet!

These examples of atrocious sh*t are only a small collection of the vast means by which those who have The Power are using it for their own profit at the expense of all of us. Be sure to check this site bi-weekly for updates on still more *#%*! Ed