I missed the first article of the new year. My computer was down-- quite exasperating. Rather like the better part of 2004. I'm going to reminisce here, remembering the highlights (most of which were lowpoints) of last year. (For even more highlights, check out Wikipedia, enter the month and year and they have a day by day breakdown of news from that day.)January
The year started out with a rather damaging revelation for Bush's claim that the war in Iraq wasn't about oil. Papers released in Britain revealed that the US government considered using force to take over oil fields in 1973 during the Arab oil embargo. Thirty years is a long time during which to refine plans and co-ordinate logistics....A Brazilian judge orders that all US citizens be fingerprinted upon arriving in Brazil, a rather pointed response to the increasing xenophobia being fanned by the government's issuance of "security updates"....Britney Spears married Jason Alexander, which lasted all of about 55 hours-- a fine and shining example of the sanctity of heterosexual marriage that the radical religious right is trying to protect....Bush proposes immigration reform that would create a temporary worker program, legislation I personally agree with (see! I'm not all about Bush-bashing) but that angers a good many Americans who blame immigrants for the job shortages....A report from the International Monetary Fund suggests that the US deficit poses a danger to the entire world economy. (What? I thought the US economy was booming! At least that's what the White House has been telling us. This is kind of like the recent debate on whether or not US aid proposed for the tsunami victims was adequate. Officials pointed out how the US gives more money than any other nation. And while that is true, per capita, we rank near the bottom. Even if some other nations are running a deficit of 100% of their annual budget, their budgets are nowhere near the size of the US budget.)... Levi Strauss becomes the latest company to completely move production overseas when it closes its last US based sewing company. Outsourcing has been one of the banes of economic recovery, although Bush's tax incentives make it more profitable for companies to outsource overseas....Paul O'Neill is the talk of the town as he starts a book tour on his tell-all book about the Bush administration. Many of his allegations are dismissed by those who say he had an axe to grind because he was fired for opposing Bush's tax plan....Bush announces plans for a new spacecraft so that we can go back to the moon. Despite my enthusiasm for space exploration, "been there, done that" comes to mind. With all the cuts being made to social safety nets, particulary for women and children, do we really need to divert even more money so we can try to relive the past glory of Apollo days?...The US deficit passes $7 trillion dollars. Yet you or I would get charged $25 for bouncing a $3.00 check....Bush circumvents Congressional approval (at least until Congress reconvenes in this month) of federal judgeship nominations by using a "recess appointment" to put Charles Pickering on the bench. Pickering has, in the past, made many anti-choice rulings but refuses to announce his position on reproductive rights and abortion....The US Republican Party is accused of infiltrating Democratic Party computers and copying confidential files since 2002. Shades of Watergate? But alas, like most of the shenanigans of the administration or the Republican party, they are reported but never really followed up....David Kay resigns from the team looking for WMDs in Iraq and says he doesn't think Iraq ever had stockpiled quantities of WMDs....A federal judge declares part of the civil-rights-destroying PATRIOT Act to be unconstitutional. Of course the US Justice department appeals and in the meantime, continues to enforce the act....Maryland issues a report stating that the Diebold electronic voting machines are too easy to tamper with and don't meet state guidelines for security. Despite this and an internal memo from Diebold's head honcho that they need to insure the re-election of Bush, many states still use the paperless machines, thereby completely eliminating the possibility of a recount if any vote is challenged....And finally, the month ends on another down-note for the administration. Budget projections mistakenly posted to the Pentagon's website show that the US defense budget is projected to increase 7% to a more $400 billion dollars. How much money does Haliburton really need? (Maybe you can ask Dick Cheney...he used to work for them.)
February
Bush announces the formation of a bipartisan committee to look into the "faulty" intelligence data. Hmmm...seems to me when you take information from a ten year old thesis that it shouldn't require a commission to figure out why the infomration is bad....The Massachusettes Supreme Judicial Court finally issues its ruling on the issue of same sex marriage by saying that civil unions will still violate the state's constitution. The White house affirms its support the "traditional marriage" between a man and a woman-- like Britney and Jason....George Tenet, (former) director of the CIA, says that no one ever said Saddam Hussein or Iraq were "imminent threats". (In this age of television when someone somewhere probably has every government interview ever given on some form of electronic medium, one should not make statements that can be proven wrong quite so easily.)...Hans Blix is interviewed by the BBC and says that both the US and the UK made the threat posed by Saddam Hussein bigger than it really was so they could get support for the invasion of Iraq....Bush's draft dodging debacle is back in the news as the White House releases pay records that indicate Bush was being paid. It does little to quell the controversy that will eventually lead to the resignation of CBS anchorman Dan Rather....San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom orders city clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, stating that the state's anti-discrimination laws over-ride the law passed that banned same-sex marriage. Radical religious right organizations quickly file a lawsuit seeking to stop the issuance of marriage licenses. Hundreds of couples line up around the block waiting for a chance to get a license. Couples are getting married at a rate of about one per minute, and in just four days, issue more than 2000 licenses. By the time they're ordered to stop, more than 4000 gay couples have tied the knot, including Rosie O'Donnell and her long-time partner Kelly Carpenter. So much for gays not really wanting to get married. Before it's "over", gay marriages are performed in New Mexico, Oregon and New York....An opinion poll shows that the two leading Democratic contenders for the presidency (Kerry and Edwards) would both beat Bush by at least ten points....The first charges are filed against alleged terrorists being held by the US in Guantanamo Bay (Cuba). Well, against two of the more than 600, that is. And it's only 2 years and 5 months since 9/11. The Pentagon even goes on to admit that even if the military tribunal clears the two defendents, the US government may not release them. So much for belief in the principles that form the basis of the US legal system. It's times like these I'm so damn proud of my government. One has to wonder at the hypocrisy: if we won't honor the Geneva Convention, we have on leg to stand on to protest when others mistreat our soldiers.
March
March 1. The day that George W. Bush urged Congress to do something that has never been done before: use the US Constitution to take away citizens' rights rather than to protect them. Bush calls on Congress to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment that would define marriage at the federal level as consisting of one man and one woman....Harvard opens up its stem cell lines freely to scientists working on stem cell research since such research was greatly thwarted by the misguided efforts of Bush upon entering office....David Kay urges the Bush administration to admit it made a mistake about Iraq, but no such admission ever materializes. A whole lot of excuses do though....Bush's re-election campaign stoops to a new low by using images from 9/11 despite protests by many families of those killed. The next day, the RNC sends out letters to television stations warning them against airing anti-Bush campaign ads that were produced by MoveOn.org....The US releases three teenagers (the youngest being about 12 when captured) from Guantanamo's special "teen camp" more than 14 months after they were captured....Antonin Scalia, a close friend of Dick Cheney's, is set to hear a case involving Cheney. He refuses to recuse himself, even after it's revealed that he went on a private duck hunting expedition as Cheney's guest....A woman in Utah, after refusing to have a Caesarian section, is arrested for murder after her child is stillborn. Another indication that reproductive freedoms are under a full-fledged attack by the current administration....The first anniversary of the Iraq invasion passes with major anti-war protests across the country and around the world....Jimmy Carter strongly condemns the war in Iraq....Michael Newdow's case against his daughter's school involving the pledge of allegiance and the words "under God" is heard before the US Supreme Court...the White House consents to allow Condoleezza Rice to testify under oath before the 9/11 Commission. Previously, she had wanted to testify without being under oath. Makes you wonder why she didn't want to have to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth....the charred remains of US civilian employees are put on public display by Iraqi's who are angered at the US occupation of their country. (You have to ask yourself what would Americans do if another nation came in and displaced OUR leader and destroyed all of our infrastructure and put police they trained in control of our streets...all in the name of bringing us freedom.) As Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls sings in the song, "All that We Let In", the Iraqis are being "beaten into submission in the name of the free."
And that's only the first three months. One has to wonder what it's going to take to wake up the American people to the bloodless coup that's taking over their country....
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Previous | Home | Index | Next |