Now More Than Ever, Remember The Values And People That Bush Has Abandoned

by Steve

As I head off for a week of Christmas vacation with my family to Denver to visit friends, I note several pieces tonight worth your attention. First, the Post’s E. J. Dionne, Jr. writes a good piece in Friday’s edition questioning which values seem to be ignored by the moral values crowd that voted for Mr. Bush. Second, the NYT’s Bob Herbert writes in a similar vein about what the Iraq war is doing to our military families, especially the ones who are destroyed by fallen soldiers who will never return home to their children. Herbert points to a somber piece from earlier this month by two reporters from the Scripps Howard News Service, which recounts that 900 American children have lost a parent in this war. Yet while these tragedies occur here and in Iraq to its people, Mr. Bush’s moral values supporters amongst the oil and insurance industries, buoyed by high gas prices, skyrocketing premiums and lax oversight are dumping millions into the costs of the second Bush inaugural so that the GOP can have a good time.

Surprise visits won’t make up for the insensitivity and cannon fodder treatment of our troops by this administration, given the ignored warnings and belatedly-accepted advice that more troops were needed to maintain security and the total ineptitude of this occupation and lack of security in key areas. But this indifference to the plight of our soldiers is repeated here at home every day with this Administration. As the days go by and the victims here and abroad of this Administration’s war against people continue, you realize that George W. Bush and his cabal are far removed from the moral values they claim to emulate from the man whose birthday many of us celebrate on Saturday.

May you and your families be safe and healthy over the coming week, and let us not forget those that George W. Bush has abandoned both here and overseas.