Last Night a Buzzing Sound Washed Over the USA

It was millions of bullshit detectors going off during the President’s SOTU speech. Anyone who forced himself to watch the entire speech was rewarded with one belly laugh, though. About three-quarters of the way through, the Prez said, ”One of the main differences between us and our enemies is that they seek to impose and expand an empire of oppression, in which a tiny group of brutal, self-appointed rulers control every aspect of every life.” So...what was that difference again? But other than that moment of supreme irony, POTUS mainly talked out his ass about Social Security reform. Oh, and he appointed his wife to be the leader of an initiative to keep young men out of gangs. He said young men need to be shown an ideal of manhood that respects women and rejects violence. God only knows where Laura Bush is going to find that role model. Fareed Zakaria has a terrific article in this week’s (February 7) Newsweek. He makes a number of good points. The title of the article, “Elections Are Not Democracy”, is one very good point. “Iraq is on track to become another corrupt, oil-rich quasi-democracy,” Zakaria says, “like Russia and Nigeria.” He also says that one complaint one hears over and over in Iraq is that, “America is spending billions of dollars in Iraq and getting very little for it in terms of improvements on the ground, let alone the good will of the people.” Zakaria quotes Isam al Khafaji who runs the Iraq Revenue Watch for the Open Society Institute who says, “Most of the money is being spent for reasons of political patronage, not creating the basis for a real economy.” Khafaji says the major portion of the money goes to Americans and the rest goes to favored Iraqis. “I can say with certainty,” Khafaji said, “that not a single Iraqi contractor has received his contract through a bidding process that was open and transparent.” The present government in the USA lies, cheats and deceives, whether it’s electing its own leaders or handing out government contracts in the Pentagon. How can we presume to advise other countries on democracy when our own is so warped and perverted? If the new Iraq turns out to be a corrupt, oil-rich quasi-democracy, where did the model come from?