Yes, I know that is the title of a Pual Krugman book
about the Bush presidency. But the moniker is somehow fitting now that there seems to be a confluence of events that are exposing the gross ineptitude of the Bush administration.We see today that a bus, loaded with the elderly being evacuated from Houston, exploded. The oxygen that many were using is suspected in the blast. Wow, billions of dollars spent on "homeland" security and you can just picture the panic of Bush administration hacks after their response to hurricane Katrina, "Get 'em out of there. Stuff them on any bus you can find, just get 'em out of there." Of course if there had been an actual plan for an evacuation maybe there would have chosen a system of transportation that wouldn't explode when transporting elderly oxygen users. But, as we all know, government is bad (that is unless it's military governemnt...)
In another indication that our pals in the White House are blithering idiots one of our "allies" in the Gulf Region, Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister (ally here means that they have lots of money and oil, not that their populous give a damn about us. In fact, they hate our guts, hell most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis) has warned that Iraq is on the verge of total collapse (not unlike the Bush administration itself). He warns that if this were to occur that it would most likely lead to a regional war. Oh joy! You know if we only had someone who gave a shit in office.
Speaking of collapse, there is a book out (Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
) by that name authored by Jared Diamond (he is the author of the very good book Guns, Germs, and Steel). I haven't read the book myself but from what I understand the general premise is that societies collapse because they choose to. What happens is that the interests of the power structure in a society come into conflict with the interests of the society itself. That is the destructive force, and one that we as TRUE Americans should be aware of. Why? Jeez, where oh where do the interests of the power class come into conflict with that of the society as a whole? Hmm. (Tax breaks for the wealthy - $200 billion on a war in a far away land (most of which has gone where exactly?). The luxury goods market is hot - Poverty has been increasing for the last four years. Crony government - Levees break in New Orleans. Creationism in the classroom - threat to our economic future from well educated foreign workers and NO plan to do anything about it.)
2 comments:
We tend to group things together... so the bus in Houston with other majoy fuck ups: tain't so: shit happens. It wasn't a fire drill. That's why people don't evacuate if they don't really have to: it ain't free.
As to finances and Iraq and environment and the overall rocketing backwards of this country: Bush
Jared Diamond... Guns Germs and Steel, has some interesting points. But there, and when I heard him speak about the fall of nations, he rather force fits the events into his cookie cutter and it doesn't work.
He should look at all systems as living systems... heck, even software does it: it gets old, starts getting feeble, and eventually breaks. Everything must change. Death is part of the cycle, and dying is not proof that god has found you wanting or a nation unfit to continue.
Shit happens, sure. Less shit happens when you plan for it. This sort of thing had all the earmarks of panic, not planning. This shit (the bus) is pruely more evidence of 4 years and billions of dollars pissed away.
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