POTUS-Rage*

It's been a constant state of orange alert during the 43rd presidency. I've been angry a lot since President George Bush, Jr. took office. Just pissed off. Of course, I mean "took office" as in seized and stole.

We all seem to agree that the current White House will lie, cheat, steal, and wage war to maintain their grip on power. It causes what I call POTUS-Rage in people like us. By "people-like-us", I mean people who still give a darn, which is why the POTUS-Rage is so severe in us. You know the symptoms: Blood boils, brow furrows, heart rate rises, teeth clench, maybe we punch something - but then we get to work. That's what this site is all about - putting POTUS-Rage to work.

Through all the peaks and even higher peaks of disgust, this weekend was an all-time high in POTUS-Rage for me. I received an email from Senator John Kerry's campaign decrying the new ad running on Mr. Bush's web site. When I followed the link to view the ad, I was stunned. There is a mind-bending video that shows clips of Adolph Hitler, and seeks to compare him with Sen. Kerry, Howard Dean and Al Gore as they express their own POTUS-rage. You have to watch twice to even understand what it is. Make sure you are sitting down, and your deodorant is fresh. You'll sweat angry bullets.

The video finishes with soft, light music as Mr. Bush trots along in slow motion. As if the Senator, the Governor and the Vice President are out of their minds, and POTUS will save you and make everything alright. It is nothing less than disgusting. On top of that, I viewed the president's campaign website for less than three minutes, and I saw at least five outright lies. "Look Everybody - Tort Reform Will Lower Health Care Costs!" Is this a joke?

This may seem like excatly what we should expect from Mr. Bush and his crew. But that only shows how low the bar has been set, how far into the swamp they have sunk. We expect him to mislead us. We are not surprised by even the most glaring offense. It is a prime example of the three facts that define this election:

3 - We deserve better from our president.

2 - George Bush and his White House do not care about
you, cannot help you, and will not help you. They don't get it.

1- John Kerry is the answer to what ails the Oval Office. He can and will do the job the right way.

*This entry originally appeared on grassrootsdemocrat.org.

© 2005 by justin michael cresswell

Remembering Reagan with shallow, convenient history*

The past week of media retrospective and tribute to Ronald Reagan has been shallow at best and Orwellian at worst. It is a distortion of our history to gloss over the reality of the Reagan era.

Reaganomics had lasting detrimental effects on our nation and our world by promoting and encouraging avarice and through widening income disparities. Creating wealth is half the job, and a bull market doesn’t help poor people. Distributing riches and raising up the less fortunate should be a priority in government’s mission, rather than an afterthought. I know a woman who remembers the Reagan years thusly:

“I had just become a single parent by divorce in a strange state with very few friends, no attorney, no family and lost my job because I was on a federal grant from Health and Human Services that was cut by Reagan's signature. He cut funds to human services agencies nationally and to the arts to give tax cuts to the wealthy. Unemployment was over 13% in New York and I stood on the unemployment line to support two young sons and myself. Sound like anything that's happening now? He never addressed the spread of AIDS and HIV or the rise of homelessness. When I remember Reagan, I remember the Iran-Contra scandal, guns for the wrong reasons, military build-up, reckless spending, rich people leading and poor people suffering. That’s what the Regan years meant to me.”

That woman is my mother.

The Economist magazine’s cover this week dubbed Reagan “The Man Who Beat Communism,” a view parroted by news outlets and citizens nationwide. Does this not discount the true heroes who knocked down the Berlin Wall and broke up the Warsaw Pact? Does anyone remember the internal reforms of perestroyka and glasnost, which started under Brezhnev, were championed by Gorbachev, and embraced by repressed people craving sovereignty, freedom, and openness? Yet what did we hear time and again on the news – Regan making speeches, buying bombs, and aiming more missiles at the USSR.

My respect for the presidency stretches beyond partisan boundaries, and I mourn as the nation mourns. My sorrow and reverence, however, do not allow me to forget the facts.

*This entry originally appeared on grassrootsdemocrat.org.

© 2005 by justin michael cresswell