I voted for Bush both times. After his reelection he said "I believe this is a mandate of the people". I knew at that moment we were in trouble. A vote is not a mandate. I cannot speak badly about his first term, I was glad he was there, and especially after 9-11. However, his lack of understanding regarding other cultures is glaring, as is Cheney's, even though I find his intent more cunning. Both have lost my trust. The reason, their seeming lack of concern for the inhabitants of America. Thet have lost sight of whom they serve. Cultural understanding of Iraq was essential. Not all there were our enemy. The ruler was. Someone that should have been eliminated during the Gulf war. I'm beginning to think the presidents ire is due the criticism of his father over the Gulf war. I would hope not, but why would he pursue his coarse in view of the growing dosapproval of what is happening in Iraq. No thought given to the will of the people. One of us is going to be wrong. It is hard to say who. I do know that the pressures coming to bear on the American public are becoming unbearable. This seems to be the time that the middleclass will disappear because of the overwhelming cost(money) of trying to live. The cost of gas, utilities, and now food is the rape of America. I want a change, and I don't want any rhetoric from either party. I want truth, and action.

So Ralph Peters of USAToday thinks that the Bush administration's "worst" mistake in Iraq was holding elections prematurely. Where was he when Bush was lying (and I am firmly convinced he was lying) in order to justify entry of the U.S. into this war in the first place. Any subsequent mistake his adminstration made following that entry pales by comparison to that absolute blunder. I believe that only the present division in Congress prevents his impeachment.

Just as Fox News has become a propaganda tool of the Right, the Wall Street Journal has become a propaganda tool of the Rich. The ideology of Free Markets and Free Trade has been cherry-picked to justify uncontrolled globalization, while ignoring the domestic consequences of unbalanced trade policies and allowing fraudulent business practices to make hay while the deregulation sun shines upon them. But the economy is only booming on paper, and the stock market is padded with profits from overseas and growth in areas we should not be proud of -- government spending on pork and war, overpriced health care, and predatory financial services. It used to be padded by housing too, but that party is very much over, as everyone without a vested interest in the housing market saw coming years ago. In the streets, everyone in America can see plainly that our wealth has been spilling over the lowered trade barriers and flowing across the world like a flood from a broken dam. We can either adopt austerity policies now, or later when the IMF starts treating us like any other 3rd world country.