Dennis J. Kucinich: The Truth About the State of our Union

[kpete]

Published on Friday, January 27, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
The Truth About the State of our Union
by Dennis J. Kucinich


.............

President Bush has delivered four State of the Union addresses since the attacks on our nation on 9/11. In four speeches, the President has never once mentioned Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the terror attacks on this nation. The status of the FBI's most wanted man apparently is not important to the state of our union. Yet, in the same four speeches, President Bush has mentioned Saddam Hussein 24 times, and Iraq 78 times.

President Bush used the opening of his 2003 State of the Union to praise the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. This year our nation, and the world, saw the result of the failure of this massive reorganization of our government. As Katrina rolled ashore, destroying large cities and small towns in four states, it was FEMA, once an independent cabinet level agency--but now rolled into Department of Homeland Security--that failed to react. The searing image of thousands of Americans stranded without food and water dying on American streets will be the lasting legacy of the Department of Homeland Security, not a reorganized government "mobilizing against the threats of a new era" as the President described in his speech.

In his 2004 and 2005 addresses, the President spent a considerable amount of time advocating policies that would roll back much of the social progress made since the New Deal. In 2004, the President touted a Medicare prescription drug bill that will fatten the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry, endangering the future finances of the entire Medicare program, while leaving seniors confused and empty handed as they try to fill their prescriptions under the new plan. In 2005, the President used his address to promote his plan strip seniors of the guaranteed promise of Social Security, and replace it with a risky scheme to gamble their future in the stock market.

What the President has in store for his message this year is not known yet. But, we do know the President Bush will speak in glowing terms about the state of our union. The truth is the state of our union is in great peril. This Administration is conducting a war with no end in Iraq, illegally spying on Americans at home, overseeing an economy that is increasingly leaving more and more Americans behind and abandoning Gulf in their hour of great need.

If recent history is any precedent, then next week we should see more of the same old dance around reality that has been the hallmark of President Bush's annual address.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0127-24.htm

[firefox]

1. Nominated for Greatest Page

[HockeyMom]

2. Horrible

One word State of the Union. Save your breathe. Describes it all.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Dennis speaks the truth

I wish we had had him become President-I don't think we'd be in the mess we're in.

[boobooday]

4. We need more Dennis J. Kucinich

I hope he will run again.

[NanceGreggs]

5. As always, The Man nails it!

"The same old dance around reality ..."

And now that REALITY has literally hit home with millions of Americans via gas prices, home heating prices, lack of Medicare prescription coverage, job losses, etc., there will be MUCH LESS DANCING than ever before.

[LoKnLoD]

6. Well Done Congressman

:applause:

You continue to impress.

[mike_c]

7. honored to give the fifth nomination....

Dennis speaks for me!

[Marleyb]

8. Thank you Dennis

:applause:

"the median income in this country has decreased, the jobless rate has jumped from 3.9% to 4.9% and the number of families living in poverty has increased from 8.7% to 10.2%. Our trade deficit has doubled. Inflation has gone up. Personal bankruptcies have gone up. Consumer debt has gone up. College tuition has gone up. And, the price of gas has gone up. All the while, this Administration has turned a $128 billion federal budget surplus into a $319 billion deficit."

heckuva job georgie

[stop the bleeding]

9. Another real American n/t

[Erika]

10. Agreed. One with guts from the very beginning. n/t

[esvhicl]

If only

a man like Dennis could be President. That would really be progress.

[thefool_wa]

11. Totally Recommended

I can't believe this came from Dennis Kucinich. Two years ago this guy was looked at as the loud mouthed radical of the Democratic party but now, when I read what he has to say, he seems to be at once more level headed and more eloquent in his assessment of the current state of affairs.

I laughed at his bid for presidency in 2K4, but who know what the future may hold. I just hope he doesn't sell out (figuratively or financially) his ideals and points of view for the promise of political gain, there is too much of that going around.

[MuseRider]

13. He was always like this

but you had to look to know it. He will not sell out, he hasn't yet and after being Mayor he was about as down as a politician can get. He did not sell out then and they eventually welcomed him back with open arms and awards.

He is the best, absolutely.

[MaggieSwanson]

12. A kick for the Kooch. n/t

[mikelewis]

14. That's my Congressman K & R

[Festivito]

15. .. and yet, not dire enough.

To me it's still the media.
SOTU rebuttle is our chance to say so in real time.

But, it won't, I sigh.
Americans will go on in their ignorance.

And, another opportunity will falter.

[derby378]

16. Something that Kucinich might have missed

Take a good, hard look at this FBI "wanted" poster for Osama bin Laden and tell me what the hell is missing from the poster:

http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/fugitives/laden.htm

[Marleyb]

17. The truth about Dennis Kucinich...

[G_j]

18. kick!