Jim Austin

His previous columns are archived HERE.

JIM AUSTIN

Bush League

Last week I cooked up a big thick sirloin steak. That baby must have weighed two pounds. After consuming pound one I wasn't that hungry anymore. Still I persevered and crammed in all but a greasy little bit of fat.

I looked down from my plate to observe Chico, our rat terrier and Xena Warrior Princess, our daschund gazing up at me. "Dog treats," I pronounced and they both nearly screwed themselves into the floor in an ecstasy of wagging. Both mutts then received a nice greasy half ounce bit of fat. Yum.

Did you wag your tail when Bush gave you that $600.00 dog treat a while back? According to the White House we may even be in for another. Oh, Joy.

This tax refund is so transparent that even low-income Republicans should be able to see through it. Like my dogs that don't notice how small their portion was, we are grubbing for a tiny smidgen of our own tax money while fat cats and oil exec pigs haul in millions. Economic Stimulus Package translated is "Fill the Trough for Enron-type, big business thieves and to hell with the rest of us."

By the way did you pay any income tax last year? I did, Enron and GE didn't. The bulk of his package features permanent tax cuts for corporations. It is simply and only payback for his contributors.

And what the hell is wrong with the Democrats?

They should be calling the President on his phony stimulus package and going after him on prescription drugs and campaign finance reform. But of course the polls dictate that this is a bad time to attack a popular President no matter how wrong-headed he is. No guts, how typical.

Before Sept. 11 Bush's approval rating stood at 51% and was dropping. He had been making an absolute hash of our foreign policy and was alienating friends and foes alike. After 9/11 we had a new ball game.

The biggest of all distractions imaginable made us forget about the abysmal performance he was putting on. Well the backdrop to all the success in Afghanistan is exactly the same and as universal fear for our security wanes Bush will have to face pre-war issues. The guns are paid for, the butter is rancid.

Bush's state of the union address frankly shocked me when he referred to North Korea, Iran and Iraq as "the axis of evil." It was a statement unprecedented in its stupidity.

We had been making diplomatic progress with North Korea and Iran had even cooperated by helping us deal with al Qaeda terrorists on their border with Afghanistan. For the first time in years moderates had been getting a foothold in the Iranian government. What possible motive could the White House have for attacking Iran at this time by comparing them to the Nazi-led axis powers of WW2?

Moderate leaders inside the Iranian government were making progress. US Iranian relations were warming up nicely until Bonehead Bush puts his foot in his mouth. What gives? Does he want to foment trouble with Iran so he'll have an excuse for his asinine missile defense program? Can you think of a reason for this? I'm baffled.

If 9/11 taught us anything it was that we can't live on this planet in isolation. We need cooperation from other countries. We have to improve not only our intelligence agencies but our diplomatic corps as well. This purposeful alienation of countries already pre-disposed to hating us is reckless stupidity.

Finally, is anyone out there rolling their eyeballs at our Attorney General Ashcroft and his $8000 expenditure of our tax money to cover the breast of the statue depicting Justice that appears in the background of his Justice Department press room? If consistency means anything he should also insist on putting a bag over his head so the public won't have to view the biggest horse's ass ever to hold public office.