State of the Union Speech:
Two years after 9/11

President George W Bush, his legacy post 9-11 not withstanding his "State of the Union Address." The United States of America is in political and economic control of Afghanistan and Iraq. The US-military death toll rises each week. US-military injuries have overwhelmed US-military medical personnel and facilities in Germany and in the USA. The financial cost for US-occupation in Iraq runs single-digit billions each month, nearly $1 billion in Afghanistan. No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, despite early White House confirmation. The Iraqi civilian death toll has surpassed the US death toll from 11 September 2001. Anti-US terrorists have bombed Iraq, Indonesia, India, and Saudi Arabia -- without warning -- killing hundreds. Israel and Palestine continue to fight for land each says they own. Liberia and Zimbabwe continue political and civil unrest. Both Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden are in retreat. ANTHRAX is a distant memory, ending in a Maryland pond. No one has questioned why only Democrat party leaders received ANTHRAX-laced envelopes. The US-unemployment figures, which stand at 6.2 percent, do not reflect the 4,000,000 who say they are unemployed. The White House has not paid the City of New York for the World Trade Center cleanup as promised. Residents of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn are told almost two years after the fall of the twin towers their air was toxic. Federal tax cuts hit pay checks in July; state and city tax increases hit one month earlier. This fact list is not complete. Not included; issues of civilian rights, the Patriot Act, White House Executive Orders, Congressional activity.

The Winter of Democracy

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

The burden is great when one's own, or few men's view differs from the masses. What happens when the masses are misled? The German people were misled by Adolph Hitler. Yugoslavs were misled by Slobadon Milosevic. Today, small groups of Islamic fundamentalists are misled by a handful of their leaders.

This author, not unlike the lead paragraph's creator, Thomas Jefferson, writes a similar declaration of independence post 227 years. Jefferson used parchment paper and quill pen, I typewrite and broadcast online, but the message is the same. Democracy is now as revolting today as British-imposed taxes were in 1775. Jefferson might be proud of my efforts, for I like him, have received death threats, fourteen so far in 2003, for exposing this White House on Think & Ask. I receive mail laced with profanity that I shall not reprint for public view. However, I look to you to spread these words of national independence, in this State of the Union Address.

My father and I are both conservatives. We don't discuss politics often; however, upon reflection of 9-11's second anniversary, we both agreed on a fundamental opinion. The time has come for a revolution in the United States of America. This young country survived one revolt in the 1770s, and a Civil War in the 1860s. My proposed revolution shall be a different kind, one not fought with gunfire. We, The People of the United States, must organize, vote, and take back our government through nonviolent overthrow.

This will be an monstrous battle. A revolution of such kind looks impossible for a populous, comprising of nearly 290,000,000, which has become, fat, lazy, apathetic, un-knowledgable of civil rights, and self-centered.

We, The People of the United States, do not accept responsibility for self. We blame others for actions we've caused. We sue tobacco companies, or food manufacturers for our use of their products. We blame countries for hating us, and we denounce their way of life when they wish not to be like us. We do not accept fault.

We equate "culture" with a stuffed couch and television set. Super Bowl XXXVII attracted 137.7 million television viewers, and yet, fewer people participated in the most important event we share as a democracy. Only 105 million voters cast ballots for the presidential election in 2000, or 51 percent of those eligible.

Our students don't know the countries this White House invaded post 9-11. Eighty-three percent could not locate Afghanistan on a map, and 86 percent could not locate Iraq, according to National Geographic.

There are 189,000 more black males in prison than in college. We have 2.1 million citizens in penitentiaries, at a taxpayers cost of $40 billion annually. Drug possession sentences account for more than half the federal prison population (up from 9 percent in 1983.) We impose prison sentences for drug possession that outlast sentences for rape (average time served for rape is 65 months, and 84 months for drug offenses.) Drug rehabilitation is cheaper ($48-$65 per day) than prison costs ($73-$94 per day,) and rehabilitation itself is shorter than mandatory prison sentencing. Yet, this government approves plans to build more prisons. Our social ills don't vanish overnight. Now we have the added burden of liberating Iraq and Afghanistan, without having liberated our own.

We know that Jefferson, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, other leaders, and the people of the colonies disliked taxes imposed upon these States by The British Monarchy in 1775. Aside from taxation, these colonies set their own regulations, specifically around the separation of church and state. Including "God" in our currency, and pledges was not in our founding.

George W Bush

The United States in 2003 is run by four men. President George W Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Attorney General John Ashcroft, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Bush operates his way. Bush is a dictator. He has absolved himself through Executive Order of responsibilities related to international war as Commander In Chief. He, as president, has closed access to government information that we and the media have the right to read and review. He, as president, has ended the right to question his policy, and he has given the world an ultimatum; if you do not support the White House, you support (by default) terrorism. After George Bush Sr. left the White House, the Bush family, Saudi Royals, and the bin Laden family created a petroleum consulting business together. It is Bush Jr.'s interest to continue the path of "peace" in the Middle East to serve his family and friends, at US-taxpayers expense and lives. Bush is no business leader, he bankrupt two companies before seeking governorship of Texas; however, he walked away with more than $1 million cash, while investors lost millions.

Richard Cheney

Cheney places special interests, corporate interests, ahead of all his decisions. He did so as far back as the Nixon administration. Cheney was keen on taking Afghanistan prior to 9-11 as his former company Halliburton Corp., lost bid to Enron to build a pipeline from the Caspian Basin via Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. In the two years following 9-11, Cheney has seen fit to close down former rival Enron, and build the pipeline across Afghanistan and Pakistan. Built mostly by Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown and Root, and the US military, the pipeline nears full capacity, although oil has been pumping across Afghanistan since the US-invasion completed in November 2001.

John Ashcroft

Ashcroft, who owns a powerful role to uphold the practice of law, is a religious zealot. He says we are a "Christian" nation founded by Christians. Jefferson was not a Christian, and Franklin played with many religious ideologies, no one knows exactly what he believed at the end. Our founding fathers decided upon freedom of religious practice, without making one religion that of the States. Ashcroft dictates the Patriot Act, a bill which allows private search and arrest, without court issued warrants; phone tapping, and personal surveillance without cause.

Donald Rumsfeld

Rumsfeld owns the claim that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction. This claim can no longer be verified, despite White House "conclusive evidence" of weapons. Six months after the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, weapons do not exist, despite exact locations and satellite surveillance (pre-invasion.) Shall weapons appear at any future time, this coincidence alone, only further confirms the corruption of this US government to act not only as leaders of what was once a great nation, but as leaders of world they have made no longer free of oligarchy. Rumsfeld is responsible for civilian and military casualties for a fraudulent war that has nothing to do with weapons in Iraq, but instead ensured Iraq would cease trading petroleum shares in EUROs. Iraq again uses the petro-dollar.

Colin Powell

Secretary of State Colin Powell, and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice are token White House appointees, whom can not be trusted. Powell announced in July 2002 that he would not serve a second term for the Bush Administration. One year later, he claims he never held the press conference. In February 2003, Powell presented images of Iraq to the United Nations that were not captured as the dates indicated.

Condoleeza Rice

Rice hides behind a Stanford University doctoral degree as an academic. However, her special interest remains tied to ChevronTexaco, and the petroleum industry, as she (and Cheney) hold the geological blueprints for future drilling in the Caspian Basin.

We The People; the masses of whom our founding fathers fought for, are an abomination to our Declaration of Independence if we do not fight. Our young know Jennifer Lopez, they do not know the names of their elected officials. They beg for video games, while our elderly beg for lower drug-care costs. This government reacts not by lowering health-care costs, but by absolving Eli Lilly of legal responsibility to create ineffective drugs.

We do not question the White House, we do not question why our telecommunication, or e-mails, can be read by those we do not intend.

We have a tax system that not only allows a fraction of the population to escape, but it is a system without check or balance. We The People unanimously desire a flat percentage tax that ends loopholes. Our government does not, for it makes them accountable to us.

Within our current political system we have a debt of $7 trillion (1 September '03), which is $24,000 for each man, woman, and child, and it grows at $1.69 billion per day. This debt excludes benefits to you and me. We have no guaranteed health care. Our education system funds are cut to afford roadwork repair on city streets. Our Social Security system requires a $10.5 trillion massage. While it is too late to walk away from Iraq and Afghanistan, we now owe the people of those countries restored liberty, and have yet to propose a plan, or understand the final cost (the latest estimate is $30 billion excluding military spending.)

None of these issues is new. None of these issues has failed resolution by think tanks, by educators, by economic strategists, or by the communities in which we all belong. We discuss these issues at work, and with our families, but we do not act. This government depends upon our ignorance.

We, The People, must prevail in recall of this White House administration, of Congress, of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives.

We, The People, must immediately accept the interest of each other, and of this nation to declare an end to fascism, special interests, and international invasions using this US military without unanimous United Nations support.

We, The People, must unite against this current government -- we own the right to its leadership and policies. Simply by race, or ethnic practice, we are diverse in beliefs and must proudly accept these rights of difference and diversity through a government leadership reflective of these rights.

We, The People of the United States of America, have little time to restore the faith the world once offered us.

You can agree or disagree; you can act or ignore, but you, as the individual, support this White House administration with silence. Bush lost his election by 540,300 votes, and still took the White House. Did you ever think for a moment, that a man who believed in a democracy would have fought so vociferously for an office the majority chose not for him? It was "imperative" that Bush votes in Florida outnumber those cast for Al Gore.

The democratic legacy We, The People, choose today will alter the course of politics for a century to come.

We either win, or we deserve a democracy defined and misled by George W Bush.

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