The View from the Meadow

Observations of the Passing Scene

Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre

The Regime vs. the People

The costs of prescription medicines for old people on fixed incomes are driving them into the poor house. And the Bush Administration is backing legislation that makes it illegal to buy drugs in Canada.

Apparently, the Canadian government has recognized the problem and has done something about it for its people. They now purchase large volumes of drugs from American companies at discount prices and then distribute them through the nation’s pharmacies. Evidently, the prices are 30% to 70% lower than the cost of the same brand drugs in the US.

The drug companies want Americans to fund the costs for developing these drugs by paying outrageous prices while other countries get them cheap. Even some very wealthy countries get them at much lower cost than we do in the US.

The elderly are fuming and the country is increasingly aware of the issue, which is bringing pressure on the current administration. Even though the drug companies are big business and therefore friends of The Regime, this issue may be so huge by November election time that Bush and Co. may be forced to acquiesce and pass legislation sometime this summer. Even Trent Lott, a supporter of the status quo, has listened to his mother and changed his vote on the issue.

This is not the only problem facing Bush these days.

The sick and elderly are also apparently up in arms over the shortcomings of the Medicare Bill, which is supposed to provide access to low-cost prescription drugs. Bush made this a major plank in his re-election platform, but it appears to be made of balsa wood. It’s lookin’ pretty weak.

The bill requires Medicare patients to choose an HMO in order to get the prescription benefits. This means they have to give up Medicare and sign with an HMO, which opponents are claiming benefits the insurance and drug industries, not the people. This is basically another Regime lie, intended to pull one over on the public while fattening the coffers of the insurance industry.

This is happening at a time when almost everything coming out of the White House is a lie! And the government had the audacity to arrest and convict a celebrity, Martha Stewart, for a relatively miniscule crime: lying to the government.

And, if any one of those government investigators were really looking to make a name for themselves, you’d think they’d go after The Regime. It wouldn’t take much snooping around the White House to come up with the goods, including insider trading, on every one of those people. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Ex-Enron executives are overrunning the White House. Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, obviously one of the biggest corporate criminals in history, is not only not in prison, he is apparently wielding massive influence in the Oval Office. His critics claim Lay actually wrote the proposed Energy Bill and the administration’s environmental policies.

The Regime’s agenda also apparently includes the overthrow of every environmental policy ever passed, in the manic effort to lower operating costs and increase profits for big business --- especially the petroleum and energy industries. This is occurring at a time when the world’s scientists are warning of disastrous consequences related to global warming and developing countries, including China, are contributing to the pollution problems in gargantuan ways.

The Regime’s working relationship with Big Business is notorious. Allegations of cronyism continue to abound, especially in relation to the huge open-ended contracts the government awarded to Dick Cheny’s former company, Haliburton. The no-bid contracts were awarded to Haliburton in spite of laws requiring all such contracts to be submitted to open bid. Cheny has also refused to give up his holdings in the company. This is yet another outrageous act of arrogance on the part of The Regime and an obvious conflict of interests.

The Bush administration has learned of the power of AUDACITY! They know how to use the bully pulpit, the constant focus of media attention and the technique of the Big Lie: if you say something often enough and loud enough you can convince the people of almost anything. They have grown drunk with power and arrogantly dismiss criticism and even conflicting evidence in order to implement their agenda. They have become the masters of spin control.

This Regime is an outrageous combination of stupidity and arrogance --- their ability to make sound judgments is under intense criticism and they still have the arrogance to defend their tenuous positions by attacking the accusers, most of whom are quite authoritative and highly credible.

It’s a shame when the Republicans have to resort to dirty tricks this early in the campaign, but they’re obviously desperate, although this strategy isn’t exactly unknown in the party. They invented the concept of dirty tricks back in the Nixon era, and Karl Rove wrote the book on it. Rove actually gives lectures on dirty tricks to political science classes. They’re desperate. Bush’s re-election is in trouble on many fronts. This is going to be a dirty campaign.

The Iraq War continues to be a major problem for the Bush people. Not one of the excuses used to take this country to war in Iraq proved to be true. The feeble attempts to discredit critics are looking increasingly desperate and the American people are getting used to this sort of continuous propaganda effort.

Bush’s international relations are a total disaster. The man squandered the goodwill the world felt toward Americans after 9-11 and has turned much of the world, including our closest allies, against us. The ill-advised plan to use 9-11 as an excuse to go to war in Iraq was worse than just plain stupid --- it was the largest symptom of The Regime’s almost manic plan to attack Iraq, which was formulated long before Bush even took office.

IRAQ CAUALTIES

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We Need a Regime Change --- in Washington