Shhhh! President Bush Wants Us to Believe You Don’t Exist

Posted by Mary Mancini on April 24, 2007 under Uncategorized |

Yesterday, Sgt. Jim Wilt, who works in the public affairs office at the Bagram military base, wrote, “I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member.”

He went on to note that “Bagram obeyed President Bush’s order last week that all U.S. flags at federal locations be flown at half-staff through April 22 to honor 32 people killed at Virginia Tech” but thinks “it’s sad that we do not raise the bases’ flag to half-staff when a member of our own task force dies.”

It is sad but the Bush administration wants us to shop instead of honor our fallen soldiers. See, if we don’t know you’re dying, we too can pretend that progress is being made.

George W. Bush, January 2006: “There’s progress. And it’s important progress and it’s an important part of our strategy to win in Iraq.”
George W. Bush, November 2005: “Iraq is making incredible political progress.”
George W. Bush, October 2005: “Iraqis are making inspiring progress.”
George W. Bush, September 2005: “Iraq has made incredible political progress.”
George W. Bush, April 2005: “I believe we’re making good progress in Iraq.”
George W. Bush, March 2005: “We’re making progress.”
George W. Bush, September 2004: “We’re making steady progress.”
George W. Bush, July 2003: “We’re making progress. It’s slowly but surely making progress.”

But maybe our most famous American philosopher, Jon Stewart, is right: “Actually, y’know what I think the president’s problem is? Perhaps his definition of the word “progress.” I have the reference book he uses when he doesn’t know what a word means: Mistaken P. Wrongingston’s Diktionary of English. Let’s see…ah, here we are. ‘Progress: Chaos caused by one’s own incompetence that’s portrayed as the result of others’ malfeasance.’”