WHEN I WANT TO UNDERSTAND

Sometimes I get silly and want to understand what is going on in the world. At times like this, I turn to the Internet and read sources that claim to be enlightening. An article on the Financial Meltdown looked promising. It was. It is not only informative, more importantly it is seriously depressing!

Next I caught an article that states: Pro-environment Evangelical Seminary Student Jonathan Merrit is rebuked by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, who says the Green movement promotes abortion and homosexuality. Jonathan Merrit writes lots of words but, essentially, says nothing. Perkins also unwittingly acknowledges that global warming is REAL but they (the religious right) don't want to stop it because it only delays "the Second Coming". Perkins says you should prepare to be Raptured, not "throw away the keys to your SUV and jump on the Al Gore bandwagon." That requires more blind faith which is about all religious people ask today. 'Follow the leader', 'have faith', 'don't question those who know more than you'; seems advice liberally thrown around but takes us in no forward direction. We all regress to childhood with that.

Shumer says that Bush is Herbert Hoover.

The unfortunate similarities in the statements and attitudes led Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to offer this observation on Fox News this morning:

The President is indeed behaving like Herbert Hoover. We’re in the most serious economic problem we’ve been in in a very long time — much worse than 2001. The President’s hands-off attitude is reminiscent of Herbert Hoover in 1929 and 1930.

Schumer added that "this has become “the Bush recession,” while Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) noted that "this will be the second recession in this administration".

In an editorial this morning, the New York Times fact-checks Bush’s economic speech:

Mr. Bush boasted about 52 consecutive months of job growth during his presidency. What matters is the magnitude of growth, not ticks on a calendar. The economic expansion under Mr. Bush -- which it is safe to assume is now over -- produced job growth of 4.2 percent. That is the worst performance over a business cycle since the government started keeping track in 1945. […]

Mr. Bush was wrong to say wages are rising. On Friday morning, the day he spoke, the government reported that wages failed to outpace inflation in February, for the fifth straight month. Productivity growth has also weakened markedly in the past two years, a harbinger of a lower overall standard of living for Americans.

Bush’s denial of economic truth means that “Americans are ill-prepared for hard times” ahead.

So what about us, 'the simple folk'? I for one want to pull out everything that points to the old signs that said, "It's the economy, stupid" When I hear people say, "There is so little time left for Bush, how much damage can he do?" I shudder and know that the answer is "Too much!" Should I help pull their heads out of the sand or place mine there with them? It seems that the choices are too few.