MoveOn Bulletin > DOMESTIC ISSUES OBSCURED BY THE CONSTANT TALK OF WAR > If you beat the war drum loudly enough, can you drown out discussion of all > other domestic issues? It certainly seems like the Bush administration is > trying. The rush to war is dominating the US agenda, drawing attention away > from a whole host of pressing problems. While Iraq remains the focus of the > nightly news, congressional discussion, and the campaign trail, other > issues naturally fade into the background. And this is the most helpful > place for them to remain if President Bush wants to maintain his approval > rating. Whether or not the Iraq war is a case of "wag the dog," it is > certainly diverting attention from policies that might otherwise be > threatening the current administration's very existence. The ailing economy > is perhaps the biggest and most obvious problem facing the US at the > moment. The stock market is doing poorly. The deficit is growing. Millions > of people have lost their jobs. The Bush administration's budgeting > demonstrates a policy of going after social spending, especially to finance > expensive war efforts. The problems with the economy seem to have a very > close relationship with Bush's tax cuts, and with the ever growing costs of > Bush's war policies. Several other major issues have also been pushed off > the front page (but just barely). Details of energy and corporate scandals > continue to surface, but the coverage of Iraq has muted the stories. > Environmental issues are treated as inconsequential, despite the fact that > by many accounts, the US is speeding up the probability of climactic > disaster by killing the Kyoto Protocol and instituting oil-friendly > policies at home. Trade problems have driven up the price of steel and > lumber domestically, and could possibly spark punishing trade wars with > powerful entities such as the European Union. These issues can't be > sidelined forever. Pollution doesn't fix itself; poverty and illness won't > just go away. So while President Bush prosecutes a war on Iraq in the name > of national security, our security is silently slipping away. > A CLASSIC CASE OF MISDIRECTION > > The Email Activist provides an excellent statement on the current > situation: "The Bush administration’s domestic policy has been an utter > failure for everyone except the wealthy. The gap between the rich and poor > continues to grow. The budget surplus that prompted last year’s raid on the > Treasury turned out to be an accounting fiction. Rampant corporate > corruption on an unregulated Wall Street has wiped out the life savings and > retirement portfolios of countless citizens and has eliminated thousands of > jobs. And since September 11, our constitutional rights have been vanishing > faster than al-Qaeda operatives . . . So why has all this bad news pretty > much disappeared from the national radar screen? The answer is Iraq. The > Bush team is successfully manipulating the media (and the Congress) into > shifting all attention away from its shameful failures by announcing its > intention to take out Saddam Hussein. It’s a classic case of misdirection. > Like a pickpocket, the Bush administration is stealing your wallet with one > hand while distracting you with the other one." > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~