After We Put Away the Flags…



Now, that we’ve eaten all the hot dogs and burgers we can stand…Now, that the parades are over….Now, that the parties have wrapped up, the grandparents feasted, the volley ball games won or lost, the picnic baskets returned to the garage for another year, the speeches applauded, and all the rest, we can sit back and objectively consider what really happened this Fourth of July.



Was democracy furthered? Have our freedoms been strengthened? Are we any closer to World Peace? An end to Global Warming? Cheaper food and fuel? This is what really counts and now that the holiday is over, it may be an appropriate time to see how far we’ve come…



From where I stand, it doesn’t seem that we’ve come very far at all….



In other words, if you take away all of the hype and glitz, it does not seem that we are one step closer to any of our goals after remembering our Founding Fathers, their sacrifices and the contributions of all of our Armed Services over 200 years….



That may be for you, as it is for me, quite a sobering thought.



In fact, if anything, what we’ve seen over the last several weeks tells a much different story.



To sum up briefly, Congress gave the telecommunications company a pass despite the fact that they violated our Constitution. And Bush’s use of the FISA court allowed to stand despite the fact privacy continues to be invaded without the permission of the courts….



Executive privilege seems to be invoked now more than ever…



NAFTA still stands….



Fast Track is still in force….



The economy if anything got worse…



The head of the Stock Exchange was allowed to keep his excessive salary despite the fact that the salary he earned raises more questions than it ever answered; and that the violations continued under his leadership sending out the worst possible signal to investors….



The mortgage companies, rather than the people got bailed out despite their deceptive practices and manipulations……



Global Warming, despite Bush’s presence at the G8 Summit, will stay the same and I predict it will not get any better until he is gone…



And, still after the Fourth, “water boarding” is still not construed as torture by our standing White House “Inquisitors” and the Attorney General of the land….



The war in Iraq is still ongoing and the candidate for the third term of Bush is still convinced that it’s safe to revisit the streets of Baghdad in all your finery without the battalions of troops, armor and a few Black Hawks over your head….



Gasoline consumption has not changed and we still guzzle the stuff at more than 4.00 dollars a gallon as the Bush family calculates their percentage gains and laughs at how easily Americans are manipulated….



And the media is still covering the president’s backside with its irrelevant reporting…..



In other words, on Monday, July 7, 2008, it’s still business as usual in the land where honesty is seen as a weakness and commitment to change as a delusion.



The Armchair Curmudgeon



Les AaronThe Ubiquitous Flying Blue Blog