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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Gene GeRue wrote:
> On Apr 26, 2008, at 12:20 PM, EarthNSky wrote:
>
> > . . .  it just surprises me
> > that so many people seemingly naively believe this, like the president
> > has any real power to change anything, . . .
>
> That is a full stop for me. I once thought that. Then came Bush II. Do  
> you still believe the president does not have real power, especially  
> if his party controls the DC Whorehouse?

His power isn't really domestic.  I don't think being president is worth 
a damn to influence anything that matters to people on a day to day 
basis, things like education and health care.  For most folks, the only 
way a president influences their daily lives is when he flies into town 
and creates a huge traffic disruption.  The power that a president has 
is in perception, says I<g>, how he is perceived by other nations.  Is 
he a dunce like Bush, is he a liar like Clinton, or does he have his 
finger on the button like Reagan.  The only difference it makes if his 
party controls DC is that he will personally take credit for it in a 
re-election bid.  If the other party has controlling interest, then 
that is used as an excuse for why nothing changed.

This, unfortunately, is going to sound like I am defending Bush II, but 
I don't blame him personally for all the ills of our country or the war 
in Iraq.  IMO, when it comes right down to scary sounding executive 
orders, Clinton (Bill) ranks king.  And like James said earlier, we are 
in the middle east not because Bush is holding some familial grudge 
match, but because of the Bourse and oil. Bush is just the dumb ass, 
expendable fall guy for the cover-up. It would not matter who is in the 
Oval Office right now, it would not change anything.  If Gore were 
president, we would still be in Iraq and still be operating covertly in 
Syria, Iran, and every other country in the region in an effort to stamp 
out fundamentalism and secure our own oil-lust-driven future.  It most 
certainly would be an Inconvenient Truth.  The only difference would be 
the spin on it.  We would have heard a lot more about how Saddam Hussein 
committed environmental crimes against humanity by lighting all those 
oil well fires, by releasing all those toxins from his chemical warfare 
into the environment and by draining the swamps in southern Iraq to 
drive out the Shia(he destroyed an entire ecosystem and a culture that 
had been in existence for thousands of years).  The soldiers who died 
would be environmental martyrs.

Bev


--
BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm   NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W    Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky