irony, sanctified

Bush's announcement of National Sanctity of Life Day is a good example of the bizarre absurdities that the Bush Administration seems to revel in. The basic premise is that the American public is comprised entirely of Sean Hannity (opportunity bulb! bwahaha) clones and 5-year old Young Republican junior members. . Mark Moforford, writing in the SF Gate, has sharpened his knives brilliantly:

Let us reiterate: It is National Sanctity of Life Day, as declared by ShrubCo, as applauded by the quivering masses of right-wing anti-choice exceptionally misguided Bush voters gathered to hear the little speech and for whom the Bush admin created the completely nonrecognized, nonfunded, token-bone day in the first place.

To make them feel vindicated, is why. To make them feel that, sure enough, the government should decide their personal, sexual and reproductive life-choices for them, and their daughters, and the nation, and poor women in foreign countries, because their God said so, all of them cheering and applauding and acting as if Ashcroft's very misogynistic homophobic anti-choice existence hasn't, all by itself, already sufficiently slashed at the very heart of divine self-realized feminine energy.

This is the Bush message. This is the smirky, self-righteous dogma. Life only has any sort of sanctity if you are, you know, unborn, as in fetal, and belonging to a nice blandly married Republican couple somewhere in Ohio or Colorado Springs, blindly supportive of both the multiple ongoing wars and the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the creation of the Homophobia Merit Badge for the Boy Scouts.

Fundamentalist, Type A, anyone? BY a staggering "coincidence" - it also happens to be the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.

Still think it's about sanctity? consider:

- the record 150+ executions carried out under then-Governor Bush's leadership. Despite widely-recorded severe flaws in the scientific method used by Texas prosecutors, Bush obtusely defended the system by claiming, "If you�re asking me whether or not as to the innocence or guilt or if people have had adequate access to the courts in Texas, I believe they have."

- Bush cut the funding for the United Nations Population Fund by $34 million. The money went to women's health services, preventing with education hundreds of thousands of unwanted pregnancies, induced abortions, maternal, infant and child deaths.

- Bush has severely cut federal support for stem cell research, meaning that sufferers of spinal
cord injuries, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or Multiple Sclerosis (to name just a few) have even longer to wait and less hope for a cure.

There is also the complete lack of any mention about the AIDS crisis in Africa, for which Bush seems to have completely overlooked in his quest for the sancity of life.

I'm not surprised. Disgusted, but not surprised.

UPDATE: it seems that the American public is also starting to agree. MyDD has a nice analysis of the latest poll results:

In the latest approval ratings for Bush, the Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates shows Bush with a 56% approval rating, and a 33% disapproval rating. In the latest CNN/Time Poll conducted by Harris Interactive, Bush scores a 53% approval rating, and a 41% disapproval rating.

For both polls, these are the highest disapproval ratings ever during Bush's reign in the White House. The lowest Bush approval rating for Harris and Newsweek was in May of 2000, 52% and 50% respectively-- Bush still has a majority of think ones to shake off, but more Americans than ever are disgusted with Bush.

not to mention this short, but direct comment left by one of his readers:

Bush has never had to earn his keep--either in college, business, or politics. 9/11 was a big slow softball that Bush hit well, and he's milked it for all it is worth. Americans are now realizing the poor economy and other Bush failures...you just don't lose two million jobs and no one notices. Americans are realizing that Bush has been given too much without earning it-- the presidency in a dispute, with fewer votes; high approval ratings for 1 1/2 years; and now control of Congress. Folks are saying: Now wait a minute--what has this guy really done for the economy and the health of our nation? For the middle class? ...