So What America?

Copied from At Length, in Random Lengths News, Written by James P. Allen  

http://www.randomlengthsnews.com/

I think that most of America who heard were offended by Vice President Dick Cheney when ABC reporter Martha Raddatz, on the Good Morning America show, asked how he could go against two-thirds of American opinion on the war in Iraq, and he responded, “So?” They were offended, I imagine, but probably not shocked. Cheney went on to explain, “I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in public opinion polls.”

Even the little old lady who was standing in line with me down at the San Pedro Post Office was fit to be tied when it came up in conversation. “Do you believe the arrogance of that so-in-so?” she blurted out excitedly. The only fluctuation I can see in American opinion has been the decreasing support for Bush and Cheney, recently as low as 21 percent and the steady increase in opposition to the war. Does the President’s approval rating have to drop below our sales tax rate for it to have any impact on him and Cheney?

“So what?” means he’s not going to change his mind about the war that he knows is right, even if he is wrong. “So What?” means that Bush is going to veto any bill that Congress passes that might interfere with “winning”– but just what are we supposed to be winning in Iraq?

The “So what?” is that the violence in Iraq continues to devolve into the same kind of senseless quagmire that has been the hallmark of this Bush administration since the beginning. Did any of you see the repeat of the PBS Frontline investigation that aired last week, where it was clearly stated that it was no ones intention to stay in Iraq for more than a year? The “So what?” is Bush, Cheney and all the Pentagon Brass didn’t have a plan for doing anything more than invade and get out, except that they never did because they didn’t think beyond “régime change” or was it “WMDs” or was it just the oil?

The death toll is now 4004 soldiers, plus over 1000 private contractors, plus more than 135,000 Iraqi citizens. The score isn’t inspiring. The “So What?” is that even our soldiers don’t believe in “mission accomplished” as they see their tours of duty extended and the fog of war creep into their orders to not take action.

I am actually amazed at how complacent or patient this country has been over the last five years while this country has been boondoggled, ripped off and lied to repeatedly about the war(s), Katrina, Enron, the economy, as well as the high price of oil. Isn’t it about time somebody stood up to these bastards and said. “This much and no more!”

I can feel something welling up like the wind off the ocean about to blow the smog out to Riverside, but it is going to take more than a slight breeze to clear the smell out in DC. I would like to think of it as a time for political revolution but more likely it’ll simply be a time of revulsion!

So What To Do?

You will have two opportunities in the next few weeks to express some rage at the machine. First is the three-day march from Hollywood to the Docks from April 15 to 17 when the County Federation of Labor will bring together the Hollywood and the waterfront unions, with over two dozen others in between, in a joint demonstration of solidarity. Their press release announces–“As gas prices continue to sky rocket, the prices of groceries continue to increase and families are running a greater risk of losing their homes to foreclosure, workers in Los Angeles are taking a stand. Many from various industries including janitors, actors, longshore workers, port drivers and college professors will [participate in] a three day march that will take them from Hollywood, where actors represented by Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) face a joint contract negotiation, to the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, where Longshore workers represented by the International Longshore Warehouse Union (ILWU) face contract negotiations in July.”

The second is the May 1, international workers day, ILWU work stoppage on the waterfront, which is billed as a “stop-work” meeting, will bring a full stop to all the West Coast harbors in support of stopping the war in Iraq. Nearly one hundred Longshore Caucus delegates voted on February 8 to support a resolution calling for an eight-hour "stop-work" meeting during the day-shift at all West Coast ports to protest the war by calling for the immediate, safe return of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Numerous local groups and citizens are lobbying Janice Hahn at the Council 15 office to pass a motion in support of the City of LA taking a furlough day, closing the city, in solidarity with the workers in protest of the war as well. During these same working hours local businesses who regularly post their “We support the ILWU” are being urged to actually show that solidarity by closing for eight hours too. You can lend your voices of dissent to this rising tide of revulsion by calling the Council Office at 310-732-4515 asking Council Woman Hahn to answer Cheney’s “So What” remark with This is What Dick!