This Location has been Relocated.

Sounds like something President Idiot would say, doesn't it? It was on a sign of a bank branch that I saw yesterday, but it made me think of the Idiot in the White House, too. As I listened to his speech and he stumbled over several words, made several grammar errors, I marveled all over again that this man was elected leader of the free world. (Well, he was duly elected the second time around. The first time he was installed in the White House was a mockery of the democratic election process. But I digress.)

I listen to his speeches because I can't bear to look at him. At least hearing his disembodied voice is not as bad as watching him. WhiteHouse.Gov has the audio stream, and what they claim is the text of the speech here, but the text does not match the spoken word at all. I wonder what that's all about.

After watching the CNN special I saw the other day about Islam, I understand a bit better why Iraqis aren't happy that we're there. Hell, I'M not happy that we're there. I think the soldiers need to come home.

But here's a bit of a quote from the speech, with commentary from me in parenthesis:

"Failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States. The consequences of failure are clear. Radical Islamic extremists would grow in strength and gain new recruits. (he stumbles two or three times over the word grow, but let's do ignore that for a second.) They would be in a better position to topple moderate governments, create chaos in the region, and use oil revenues to fund their ambitions. Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. (He STILL mispronounces nuclear! Mrgh!) Our enemies would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the American people. On September the 11th, 2001, we saw what a refuge for extremists on the other side of the world could bring to the streets of our own cities. For the safety of our people, America MUST succeed in Iraq.

It is the same, tired, old Republican wheeze about 'defeat them over there or we'll have to defeat them here.' Which, for the record, I don't really believe. I do not believe that we haven't had another attack on 'American soil' (Blessed Mother, how I hate that phrase) because we're fighting wars in two countries. I believe they haven't hit American interests here or abroad again because they're biding their time and trying to brew up something more terrible than September 11th was. I do most emphatically not think that we are safer today than we were on September 10, 2001. After all, what has changed?

The Terror Alert System? Please. More like a hysteria-inducing way of making it look like you're doing something. The Department of Homeland Security? Urgh. Department of the Fatherland, anyone? We needed another large governmental institution? Riiight. Why haven't they found Osama? It is like playing a worldwide game of "Where's Waldo?" The United States has the best technology in the world; why can't they find him? They record *my* telephone conversations with my family overseas and analyze them for terrorist activity. Terrorist activity coming from Sweden. As if. Sweden has been a neutral country for a long, long, long time. We talk about family and work and how much we miss one another. There's ALLL kinds of incriminating information being passed along there. But they can't find one man and his entourage of attendants in the hills in Pakistan.

And let's not talk about how many young soldiers, the average age of which is about 19, have died needlessly. W gets in to that a bit near the end of his speech, urging the people of America to support the troops; I do. I support the young men and women who are serving their country. I don't support the war. There is a very clear difference.

There's just one more thing. The final paragraph of the speech leaves me scratching my head over what the hell he means. Read it for your self, and see if it makes any better sense to you.

...yet times of testing reveal the character of a nation. And throughout our history, Americans have always defied the pessimists and seen our faith in freedom redeemed. Now America is engaged in a new struggle, that will set the course for a new century. We can, and we will prevail. We go forward with trust that the author of liberty will guide us through these trying hours. Thank you, and good night.

I'm not sure what he means at all about 'the author of liberty'. Liberty is NOT a uniquely American concept. I know that; I'm sure you do too. I'm not confident HE knows that. Is he, in some oblique way, referencing God? Or does he mean a particular writer? He's good at obfuscatory, anyway.

I'll leave the annoying grammar mistakes alone; we all know that he can't speak English well. I've resigned myself to the fact that he just sounds like a moron every time he opens his mouth. You'd think there would be an Office of Official Grammar to make sure that he manages to at least sound like English is his first language.