Bushthink guts Gulf Coast

For much of George Bush's term, the administration's end game has been hidden. Their intentions are usually covered up in the white snow of euphemism, a slogan here, a slogan there. A government sponsored advertisement or paid columnist shills for a shaky bill. The terrorists threaten no child left behind healthy forests clear skies your operation Iraqi wanna nuke ya freedom security life choosers. A pile of smart sounding words masks impossibly stupid designs.

Now, a series of head-shaking decisions reveals the true pattern of Bushthink. First, Bush removed minimum wage restrictions on government contractors working to rebuild the Gulf Coast. Then, the Department Of Homeland Security lifted sanctions on employers who hire undocumented workers, which green lights the hiring of people who can't prove their citizenship. Brilliant.

This comes at a time when the administration has not only doled out a series of no bid contracts to the standard set of Bush cronies, but has pledged not to raise taxes in relation to relief efforts. All pork will stand. Spending must be cut. Taxes must be further cut. Big business will be served.

Consider, if you will, how you might approach the problem of revitalizing a key economic and cultural asset of the United States. Consider the destroyed economy and spirit of the region. Would you perhaps consider using public funds to create jobs? Perhaps require that reconstruction contracts be given to local contractors where possible? Perhaps move to temporarily fund local governments instead of letting them fall?

The answer, if you are a Bush let-them-eat-cake conservative, to empower your favorite corporations to make their no-bid contracts even richer by eliminating wage restrictions. But then, if you are George W. Bush, you must take a step further. You must make it even harder for hurricane-struck Americans to make a living wage by making it legal for reconstruction contractors to hire undocumented foreign workers, workers who may be even more desperate than our American neighbors in Louisiana. This set of moves effectively guts the economic corpse of the region. It will serve to create and minimally nourish an impoverished class of illegal workers and poor Americans for the profit of a few corporations.

It is a despicable act of man so ethically challenged, so flagrantly incompetent, so lacking in common sense and consideration for the health and well being of the citizens he pretends to lead, that he must be enshrined. Is it legal to bronze an acting President as a monument to stupidity? I really want to know. It would make a helluva rider on some porkfest. Perhaps we could call it the Help America Think act.