Chris Broussard

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Did you hear the one about the economy that’s “turned a corner”? It’s a really bad joke that President Bush has been using sporadically the past few weeks. Mr. Bush seems to think that if he says something often enough, it will become true. Probably part of his annointed man of God schtick. Problem is, it doesn’t work. Weapons of Mass Destruction. Saddam Hussein behind 9/11. It’s the annoying facts that keep tripping the Bush administration up. The economy has made some miniscule gains, it’s true. At the same time, unfortunately for most of us, wages have fallen and the Bush Administration has decided to change the rules, denying overtime to 8 million Americans. Some new jobs have been created, but most of those jobs both pay less and require less education. Poverty is increasing at an unhealthy clip and bankruptcies are right behind. It makes me wonder if that corner we’ve turned doesn’t lead up a dark alley. According to the New York Times, since the last quarter of 2001,

Boy, it’s a good thing we have a president who won’t stoop to ill-advised (albeit sound bite rich) policy decisions just to win re-election. Oh, wait a minute. On August 16, during a campaign speech, President Bush announced election-year- worthy plans to recall between 60,000 and 70,000 troops from Europe, South Korea and Japan. The president said that the realignment would allow the military to "be more effective at projecting our strength and spreading freedom and peace" and save taxpayers money. This is a very bad idea. The plan, if enacted, would further strain already tenuous relationships with traditional American allies. Not to mention the fact that it runs completely counter to our strategic, economic and military interests. Currently, the U.S. is fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military has been forced on numerous occasions to extend deployments, recall retired reservists and rely on private military. Moving troops from Europe to the U.

In the 1980 election cycle, Ronald Reagan asked the now famous question, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” If you weren’t, the implication was that you should vote for him. I’d like to pose that question to voters today. Are you better off today than you were four years ago? A large number of conservatives vote Republican for one reason only: Abortion. Since President Bush has had a Republican congress, has significant progress been made in this arena? Not really. There have been, based on averages and estimates from the Center for Disease Control, 5.5 million abortions in the United States since Bush took office. To which my conservative readers will object, “that’s because we need a few more Supreme Court justices appointed by a Republican president!” But, here’s an interesting tidbit for you to chew on: Did you know that of the 7 Supreme Court justices who voted in favor of Roe v. Wade, 5 of them were appointed by Republican presidents? Of the 2 di