opinion on the war

Bush's War on Jesus Christ
"How terrible for you! You sail the seas and cross whole countries to
win one convert and when you succeed, you make him twice as deserving of
going to hell as you yourselves are." Jesus Christ, Son of Man, Son of God,
Son of David.
(following is a view on the war in Iraq...)

George Bush II fed the American public the most atrocious of lies
when, during a presidential debate with Al Gore back in 2000, he indicated
that Jesus Christ was his favorite philosopher. Quite the contrary as the
world now knows. Bush's vengeful persona and his penchant for the spectacle
in public office have been in contradistinction to all the teachings and
actions of the Son of Man. Were Christ to replay the last minutes of his
life on the Cross in 2003 say, for example, on Capitol Hill, there's no
doubt that George Bush II would be the first to take a lance and plunge it
into Christ's body just as the Roman soldier did so long ago atop Golgotha.
Viewed from the enlightened teachings of Christ and his many sacrifices,
Bush II is a pitiful human being, a paper tiger leader, a sad figure, one
that has sold his soul to devilish handlers for earthly gain.

"Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled
up," according to Christ, via Saint Matthew, commenting on the Pharisees and
their progeny, that being Bush and the NeoCons who lay claim to world
leadership and the heavenly divine. "Do not worry about them!" said Jesus,
"They are blind leaders, and when one blind man leads another one, they both
fall into a ditch...It is much harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of
God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle...The Kingdom of God
will be taken away from you and be given to a people who will produce the
proper fruits..." There is hope after all.

False Profiteer

The Gospel according to Saint Matthew is a beautiful piece of work
documenting the fascinating observations and actions of Jesus Christ. In
this short, inspiring work, the entire philosophy of the Son of David is set
forth for all to read and act upon if they are up to the challenge. It is a
philosophy of simplicity, honesty and forgiveness that requires those who
follow it to sacrifice self and material desires for the sake of the
universal common good.

This is the path that George Bush II and his militant-Christian
Republican disciples claim to be following by daily invoking Christ's name
and actions. For example, in the name of Christ and all he represents, Bush
invaded Iraq. Bush sought divine guidance from the Son of Man in that
action - as he does in every other - and claimed to be enlightened by him in
his decision to go forth and conquer. One would think that such a devotee of
Christ's teachings would have placed the highest priority on protecting the
Iraqi National Museum that contained information on Christ's lineage and the
history of his times. As history has recorded, though, it was the Iraqi Oil
Ministry that was heavily defended by Bush's legions, not the Iraqi National
Museum that also housed a unique portion of the history of Muslim and
Christian alike. That action speaks volumes about Bush's opportunistic
dedication to Jesus Christ. Bush gladly sacrificed a warehouse full of
insights into humanity and it's relationship with divinity to an unruly mob.
Yet, a worthless building containing oil and gas extraction contracts
between American firms and the government of Iraq was heavily defended by US
troops.

To a degree unfathomable in American history, Bush - whom the media
continue to claim is a devout Christian - presides over record setting
unemployment and has applied the wrecking ball to social programs across the
board in the United States. We the People are suffering. According to the
Catholic Campaign . "Nearly 33 million Americans have fallen into poverty v
more people than a year ago, the highest number in years. What does it mean
to the life of our nation to have so many people lost in a shadowy state of
uncertainty and need?

It means, as Marx once said, each according to his own needs. In the
Christian society Bush envisions, you are on your own. Pray hard. Work hard.
Trust in Wall Street and corporate volunteerism. Trust the Pentagon. Pray
you don't get laid off or sick. And what are American's suppose to do about
this state of affairs. Well, pray, of course.

"On this National Day of Prayer, I encourage Americans to remember the
words of St. Paul: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by
prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." The
Congress, by Public Law 100-307, as amended, has called on our citizens to
reaffirm the role of prayer in our society...by recognizing annually a
"National Day of Prayer. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2, 2002,
as a National Day of Prayer. I ask Americans to pray for God's protection,
to express gratitude for our blessings, and to seek moral and spiritual
renewal. I urge all our citizens to join in observing this day with
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities."

Of course, Christ wasn't all that thrilled about those who have a
religious chip on their shoulders or promoted such pompous affairs saying,
"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. They love to stand up and
pray in the synagogues and on the street corners o that everyone will see
them...When you pray, go to the room and close the door...Don't use a lot of
meaningless words."

Eliminate a Federal Program for Christ

Meanwhile, up to $1 trillion dollars will be spent by US taxpayers to
rebuild Iraq and make it a Bush Garden of Eden in the turbulent
Middle-East/Persian Gulf region. Christ might applaud that. But what would
he think about Bush's USA. Here in the States, American's are getting the
Pontius Pilate treatment from Bush. Congressman Rahm Emanuel recently
introduced the American Parity Act. Emanuel pointed out that over the last
two years, 2.5 millions more Americans lost jobs, 5 million have no health
care, and 2 million moved from the middle class into poverty. Bush plans to
provide 13 million people in Iraq with health care, build one hospital in
every city and provide maternity care for 100 percent of the population.
Back in the USA, 42 million uninsured working Americans get nothing. The
Iraqi's will receive books and supplies for 12,500 schools and will have
25,000 schools rebuilt or renovated. Back in the USA, 28,000 children will
be eliminated from Head Start, no funds are allotted for school
modernization, teacher quality programs are cut 10 percent, and 40
educational initiatives will be eliminated. Children, whether Iraqi or
American, don't seem to mean too much to Bush.

"Remember, Jesus said, unless you change and become like children, you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The greatest in the Kingdom of
Heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like a child. If anyone
should cause one of these little ones to turn away from his faith in me, it
would be better for that man to have a large millstone tied around his neck
and be drowned in the deep sea."

And it gets even better.

The Center for Defense Information reports that close to $3 trillion
will be spent on Empire building, in other words, defense spending, over the
next six years. Discretionary spending for defense will be close to $400
billion in fiscal year 2004. Education, Health and Housing for Americans are
a paltry $55, $49 and $34 billion respectively. Under Bush's watch, CEO's in
the military industrial complex have compensation packages that far exceed
their civilian counterparts - their warfighting counterparts. The soldier on
the battlefield makes 577 times less than a defense contractor CEO who is
paid to network at board meetings, lobby foreign and domestic governments,
and attend social events and weapons exhibitions to sell more deadly
products to friend and foe alike. These same defense contractors, like most
corporations, refer to people as Human Capital and view them as little more
than machine parts in the production process. Marx had a word or two about
that too.

In Christ's name, social security, medicare, school lunch programs,
veteran's benefits and pensions are all headed for the guillotine. Young and
old will be sacrificed on the altar of caprice. Meanwhile, Bush is
campaigning for a trillion dollars worth of tax cuts that will benefit the
richest, is attempting to outlaw overtime hours and pay for American
workers, and destroy the collective bargaining process in America. Bill
Grieder v deftly outlines Bush's agenda on these matters.

"The movement's grand ambition--one can no longer say grandiose--is to
roll back the twentieth century, quite literally. That is, defenestrate the
federal government and reduce its scale and powers to a level well below
what it was before the New Deal's centralization. With that accomplished,
movement conservatives envision a restored society in which the prevailing
values and power relationships resemble the America that existed around
1900, when William McKinley was President. Governing authority and resources
are dispersed from Washington, returned to local levels and also to
individuals and private institutions, most notably corporations and
religious organizations. The primacy of private property rights is
re-established over the shared public priorities expressed in government
regulation. Above all, private wealth - both enterprises and individuals
with higher incomes - are permanently insulated from the progressive claims
of the graduated income tax."

Is it any wonder, then, that Bush and the NeoCons are quietly pushing
Christ through federal regulations like the Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 which allows religious organizations,
with the help of the federal government, to ignore local land use controls?

In the end, it's clear that Bush is no follower of Jesus Christ and
neither are the militant Christians in the USA. These American Pharisees
cite Christ's teachings and actions to perform insufferable acts, but
millions the world over see right through them. They even claim to have an
open channel to Christ's father, God. Their actions are evidence enough that
Christ and his father are just another prop in the staged affair that is the
Bush presidency and the Right Revolution. As the Son of David once said
about people like Bush, Cheney and the like, "You are like whitewashed tombs
which look fine on the outside but are full of dead men's bones and rotten
stuff on the inside. In the same way, on the outside you appear to everybody
as good but inside you are full of hypocrisy and sins."

No. Bush is not the antichrist and does not even rise to the level of
false prophet. He's a con artist among many and knows a good scam when he
sees one. Even so, Jesus will forgive Bush and the rest of them. After all,
Bush and his minions know not what they do.

John Stanton