World traveler...

Happy Wednesday!

A bitch woke up with the same headache my ass went to bed with. Suffice it to say my mood is bitchy and only the promise of Smarties from a certain Jeremy in Montreal has this bitch looking forward to the rest of this week.

Let’s just jump right in, shall we?

World Traveler…
Although it seems that Scooter isn’t concerned with his historical legacy, his wife appears to be addressing her lack of a legacy in his second term. For the first four years of the Bush presidency this bitch saw Laura Bush as rather passive…sort of a Nancy Reagan first lady who often gazed at her husband as if he were the risen Christ. After the leadership meltdown that was 2005, Laura emerged in yet another traditional role…defender of her man. She was out there preaching the good word, which usually amounted to a refried version of ‘believe what we say and not what you see’.

Recently, Laura has gone forth into the world with some clear objectives. She is clearly committed to supporting Bush policies in Africa and the Middle East and is targeting her rhetoric to women. My blogfather, Brother Rob Thurman has posted on this. Then a bitch read this shit and…well…this bitch has to add my two cents.

"I think that what happened to me really happened also to the other people in the United States," Mrs. Bush said, reflecting on her plane during a four-day swing through West Africa, a trip that ends on Wednesday.
"After Sept. 11, when we all looked at Afghanistan and saw the oppression of women there, it awakened a lot of people to the plight of women around the world," she said. Source-Assocaited Press

But Afghanistan was in the news prior to September 11…the plight of women throughout the world has been news prior to September 11. Statements like this are distressing…they tell the world that Americans are blissfully unaware of suffering (which isn’t true of all of us) and they make it seem like suffering doesn’t take place here (which is bullshit). More importantly, they shine a harsh light on a segment of the American population that is disconnected from reality...our American reality and a global reality. Who is this woman? How can she have lived through 5 decades and not wondered, not questioned and not been moved by the difference between her life and the lives of so many other women?

"The question we must answer now is, how do we nurture the development of the next generation of women leaders in Africa?'" Mrs. Bush said in prepared remarks Wednesday. "The answer begins with education." Source - The Associated Press

Taking a message of equality out into the world is one thing, but the goal expressed by Laura Bush is to educate communities about how to change that shit. The exporting of our policy is what concerns me.

How much success have these policies had here in America where, and this may come as a surprise to Laura, there are women living in states of oppression and inequality. As she tours Africa, how many people hear her rhetoric and contrast it to the images of New Orleans post Katrina…the growing numbers of working poor here in America…the lack of access to health care faced by so many families…the rise in HIV and STD infections among women of color…the 50% divorce rate…the domestic violence...the child neglect...the totally fucked up contrast between America the brand and the actual product.

The problem with touting American success is that the brand message does not jive with the product...and the product warnings are now being sent out on-line and via satellite. Laura is saying to these women that there is a better way…just try this shampoo and your hair will be glorious. But this isn’t the better mouse trap…we are not ready to go to market yet. Laura doesn’t know that, because she has been living with her head shoved up her husband’s ass. A bitch does not absolve Laura of her ignorance…she is an educated woman who has not been living in a cave for the last 50 years. Her lack of examination, personal reflection and her willingness to embrace the party line are disturbing…the fact that she is trying to sell this pile of shit abroad is dangerous.

So called third world living conditions exist here and are not being addressed by her husband's administration, state or local governments. In many cases they have been exasperated by Bushonomics and his fucked up social policies. A simple trip to Appalachia, the inner city or rural communities in any state will expose you to a side of America that most people don’t want to be confronted with. Our little mess…our nuclear waste, so to speak. And activists have been confronting Americans with it for years…before September 11…before the war…before Laura woke up to the plight of women throughout the world and decided to change it by pimping our better mouse trap...our fantastical American dream.

Education is a wonderful thing, Laura.

Enlightenment on this topic can be found a few blocks from the White House.