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May
3, 2003
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May
6, 2003
Operation American Pharisee
Bush's War on Jesus Christ
by JOHN STANTON
"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
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--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 so 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
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 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
is a Jesuit-educated Virginia-based writer specializing in national
security matters. Reach him at cioran123@yahoo.com
Yesterday's
Features
Saul Landau
The Cuba Conundrum
Neve
Gordon
US: No Right to Know About the Disappeared
John
Chuckman
Tom Friedman's Life as a Pet Hamster
Bradley
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Harvey
Wasserman
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John
Troyer
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Steve
Perry
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of the Day
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