Western Oregon Journal

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Shortly following the presidential election last year, I was disappointed, but I was comforted with the thought that it couldn't possibly get worse. I could not have been more wrong.

In the news recently, Cindy Sheehan, a mother of a soldier who was killed in Iraq, has been arrested. She was arrested, among others, for failing to move along while protesting the war in front of the White House.

This sickens me for two reasons: One, our freedom of assembly and our right to visibly protest an unjust war is being infringed upon, and two, if the President would have simply met with this grieving woman, recent events would have been prevented.

I don't understand why Bush has refused to meet with someone who has lost so much at the hands of his ignorance and his blatant disregard for human frailty. I fail to see a man who wears a flight suit while declaring "Mission Accomplished" or a man who taunts the enemy by telling them to "bring it on" has still not attended a single funeral out of the 1,935 soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq.

Of course, Bush has failed us in other areas such as, economic expansion, emergency response, health care costs, the environment-I could go on. Our economy is in shambles, unemployment is rampant and gas prices seem to increase on a daily basis. Bush's appointees failed our nation but more importantly the victims of Hurricane Katrina. People blame the lack of communication and coordination between the state and local governments of Louisiana, but the slow response by the federal government speaks volumes to this administration's readiness to help Americans in crisis situations. How can we feel safe in the face of terrorist strikes when our government breaks down in the aftermath of a natural disaster?

Now our government is spending billions of dollars to rebuild New Orleans and other ravaged areas on the Gulf Coast. We're spending billions of dollars to rebuild a country whose greatest claim to fame thus far, has been a couple of swimmers competing in the Olympic Games. Students such as I sink deeper into debt with the ever increasing costs of tuition. But the President continues to stand by his tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans all under the guise of creating an economic stimulus that has failed to appear in five years. How long must we wait? Fortunately for us, he only has three more years!

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