May First, the traditional day for honoring workers,
Bush flew to an aircraft carrier thirty miles offshore from San Diego to
thank the troops for their conduct in his war on Iraq. As the San Francisco
Chronicle described it, "bush stopped short of declearing an
end to the war or a victory in Iraq." Instead, he reminded the world
that Iraq is only one stop in an ongoing war led by the United States.
The next day when unemployment figures were to be released in a quarterly
status check on the U.S. economy, Bush flew to a military airport near
Silicon Valley. He spoke to the assembled employees at United Defense in
Santa Clara, the company that builds the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. To show
that his is the man with a plan to whip figures showing unemployment still
growing, Bush promised to shift $550 billion more to the rich through tax
cuts. He explained the transfer would boost investment in job producing
industry, trickle-down economics that's been discredited since the Reagan
Era.
Hundreds of protesters from around the San Francisco Bay Area went to
Santa Clara to say no to Bush. I spoke to people who'd made their way from
Oakland, San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Richmond, and Point Reyes. They came to
help the South Bay Mobilization to tell Bush and the world no to war, no to
giving away the people's wealth to the rich, no to occupying a country to
steal its wealth. Bush represents the richest of the rich, not workers.
He's destroying health care, schooling, and the economy.
