BUSH'S NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION: MORE AIDS FOR THE THIRD WORLD AND ACCELERATED DESTRUCTION OF EARTH'S ENVIRONMENT

Probably in the last few days all my suggestions that Saddam's execution, albeit maybe a little bit barbaric and primitive, was a great idea and should start a trend for tyrants, especially George Bush, gave you the idea that I think Bush is a particularly evil fellow. Well, I never met the man and whatever I think about that doesn't amount to a hill of beans. It isn't Bush's personality traits that condemn him but the actions of his Regime, actions based on the extremist far right philosophy that guides him in all things.

To take it down to its simplest, there is a basic difference in governance between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats believe in the positive good of collective action. Republicans don't. Republicans believe in greed and selfishness-- "what's mine is mine and fuck you"-- and don't want to pay taxes for the "common good." They also believe that the unseen hand of "the market" will right all wrongs. Basically this is why they have never been fit to govern and why they are still not fit to govern. In fact, under Bush, it's much worse than ever before.

Example: notwithstanding a much diminished gaggle of fanatic psychos and corporate tools like Oklahoma nutcase James Inhofe, even many, if not most. Republicanelecteds now recognize that the debate on Global Warming and Climate Change is over and that Greenland and Antarctica are indeed melting and sea levels are rising and weather patterns are changing. And that it was brought on by men. Late in 2003 McCain introduced a very tepid bill to pair back carbon dioxide levels caused by industrial pollution. It was defeated 55-43. The Bush Regime said McCain's bill would have seriously harmed the U.S. economy. That wasn't based on a study; just a reflex. Cleaning up meat packing procedures once elicited the same response from the GOP. It's what they're all about. One kook, currently being considered for the top job at the University of Missouri, Senator Kit Bond told his colleagues that the bill would cripple the U.S. economy. "Now is not the time to place more burden on our families and our communities," he said.

For a Republican, if something has even a short term negative impact on a business' bottom line-- regardless of the "common good"-- the economy is being crippled and Armageddon is nigh. If business practices are destroying the fabric of society or even planet earth itself, they're sure the unseen hand will be by any minute to fix everything up.

Yesterday David Sirota sent me a story he had worked on about how this attitude is boding very badly for Aids victims in the third world. The Bush Regime is doing its best to keep it quiet but, with the help of shameless former Republican congressman and corporate whore (he's not a former corporate whore or former Republican; he's still those) Billy Tauzen they are bullying Thailand, a country with a significant Aids problem, to back off from licensing generic medicines that could save the lives of thousands of people but might reduce the profits of some of Bush's and the Republicans' most "generous" campaign contributors.

This particular effort is making pharmaceutical giant Merck angry, because if Thailand moves forward, it will be producing cheaper versions of drugs Merck regularly profiteers off of. It doesn't seem to matter that this move could save tens of thousands of lives. It doesn't seem to matter to the Bush administration that Thailand is merely exercising its specific rights under the very same "free" trade agreements it publicly champions-- agreements that drug companies like Merck have used their clout pushing. All that seems to matter is that Merck has given millions to the Republican Party over the last decade, and now its time for a little payback. Thus, instead of say, our government's Centers for Disease Control publicly congratulating Thailand for its aggressive moves to stamp out this plague that presents a global security threat, we get our government's trade officials demanding Thailand back off.

Sirota points out that the Bush Regime has been using the legalisms in NAFTA and similar trade agreements to prevent other countries from taking similar action to prevent this plague from decimating their populations. He points to Brazil and it's hard for me to imagine that Brazil, a country that positively loathes Bush and everything about him, would be bamboozled by his regime. On the other hand, they've pulled similar stunts right here in the U.S. "In 2004, Abbott Laboratories jacked up the price of its key AIDS drug Norvir by 400 percent in one year, despite the drug being developed with $3.2 million of federal money. When Abbott faced questions about its move, the company's CEO said “Abbott is absolutely committed to ensuring that ... not a single patient goes without Norvir because of the re-pricing.” Yet he refused to reverse the price hike. Activists then petitioned the government to invoke a 1980 law that authorizes other companies to manufacture lower-priced, generic copies of taxpayer-financed drugs to address emergency "health or safety needs." Not surprisingly, the petition was rejected by the Bush administration. And perhaps the most middle-finger-giving moment of all, here was our government 'valuing life' by making sure the much-touted Global AIDS Fund would have its purchasing power watered down by holding it hostage to high prices: Within months of Bush appointing Eli Lilly's former CEO to head the Global AIDS fund, the White House said the fund's money had to be used only on expensive brand-name drugs, instead of cheaper generics, thus severely weakening the fund's impact."

This doesn't promise to be a very happy new year for millions of victims of the Bush Regime and their philosophy of Greed and Selfishness. Maybe some can hold on until New Years, 2009.