3/19/2004

More Tales From the Bush Superhighway of Economic Doom:
Today's tale comes from someone other than an ex-dot-com-er. This is not to reduce the economic pain suffered by people in the tech industries. The Rude Pundit just wants the stories to come from all over the dessicated states of Bush's America. The minimally-edited story from the maritime industry by Jeffrey:

"I have just recently entered the maritime industry as an officer. I spent 4 years at a maritime academy earning my degree and license that allows me to sail as a ship's officer. It's a skilled job that requires extensive training and practical experience. The goal of the academy was to prepare me for an officer's position on larger ships, preferably those over 500 gross tons. Sadly there are few jobs available on the larger ships. Foreign competition, particularly from under-qualified officers and crews, and companies, who have chosen to register their vessels in countries where regulations are lax or non-existent (aka 'flags of convenience'), have virtually gutted the U.S. maritime industry. Less than 2% of our overseas imports or exports are carried on U.S.-flagged and U.S.-crewed vessels.

"Although I thankfully have a job that does allow me to utilize the skills I learned, I've been relegated to smaller and more potentially dangerous vessels. There is a drawback, however. The Coast Guard states that in order to upgrade my license I must have a year of 'sea time' on a vessel of 500 gross tons or more. With U.S. vessels of this size disappearing, I am essentially stuck with what I have right now. The only vessels that the fucks in the Bush Administration are concerned with right now are ones with cruise missiles on them. And since the Administration has shown absolutely no concern with the American maritime industry, other than port security(which is laughable at best), don't expect us to be around too long in the future."

As usual, the Rude Pundit does not vouch for the truthfulness of the story. But, as usual, it seems on target.

Seth Farber of the Talking Dog tells his unemployment sorrow story here. It's a tale that directly points the finger at the Bush Administration for the post-9/11 reaming out of the job market.

Follow-Up on Iraq War 2004 (Same As It Ever Was):
You remember Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf? Sure, you do. The former Iraqi information minister? The one who fiddled while Baghdad burned, saying that Iraq was slaughtering Americans as bombs blew up in the background? Yeah, now you got it.

Doesn't the Bush administration seem that way these days? When CNN was carrying Dick Cheney's speech at the Ronald Reagan library, where he mocked John Kerry's attacks on the administration, where he talked about how great things were going to be in Iraq, the news network split the screen to show the aftermath of the Baghdad bombing. So Cheney's saying, "By helping nations to build the institutions of freedom, and turning the energies of men and women away from violence, we not only make that region more peaceful, we add to the security of our own region" and we're seeing the burning hotel and apartments.

Oh, how we all laughed at al-Sahhaf when the pictures demonstrated how obvious his lies were. Oh, how we should cower that our own government offers nothing better.