Another One Bites The Dust

From NPR:

"Morning Edition, June 9, 2006 · Tom DeLay's last day as a member of Congress has arrived. During his 22-year career, he rose through the House ranks to become a dominant figure -- serving as Majority Whip and as Majority Leader. His tough tactics were legendary. But he leaves under the cloud of an indictment in Texas."


In Mr. DeLay's goodbye speech to Congress he hailed the Republican legislative agenda (italics and colored commentary supplied):

"We lowered taxes to increase freedom (for the richest American individuals and corporations);

We reformed welfare programs that, however well-intentioned, undermined the dignity of work and personal responsibility and perpetuated poverty (and we continue to perpetuate poverty by obligating our nation's poor to become indentured servants in welfare-to-work programs, refusing to raise the minimum wage so that those who work full-time will make enough money to bring them out of poverty, and making it harder and harder to afford any sort of higher education.);

We have opposed abortion, cloning, and euthanasia because such procedures fundamentally deny the unique dignity of the human person (while at the same time uniformly denying the unique dignity of the human person to make decisions about what happens to his or her own body); and

We have supported the spread of democracy and the ongoing war against terror because those policies protect and affirm the inalienable human right of all men, women, and children to live in freedom (freedom from foreign invasion and global monopoly imperialism don't count)."

What about my right to live in a bullshit-free environment?

He went on to say that the "victories" since 1980 speak for themselves:

" millions of new jobs, new homes, and new businesses created thanks to conservative economic reforms; millions of families intact and enriched by the move from welfare to work; hundreds of millions of people around the world liberated by a conservative foreign policy’s victory over Soviet communism; and more than 50 million Iraqis and Afghans liberated from tyranny since September 11, 2001."

I wish I had time to disect the ludicracy of such statements.

Excuse me while I go throw up.