The Republicans like to portray themselves as tough guys who are better able than anyone else to protect America from all of the nasty threats out there. The truth is quite different from the portrayal, however. The truth is that the Republicans cannot even muster the strength to protect America from spinach.
I don’t mean this in a figurative sense. You’ll remember how, in 2006, Americans were exposed to spinach tainted by E. coli, an intestinal bacteria that can, when allowed to contaminate human food, make people violently ill, or even kill them. Think of E. Coli as the anthrax of the farmer’s field, and you’ll get the picture.
The Bush Administration promised, after the distribution of spinach infested with E. coli all across the United States, to take strong steps to prevent such another outbreak. These promises were empty.
A year later, the Associated Press reviewed documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and found that the Republicans who control the Executive Branch of the federal government have done essentially nothing to protect America from tainted spinach. Garance Burke from the Associated Press writes, “The regulations governing farms in this central California region known as the nation’s ‘Salad Bowl’ remain much as they were when bacteria from a cattle ranch infected spinach that killed three people and sickened more than 200.”
Republican politicians like to say that their programs to reduce Americans’ freedoms are worth it, because reducing freedom strengthens Homeland Security. That’s a load of bull shit – literally. The Republican Homeland Security regime cannot even protect us from biological agents as blatant as infected cow poop on our salads. If the Republican Party fails even in the face of leafy green vegetables, what makes anyone think that they are competent to deal with international terrorism?
(Source: Associated Press, September 12, 2007)
