June 2004 | Hightower Lowdown
George Loves Parks
by Jim Hightower
See George. See George in our national parks. George knows parks are popular. George likes to go to parks and have the media take his picture there. See George run for president.
In his 2000 presidential run, George W dressed up in khakis and held a photo-op in a national park, where he decried the $5 billion backlog in making essential repairs to America’s deteriorating park system. It’s shameful, he said, promising to fix our parks. He didn’t. Four years later, the maintenance need is $6 billion.
Speaking of deterioration, Bush’s National Park Service announced this February that it would allow BNP Petroleum Corporation to drill for natural gas on Padre Island National Seashore. This will put pipelines, heavy equipment and large trucks on the longest undeveloped beach in America. Just what you want to see when you go to the solace of the seashore: a drilling rig in your face. It will hurt tourism, the ecosystem, wildlife and local businesses — all so one oil corporation can plunder a minor gas deposit that amounts to only one day’s worth of fuel for America.
Then there’s George’s effort to “improve” Eisenhower Public Park in Nassau County, New York. Though it’s a mere county park, the White House directed county officials to make an essential addition to Eisenhower Park prior to Bush’s visit there in March. He was going for a fundraiser in a restaurant in the park, then he was to walk to a building to meet with some families of 9/11 victims, then proceed to a groundbreaking ceremony for a 9/11 memorial to be built in the park.
The new addition demanded by Bush’s minions? Sidewalks along every step of Bush’s trek. Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin reports that the word came down from on high: “The President’s feet are not to touch the dirt.”
Thus, concrete and asphalt were poured so George’s feet would not touch the ground — as they rarely have any time in his life.
Jim Hightower is the best-selling author of Thieves in High Places: They’ve Stolen Our Country and It’s Time to Take It Back, on sale now from Viking Press.
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