Wednesday, March 30, 2005

bush just doesn't care

From American Progress :

SILENCE ON RED LAKE KILLINGS:

On Monday, 16-year-old Jeff Weise opened fire at his high school on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota, gunning down an unarmed security guard, a teacher and five fellow students before killing himself. What was President Bush's reaction to this, the second-deadliest school shooting in America's history?

Silence.

For nearly a week, neither President Bush nor Education Secretary Margaret Spellings uttered a single word about the tragedy. Finally, almost a week later, the president noted the killings during his Saturday radio address. Clyde Bellecourt, a Chippewa Indian who is the national director of the American Indian Movement in Red Lake, said Bush's response came too late. "He should have been the first one to reach out to the Red Lake Indian community," he said. Instead, he was one of the last.



INACTION ON RED LAKE KILLINGS:

President Bush's response stands in stark contrast to President Clinton's reaction – both rhetorically and substantively – to the Columbine massacre. Clinton "spoke to reporters on the night of the shootings," proposed specific initiatives to curb school violence during his radio address four days later, and within weeks had "summoned a broad array of interests to a White House summit on the shooting." President Bush, on the other hand, has fought to cut all funding for the $180 million program "Clinton launched after Columbine to help districts place more police officers in schools," and tried to eliminate "a $437-million program that provides grants to states to fund school antiviolence and antidrug programs."

Did the Red Lake killings create a change of heart for conservatives in Washington? It doesn't appear so. House Judiciary Committee hearings urged by progressives the day after the shootings have seemingly gone nowhere, while President Bush's address on Sunday contained a single vague sentence on preventing further acts like Red Lake: "To keep our children safe and protected, we must continue to foster a culture that affirms life and provides love, and helps our young people build character."


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Again, bush just proves how class-less and uncaring he is....