George W. Bush "Biking" while 'Rome burns'!

Why was it disturbing to see the President of the United States out bicycling with Lance Armstrong?



Armstrong and Bush on Mountain Bikes

And yet this President doesn't have the time or the wisdom to meet with Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother of 24 year old Casey who lost his life two weeks after arriving in Iraq to serve his country.

As reported:

By the accounts of several advisers, Bush and his aides concluded it would be a mistake to yield to Sheehan's demand for a second meeting with Bush to discuss the death of her son, Casey, who was killed in Iraq at age 24 last year when his Army battalion was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.

But our President has time to ride around in the dirt showing off the sites of his "ranch" to Lance Armstrong, a real American hero!

This is a bust of Nero.



In 64 AD, while Nero was Emperor, a fire broke out in Rome. As historians write:

During the night of July 18, 64 AD, fire broke out in the merchant area of the city of Rome. Fanned by summer winds, the flames quickly spread through the dry, wooden structures of the Imperial City. Soon the fire took on a life of its own consuming all in its path for six days and seven nights. When the conflagration finally ran its course it left seventy percent of the city in smoldering ruins.

Rumors soon arose accusing the Emperor Nero of ordering the torching of the city and standing on the summit of the Palatine playing his lyre as flames devoured the world around him. These rumors have never been confirmed. In fact, Nero rushed to Rome from his palace in Antium (Anzio) and ran about the city all that first night without his guards directing efforts to quell the blaze. But the rumors persisted and the Emperor looked for a scapegoat. He found it in the Christians, at that time a rather obscure religious sect with a small following in the city. To appease the masses, Nero literally had his victims fed to the lions during giant spectacles held in the city's remaining amphitheater.

To this day, to "fiddle while Rome burns" is defined as:

To do something trivial and irresponsible in the midst of an emergency; legend has it that while a fire destroyed the city of Rome, the emperor Nero played his violin, thus revealing his total lack of concern for his people and his empire.

Does this qualify? Does ignoring a mother who lost her son and deciding to go swimming, fishing and bicycling while a war rages on count?

History will decide if we shall talk of "Mountain-biking while Americans died." But I think America deserves better. We need a President who speaks to every American regardless of their political persuasion. We need a President who is truthful to us; who keeps war as the last alternative and does not seek to "fix facts" to plunge this nation into conflict.

Bob