Sunday, October 31, 2004
Only a couple days before the election.
A friend of mine, who is normally a Republican was a fence sitter. He hadn't drank the Kool-Aid, up until recently.
I found out he's going to vote for Bush because: "Bush has a better foreign policy strategy than John Kerry."
It's a free country, and my friend is free to vote for whomever he pleases, but how in the name of all that's rational, can anyone say George Bush has a good foreign policy? Now his wife is a born again Christian, who's checked her brain at the door, and is heavily into the Right Wing Echo Chamber media deception. (Fox News, Limbaugh, and right wing evangelical Church magazines.) I could imagine every night of seeing and listening to Fox has distorted his mind, or he's drunk the Kool-Aid as well.
Bush, who thumbed his nose at the UN and the concerns and interests of other nations, who let Osama bin Laden run free for almost four years and counting, who dragged our country into a quagmire in Iraq, who claimed to increase funding for AIDS in Africa and didn't, who has sat on his hands and did nothing while the people in Sudan are engaged in civil war and genocide, who's sat on his butt and ignored the Israel/Palestine conflict, who thought Africa was a country, has a better foreign policy?
No disrespect meant, but you should really catch up on your facts.
Now in the presidential debates, Bush acknowledged that he knew Bin Laden attacked us. Really? So, what the hell did going into Iraq have to do with 9/11? Uhm... nothing.
Here's a link to how Bush let Bin Laden get away. (Scroll down a bit, you'll find it.)
Three and half years and counting, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of 9/11, is still free. What happened to "dead or alive," Mr. Bush? The guys making home movies and sending them in. Stil breathing, still running free, and still plotting against us. Bin Laden's claimed the US is still open to attack. Nice job securing the country, Mr. Bush.
So, if Iran nukes Israel or hits New York, who will we invade next? Venezuela? Way to go Mr. Bush, nice job.
The election coming up will decide if America will choose reason over emotion, or vice versa. Bush wins = America gets four to forty more years of fear and emotinally guided political rhetoric. We'll no longer be a free society. Kerry wins = we still get the same old politics, but we still have a free society. Kerry won't have an easy time as president. The right wing attack machine will go into overdrive on him, and left leaning activists won't let him forget his responsibilities to the country, and to its citizens.
The fear mongering of the Bush administration will continue, and will continue to do things behind the scenes that erode democracy and the freedom of the American people.
Don't let people intimidate you on Tuesday, vote Bush out November, 2nd.
A friend of mine, who is normally a Republican was a fence sitter. He hadn't drank the Kool-Aid, up until recently.
I found out he's going to vote for Bush because: "Bush has a better foreign policy strategy than John Kerry."
It's a free country, and my friend is free to vote for whomever he pleases, but how in the name of all that's rational, can anyone say George Bush has a good foreign policy? Now his wife is a born again Christian, who's checked her brain at the door, and is heavily into the Right Wing Echo Chamber media deception. (Fox News, Limbaugh, and right wing evangelical Church magazines.) I could imagine every night of seeing and listening to Fox has distorted his mind, or he's drunk the Kool-Aid as well.
Bush, who thumbed his nose at the UN and the concerns and interests of other nations, who let Osama bin Laden run free for almost four years and counting, who dragged our country into a quagmire in Iraq, who claimed to increase funding for AIDS in Africa and didn't, who has sat on his hands and did nothing while the people in Sudan are engaged in civil war and genocide, who's sat on his butt and ignored the Israel/Palestine conflict, who thought Africa was a country, has a better foreign policy?
No disrespect meant, but you should really catch up on your facts.
Now in the presidential debates, Bush acknowledged that he knew Bin Laden attacked us. Really? So, what the hell did going into Iraq have to do with 9/11? Uhm... nothing.
Here's a link to how Bush let Bin Laden get away. (Scroll down a bit, you'll find it.)
Three and half years and counting, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of 9/11, is still free. What happened to "dead or alive," Mr. Bush? The guys making home movies and sending them in. Stil breathing, still running free, and still plotting against us. Bin Laden's claimed the US is still open to attack. Nice job securing the country, Mr. Bush.
So, if Iran nukes Israel or hits New York, who will we invade next? Venezuela? Way to go Mr. Bush, nice job.
The election coming up will decide if America will choose reason over emotion, or vice versa. Bush wins = America gets four to forty more years of fear and emotinally guided political rhetoric. We'll no longer be a free society. Kerry wins = we still get the same old politics, but we still have a free society. Kerry won't have an easy time as president. The right wing attack machine will go into overdrive on him, and left leaning activists won't let him forget his responsibilities to the country, and to its citizens.
The fear mongering of the Bush administration will continue, and will continue to do things behind the scenes that erode democracy and the freedom of the American people.
Don't let people intimidate you on Tuesday, vote Bush out November, 2nd.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Maxwell Bush vs. John Wayne Kerry
Here's a letter to the editor I sent to the Daily Herald. Not sure if it was published:
Dear Editor,
I would like to include the following letter for submission for the Daily Herald's Letter to the Editor column:
You can tell it's an election year with all the hype, empty political promises, and mud slinging, but I have to take issue with the attacks on John Kerry's war record in Vietnam.
John Kerry served honorably in Vietnam, while our current president did not. Whether brave or cowardly, the fact remains that Kerry is a Vietnam Vet while George Bush ducked out of the war thanks to the privelege of being born priveleged. How low can the Republicans, conservatives, and neo-cons stoop to try and diminish Kerry's service to our country? Sadly, it's not a unique occurence. They've also attacked John Mc Cain in 2000, and Max Cleland in 2002, both Vietnam Veterans.
Vietnam has left a scar in many American's hearts and minds. It's a war that went badly due to poor political planning and shortsightedness. Our brave men and women who served should be honored for the courage to fight, but those that stood against an unjust war should also be honored for being brave enough to stand up for what was right, decent, and the American thing to do.
It doesn't matter if Kerry was a Gomer Pyle or a John Wayne while in Vietnam, what matters is he put himself on the line for a country he believed in, and had the courage to work to stop the war when he came home because he saw that it was unjust. We should thank and honor our veterans every day, but not forget the dishonesty of our government into leading us into Vietnam.
The physical wounds of that war may have healed, but the emotional scars of that war still remain today. Let Vietnam be a testament to why war should not be our first choice of action, but an option of last resort. Today we have a new war, which leave many questions about its justifiability, which will leave a new generation of Americans with a new set of scars.
In this election year we have to ask, which candidate has the wisdom to know when to use American forces, and when to show restraint. Hopefully Americans still have the wisdom and common sense to make the right choice.
- - - - -
Incidentally, I found some old political ads at PBS's website. The simplicity and innocence of the time really comes through in the "I Like Ike" ad.
Ah, times were much simpler then. Wonder how things will be in 50 years, when people will look back and say... "Ah, things were simpler then..." Hard to imagine things are simple today.
Here's a letter to the editor I sent to the Daily Herald. Not sure if it was published:
Dear Editor,
I would like to include the following letter for submission for the Daily Herald's Letter to the Editor column:
You can tell it's an election year with all the hype, empty political promises, and mud slinging, but I have to take issue with the attacks on John Kerry's war record in Vietnam.
John Kerry served honorably in Vietnam, while our current president did not. Whether brave or cowardly, the fact remains that Kerry is a Vietnam Vet while George Bush ducked out of the war thanks to the privelege of being born priveleged. How low can the Republicans, conservatives, and neo-cons stoop to try and diminish Kerry's service to our country? Sadly, it's not a unique occurence. They've also attacked John Mc Cain in 2000, and Max Cleland in 2002, both Vietnam Veterans.
Vietnam has left a scar in many American's hearts and minds. It's a war that went badly due to poor political planning and shortsightedness. Our brave men and women who served should be honored for the courage to fight, but those that stood against an unjust war should also be honored for being brave enough to stand up for what was right, decent, and the American thing to do.
It doesn't matter if Kerry was a Gomer Pyle or a John Wayne while in Vietnam, what matters is he put himself on the line for a country he believed in, and had the courage to work to stop the war when he came home because he saw that it was unjust. We should thank and honor our veterans every day, but not forget the dishonesty of our government into leading us into Vietnam.
The physical wounds of that war may have healed, but the emotional scars of that war still remain today. Let Vietnam be a testament to why war should not be our first choice of action, but an option of last resort. Today we have a new war, which leave many questions about its justifiability, which will leave a new generation of Americans with a new set of scars.
In this election year we have to ask, which candidate has the wisdom to know when to use American forces, and when to show restraint. Hopefully Americans still have the wisdom and common sense to make the right choice.
- - - - -
Incidentally, I found some old political ads at PBS's website. The simplicity and innocence of the time really comes through in the "I Like Ike" ad.
Ah, times were much simpler then. Wonder how things will be in 50 years, when people will look back and say... "Ah, things were simpler then..." Hard to imagine things are simple today.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Fear Factor
Admiral Motti: "How will the emperor maintain control without the bureacracy?"
Grand Moff Tarkin: "Fear. Fear of this battlestation will keep the systems in line."
"Ignorance is the most violent element in society."
-Emma Goldman
I've been thinking about some things the presidential and vice presidential candidates have said regarding terrorism. Kerry, Cheney, and Bush have all proclaimed that the worst possible thing would be for terrorists to get ahold of weapons of mass destruction. (Which would be horrible, to say the least.)
So, I began to wonder, just how probable is it that a terrorist could get their hands on a briefcase nuke or cannisters of chemical and biological weapons? I'm not saying a terrorist group couldn't get such weapons, but it might be very improbable if not unlikely. The manner in which terrorists attack seems more likely they'd resort to suicide bombing attacks on public targets.
The whole idea, actually, sounds like it was cooked up by a Hollywood writer or some right-wing think tank. I'd say our infrastructure is way more vulnerable to a small band of coordinated terrorists than one radical Islamist with a truck full of sarin gas.
It wouldn't take much for a dozen terrrorists to bring a major city to a standstill. It could be done with a few pipebombs, some buckets of nails, and other things that could be bought in any Home Depot.
Cheney has said it would be disatrous if Kerry wins, and practically guarantees a terrorist attack if Kerry wins. I'd say the odds are likely a terrorist attack could happen if either Bush or Kerry is elected.
Bin Laden and his cronies that used terrorism to beat back the USSR in Afghanistan would most likely use the same tactics against us. Hijacking a couple airliners and using them as weapons shows they're resourceful, and don't need a nuke or other WMD to bring the US to a standstill. To me, that's a scarier aspect than terrorists getting WMD's.
If these jihadist SOB's set their minds to it, they could really do us damage without ever having to possess a nickel's worth of plutonium. Much of our infrastructure is left unprotected, and undefended. This makes me wonder two things: Are we set up for another attack, or is terrorism not as big a threat as we've been lead to believe?
I think we as Americans need to be smarter about terrorism, and we need leaders that will work with the people and keep us informed, and prepared. I don't think keeping us in the dark, and letting us live with a false sense of security is beneficial, but I also don't think pandering to base and unrealistic fears is helpful either.
"We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."
-FDR
Admiral Motti: "How will the emperor maintain control without the bureacracy?"
Grand Moff Tarkin: "Fear. Fear of this battlestation will keep the systems in line."
"Ignorance is the most violent element in society."
-Emma Goldman
I've been thinking about some things the presidential and vice presidential candidates have said regarding terrorism. Kerry, Cheney, and Bush have all proclaimed that the worst possible thing would be for terrorists to get ahold of weapons of mass destruction. (Which would be horrible, to say the least.)
So, I began to wonder, just how probable is it that a terrorist could get their hands on a briefcase nuke or cannisters of chemical and biological weapons? I'm not saying a terrorist group couldn't get such weapons, but it might be very improbable if not unlikely. The manner in which terrorists attack seems more likely they'd resort to suicide bombing attacks on public targets.
The whole idea, actually, sounds like it was cooked up by a Hollywood writer or some right-wing think tank. I'd say our infrastructure is way more vulnerable to a small band of coordinated terrorists than one radical Islamist with a truck full of sarin gas.
It wouldn't take much for a dozen terrrorists to bring a major city to a standstill. It could be done with a few pipebombs, some buckets of nails, and other things that could be bought in any Home Depot.
Cheney has said it would be disatrous if Kerry wins, and practically guarantees a terrorist attack if Kerry wins. I'd say the odds are likely a terrorist attack could happen if either Bush or Kerry is elected.
Bin Laden and his cronies that used terrorism to beat back the USSR in Afghanistan would most likely use the same tactics against us. Hijacking a couple airliners and using them as weapons shows they're resourceful, and don't need a nuke or other WMD to bring the US to a standstill. To me, that's a scarier aspect than terrorists getting WMD's.
If these jihadist SOB's set their minds to it, they could really do us damage without ever having to possess a nickel's worth of plutonium. Much of our infrastructure is left unprotected, and undefended. This makes me wonder two things: Are we set up for another attack, or is terrorism not as big a threat as we've been lead to believe?
I think we as Americans need to be smarter about terrorism, and we need leaders that will work with the people and keep us informed, and prepared. I don't think keeping us in the dark, and letting us live with a false sense of security is beneficial, but I also don't think pandering to base and unrealistic fears is helpful either.
"We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."
-FDR
Thursday, October 14, 2004
The True Nature of Compassionate Conservatism
Jeb once told retired Naval Intelligence Officer Al Martin (cited in Bushwhacked, Sept. 2002, by Uri Dowbenko):
"The truth is useless. You have to understand this right now. You can't deposit the truth in a bank. You can't buy groceries with the truth. You can't pay rent with the truth. The truth is a useless commodity that will hang around your neck like an albatross - all the way to the homeless shelter. And if you think that the million or so people in this country that are really interested in the truth about their government can support people who would tell them the truth, you got another think coming. Because the million or so people in this country that are truly interested in the truth don't have any money."
-Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida
Just think the GOP will probably run him in 2008, if we have elections that is.
Jeb once told retired Naval Intelligence Officer Al Martin (cited in Bushwhacked, Sept. 2002, by Uri Dowbenko):
"The truth is useless. You have to understand this right now. You can't deposit the truth in a bank. You can't buy groceries with the truth. You can't pay rent with the truth. The truth is a useless commodity that will hang around your neck like an albatross - all the way to the homeless shelter. And if you think that the million or so people in this country that are really interested in the truth about their government can support people who would tell them the truth, you got another think coming. Because the million or so people in this country that are truly interested in the truth don't have any money."
-Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida
Just think the GOP will probably run him in 2008, if we have elections that is.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Sad, but True...
"You know, if it weren't for the possibility of a bankrupted economy, a ruined environment, an erosion of reproductive freedom, a theocracy run by the richest Americans, endless war in the Middle East, and the entire world hating our guts, another four years of Bush would probably be quite funny."
-Quote from Democratic Underground's Top 10 Conservative Idiots of the Week.
For the life of me, I can't see how George Bush has a chance to run our country for four more years. I guess, some people are way too busy listening to Rush and Fox News.
My two cents, for what its worth... Kerry sounds way more presidential than Bush. I'm not saying Kerry will be the greatest president, but he would be an effective president. I didn't shine up to Kerry at first, but he grows on you in time. He's really a bright guy. Hard to imagine that both Bush & Kerry graduated from Yale. It's like night and day. You'd have thought Bush graduated from an unaccredited back alley community college.
We really need a much better media in this country.
"You know, if it weren't for the possibility of a bankrupted economy, a ruined environment, an erosion of reproductive freedom, a theocracy run by the richest Americans, endless war in the Middle East, and the entire world hating our guts, another four years of Bush would probably be quite funny."
-Quote from Democratic Underground's Top 10 Conservative Idiots of the Week.
For the life of me, I can't see how George Bush has a chance to run our country for four more years. I guess, some people are way too busy listening to Rush and Fox News.
My two cents, for what its worth... Kerry sounds way more presidential than Bush. I'm not saying Kerry will be the greatest president, but he would be an effective president. I didn't shine up to Kerry at first, but he grows on you in time. He's really a bright guy. Hard to imagine that both Bush & Kerry graduated from Yale. It's like night and day. You'd have thought Bush graduated from an unaccredited back alley community college.
We really need a much better media in this country.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Questions, Only Time Will Answer...
I can't understand Bush's popularity. Is the policy of say one thing, and do the opposite really what America wants? Does America really want four more years of bassackward foreign policy which will only strengthen Al Qaeda? Will Americans really be happy living in a corporate police state? Do Americans really think that the campaign tactics of constant attack, smear, misstatement, and obfuscation are what make a candidate great? Do Americans realize they'll live in a one party state for the next forty or more years if Bush is granted a second term?
I don't think my fellow Americans realize the potential for corporate autocracy and the level of ruthlessness the Republican party will inject upon the American people, especially the American worker. The viciousness, spindoctoring, and deceitfulness of the Bush administration combined with the constant right wing echo and cheerleading from Fox News and the Limbaugh-oid clones is intolerable and a sign of how far American culture has decayed.
If Bush gets four more years, it'll be a terrible day in American history. Worse than September 11th, because Americans will totally lose their liberties, freedoms, and inevitably their social securities. It'll be a great day for the corporate elites, and a terrible day for those seeking freedom and justice in the world because the light of American democracy will be extinguished.
And the truly rotten thing is half of America will think its a great thing. They'll laugh and deride those that voted and worked against George Bush, not realizing their doom was sealed.
How can freedom loving people so eagerly and enthusiastically give up their freedoms? What does it say when I'm more afraid of the president of my country than I am of terrorists? I wish this was a bad dream I could wake from.
Lastly, what do we do if Bush is selected for another term? Is there any hope for a free America, or will we be stuck living in an Orwellian dystopia?
I can't understand Bush's popularity. Is the policy of say one thing, and do the opposite really what America wants? Does America really want four more years of bassackward foreign policy which will only strengthen Al Qaeda? Will Americans really be happy living in a corporate police state? Do Americans really think that the campaign tactics of constant attack, smear, misstatement, and obfuscation are what make a candidate great? Do Americans realize they'll live in a one party state for the next forty or more years if Bush is granted a second term?
I don't think my fellow Americans realize the potential for corporate autocracy and the level of ruthlessness the Republican party will inject upon the American people, especially the American worker. The viciousness, spindoctoring, and deceitfulness of the Bush administration combined with the constant right wing echo and cheerleading from Fox News and the Limbaugh-oid clones is intolerable and a sign of how far American culture has decayed.
If Bush gets four more years, it'll be a terrible day in American history. Worse than September 11th, because Americans will totally lose their liberties, freedoms, and inevitably their social securities. It'll be a great day for the corporate elites, and a terrible day for those seeking freedom and justice in the world because the light of American democracy will be extinguished.
And the truly rotten thing is half of America will think its a great thing. They'll laugh and deride those that voted and worked against George Bush, not realizing their doom was sealed.
How can freedom loving people so eagerly and enthusiastically give up their freedoms? What does it say when I'm more afraid of the president of my country than I am of terrorists? I wish this was a bad dream I could wake from.
Lastly, what do we do if Bush is selected for another term? Is there any hope for a free America, or will we be stuck living in an Orwellian dystopia?
