[Am-info] QUESTION - Should this list go away?

[John J. Urbaniak]

Gene Gaines wrote:

>Why do I think this?  What are my political leanings?
>

Thanks for your opinion.  I, too am registered independent.  But I am 
180 degrees from you in my opinion of President Bush.  I'll challenge 
your statements one-by-one.

>
>I am an Independent. But my passion is getting rid of the Bush
>administration. In less than four years, they have reduced our
>country from a position of pride on the global scene to one of
>the world deeply resenting us as bullies, 
>
By "the world" I take it you mean people like the French, Germans, 
Russians and most of the UN?  I suppose you are aware of the "Oil for 
Food" scandal, where leaders of the above institutions took millions in 
bribes from Saddam Hussein.  They kept him in power, kept his people in 
starving and impoverished conditions, supplying outdated and useless 
medicines to sick Iraqi children, while they pocketed a share of 
Saddam's oil billions.  Saddam, meanwhile, continued to *invest* in 
opulent palaces for himself and his cronies, as well as weapons.

By "resenting us as bullies" I take it you mean the roughly 12.5 million 
Afghan women and girls who are now free to participate in things like 
education, politics, business, etc. ? Such women were bullied hideously 
by the former government of Afghanistan.  They are now free.

And the very same holds for the women of Iraq.  And the men of Iraq are 
now free to seek their own paths in life without fear of torture - I 
mean real torture, like getting one's tounge sliced off with a razor, or 
having one's hands amputated, or watching one's children being 
tortured.  Given my choice, I'd prefer to have women's underwear on my 
head than any of Saddam's tender mercies. 

Have you seen the video of the seven Iraqi businessmen who had their 
right hands amputated by Saddam's thugs?  The hands werre replaced with 
prosthetics and the seven men are now returning to Iraq.  They get 
teary-eyed when they can now clasp the hands of their children and 
families with new hands supplied by American surgeons.  Wouldn't have 
happened without Bush's actions.

Of course you haven't seen the video.  The major news outlets have 
buried this story just like they bury all good things that come as a 
result of Bush's decisions.

There *was* an Iraqi nuclear program.  It was in Libya.  Iraqi 
scientists, about 800 of them, were working in Khadaffi's underground 
laboratory using North Korean materials to make atomic bombs, which they 
would gladly have used to threaten us, as well as France, Germany, 
Russia and most of the UN.  Thanks to Bush, that threat is now eliminated.

There *were* Iraqi chemical and biological weapons.  Just before the 
war, they were shipped out of the country, much to Syria, where Zarqawi, 
an Al-Quaida operative in Baghdad planned to use them to kill 80,000 
people in Jordan.  Thank God that attack was foiled.

Bush liberated at least 50,000,000 people.  He also saved your ass and 
mine from the terror threats posed by Saddam and his ilk.

George Bush has withstood the vicious lies and assaults from the Press 
and media in the US and most of the world.  These media have misled 
everybody because they don't like a person with the moral clarity of 
Pres. Bush.

>have through dishonest
>pork-barrel politics run up the largest deficits and federal
>debt in our history, 
>

Bull.  The deficit is a smaller share of GDP than in any previous war 
time.  And the economic growth spurred by Bush's tax cuts is reducing 
both the Federal and most State deficits.  Even Social Security was 
recently reported to be closer to solvency than it was before Bush.

>and their playing politics have reduced our
>best federal agencies from reasonable effectiveness to a
>playground for contractors to reap profits. 
>
I take it you mean Halliburton?  Halliburton is the only company with 
the experience, equipment and expertise necessary to manage the complex 
needs of restoring Iraqi oil industry.  There was no time to offer 
"lowest bidder" deals to companies who just can't match Halliburton's 
capabilities.  And by the way, Cheney has absolutely no investment nor 
involvement with Halliburton.

Or maybe you meant Enron?  Enron's skulduggery was mostly done while 
Clinton was in power.

Or maybe you mean gentlemen like George Soros, who recommends drug 
legalization, Euthanasia, overthrowing governments he doesn't agree 
with, like Georgia, and who gives millions of dollars to the Democrats 
(so-called champions of the poor and downtrodden little folks) just to 
defeat George Bush?  Remember the Democrats pushing "Campaign Finance 
Reform?"  They reformed so much, they are more than happy to take Soros' 
dirty millions.

Or maybe you meant people like Mark Rich, a convicted arms smuggler and 
black-market operator, as well as massive tax evader, who was also in on 
the Oil-for-food take, and who gave large sums of money to Clinton, who 
pardoned him?

>Disgusting. (No, not
>every person in the present administration is bad, and not all
>federal agencies are bad, but the closer one gets to the
>ideologues in the White House, the steeper one finds the slide
>into dishonesty and chaos.
>  
>

You can't name a single instance of dishonesty.  Almost everything Bush 
said has turned out to be true.  The few remaining issues will turn out 
to be true in a few months.  Just keep your eyes on the Oil-for-food thing.

Bush will be re-elected.  Maybe by a landside.  Nader will not be a factor.

John


>My opinion. You asked. I responded. I will not air my personal
>politics on this list again. Everyone deserves a fair hearing
>and civil treatment, but not in Washington DC at this moment.
>
>  
>