[Am-info] Re: Recycled

[Gene Gaines]

John,

Let's end this.

At this point, you are not arguing facts or presenting data,
quoting as facts from attack-dog Republican ads or quoting
from Neocon talk shows.

I suggest it would behove us all to go back and think where
our opinions came from.  Why most of America seems to have
degenerated into blind hatred, or at least being blind to
rational discussion.

Most of the advertising in this election appeals to the lowest
base instincts in people, and perhaps worse, assumes that
the majority of those who vote will remember vivid attacks on
candidates more than any positive advertising, because most
voters will not take time to do any reasearch on their own.

For shame.  For shame on all of us.

I also have read the egocentric, chauvinistic tripe on this
list, discussing politics, that "France hates us", etc. etc.,
"the U.N. is against us", "we will never submit to world
courts", and the attitude that we (Amuricans) have the right
to impose our will on the rest of the world.  "America First."
"USA USA USA USA."  That show a level of ignorance about
history and the world that is really bad.  If you are that
arrogant, then you are not my friend.

If the United States of America is that arrogant, that willing
to blow off the rest of the world, then we are terribly,
terribly wrong.  I will go so far as to say we do not deserve
to survive as a nation.

If you have not done so, take time to read Bin Laden speech
(transcript below) and thank about it.  There is more truth in
his speech, however you might hate this man's actions, than,
I suspect, 90 percent of what you will hear in political ads
these last few days before the election.

How have we fallen so low?

Take a look at the actions, the changes in our laws, that
have taken place, slowly, by small steps, in the last 16
years. Reagan killed that FCC regulations that required
equal broadcast time for all candidates.  All of these
cations.  I repeat, all of these actions, have ben actions
by the Republican party.  We have replaced the ability of
citizens to exchange their views with the ability of business
interests to control what we see, hear, read. Under the
federal and state laws 30 and 20 years ago, Microsoft would
never have been permitted to make the transition from a
powerful marketing-driven company to illegal monopoly.

It is people's acts that count.  It is obvious that we
should judge those, not the words that other people put in
the mouths of their foes.

Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com

Bin Laden: 'Your security is in your own hands'


(CNN) -- Osama bin Laden delivered a new videotaped message
which aired on the Arab language network Al-Jazeera Friday. This
is a transcript of his remarks as translated by CNN senior
editor for Arab affairs Octavia Nasr.


"You, the American people, I talk to you today about the best way
to avoid another catastrophe and about war, its reasons and its
consequences.

And in that regard, I say to you that security is an important
pillar of human life, and that free people do not compromise
their security.

Contrary to what [President George W.] Bush says and claims --
that we hate freedom --let him tell us then, "Why did we not
attack Sweden?" It is known that those who hate freedom don't
have souls with integrity, like the souls of those 19. May the
mercy of God be upon them.

We fought with you because we are free, and we don't put up with
transgressions. We want to reclaim our nation. As you spoil our
security, we will do so to you.

I wonder about you. Although we are ushering the fourth year
after 9/11, Bush is still exercising confusion and misleading
you and not telling you the true reason. Therefore, the
motivations are still there for what happened to be repeated.

And I will talk to you about the reason for those events, and I
will be honest with you about the moments the decision was made
so that you can ponder. And I tell you, God only knows, that we
never had the intentions to destroy the towers.

But after the injustice was so much and we saw transgressions
and the coalition between Americans and the Israelis against our
people in Palestine and Lebanon, it occurred to my mind that we
deal with the towers. And these special events that directly and
personally affected me go back to 1982 and what happened when
America gave permission for Israel to invade Lebanon. And
assistance was given by the American sixth fleet.

During those crucial moments, my mind was thinking about many
things that are hard to describe. But they produced a feeling to
refuse and reject injustice, and I had determination to punish
the transgressors.

And as I was looking at those towers that were destroyed in
Lebanon, it occurred to me that we have to punish the
transgressor with the same -- and that we had to destroy the
towers in America so that they taste what we tasted, and they
stop killing our women and children.

We found no difficulties in dealing with the Bush
administration, because of the similarities of that
administration and the regimes in our countries, half of which
are run by the military and half of which are run by monarchs.
And our experience is vast with them.

And those two kinds are full of arrogance and taking money
illegally.

The resemblance started when [former President George H.W.]
Bush, the father, visited the area, when some of our own were
impressed by America and were hoping that the visits would
affect and influence our countries.

Then, what happened was that he was impressed by the monarchies
and the military regimes, and he was jealous of them staying in
power for tens of years, embezzling the public money without any
accountability. And he moved the tyranny and suppression of
freedom to his own country, and they called it the Patriot Act,
under the disguise of fighting terrorism. And Bush, the father,
found it good to install his children as governors and leaders.

We agreed with the leader of the group, Mohammed Atta, to
perform all attacks within 20 minutes before [President George
W.] Bush and his administration were aware of what was going on.
And we never knew that the commander-in-chief of the American
armed forces would leave 50,000 of his people in the two towers
to face those events by themselves when they were in the most
urgent need of their leader.

He was more interested in listening to the child's story about
the goat rather than worry about what was happening to the
towers. So, we had three times the time necessary to accomplish
the events.

Your security is not in the hands of [Democratic presidential
nominee John] Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in
your own hands. Any nation that does not attack us will not be
attacked."