Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (17798)	4/25/2004 10:55:40 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 81568

With God on His Side ... _____________________________ By invoking a higher power, Bush sidesteps pesky constitutional issues. By Robert Scheer Columnist The Los Angeles Times April 20, 2004 So, it was a holy war, a new crusade. No wonder George W. Bush could lie to Congress and the American public with such impunity while keeping the key members of his Cabinet in the dark. He was serving a higher power, according to Bob Woodward, who interviewed the president for a new book on the months leading up to the Iraq invasion. Of course, as a self-described "messenger" of God who was "praying for strength to do the Lord's will," Bush was not troubled about shredding a little secular document called the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution reserves to Congress the authority to allocate funds and to declare war. Thus it would seem to be an impeachable offense to misappropriate $700 million that had been earmarked to restore order to Afghanistan and put it toward planning an invasion of Iraq — in a secret scheme hatched, according to Woodward, only 72 days after 9/11. But not only has the president rejected the checks and balances installed by the nation's founders to avoid the "foreign entanglements" George Washington warned us about, he again is shown to have pursued a foreign policy that stands as a sharp rebuke to his more worldly and cautious father. During the first Gulf War, George H.W. Bush wisely heeded the concerns of Congress, as well as a broad coalition of regional and international allies, and kept to clear, limited and sound goals. In contrast, the younger Bush vocally disdains world opinion and international bodies like the United Nations, seeming instead to relish his role as an avenging Christian crusader who seeks — under the guiding hand of the Almighty — to cleanse the Arab world of "evildoers." Asked by Woodward, an assistant managing editor at the Washington Post, if he had ever consulted the former president before ordering the invasion of Iraq, Bush replied that "he is the wrong father to appeal to in terms of strength; there is a higher father that I appeal to." Reading the elder Bush's books and even his speeches before the latest Iraq war, one finds that the former president at least seems to understand that diplomacy, international cooperation and patience are not just the tools of naive do-gooders but in fact are far more effective at advancing global stability and American aims than reckless adventures like the current quagmire in Mesopotamia. Religious crusades are often counterproductive; they tend to end up in unsustainable occupations of people who — surprise! — believe they have their own pipeline to the Almighty. Thus, if George W. had consulted his father, he probably would have heard the message that he didn't want to hear from Secretary of State Colin Powell about the "Pottery Barn rule" — the idea that you own what you break. What Powell meant is not that you own Iraq's oil and the lucrative contracts that you parcel out to your friends at Halliburton and Bechtel. Rather, it is that if you occupy a failed state, you are stuck with the difficult, costly and lengthy task of nation-building. That Powell and the first President Bush did not break more forcefully with the current president over their apparent differences on Iraq is not excusable, despite their party and familial ties. As both men seem to have expected, what we have now is a deadly mess that has weakened us in the war on terror, both as a distraction and by inflaming the Muslim world's latent mistrust of the West. After the bloodiest month of the entire war and occupation, we are told by the nation's media and political elites that we must "stay the course," "get it right" and, in the words of the president himself, "honor the fallen." How do we honor the fallen by sending more soldiers to die in a war based on lies now amply documented by insiders? Surely the best way to honor them is to right our course and turn to the United Nations, not as a fig leaf to conceal an ongoing disaster but to admit that it was wrong to undermine the best mechanism we have for international cooperation. An honorable retreat from this calamity requires U.N. supervision of an orderly withdrawal. The president conceded to Woodward that he had the good sense not to "justify war based upon God" but would ask for forgiveness if he took the wrong path. It is time he found God's grace in the exercise of humility rather than plunging deeper into this madness. latimes.com

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (17798)	4/25/2004 12:10:22 PM
From: American Spirit	Respond to of 81568

Kerry never worked with Jane Fonda, nor did he ever condone her radical behavior in North Vietnam. That happened two years after they appeared at the same event, where Fonda says they never even shook hands. That was also two years after Kerry had left the organization because he wanted to work within the system instead to end the war. His VVAW colleagues called him "more conservative" than the rest of them. The rightwing loves to bring up Fonda's name, and some journalists bring it up too, but it's just like claiming Bush and segregationist Bob Jones University are one and the same and that Bush is a White supremicist, just because Bush spoke there. Also, it was 33 years ago, not only 4 years ago when Bush at Bob Jones. Bush also has Bin Lauden family business within the last decade. Not exactly ancient history like 1971. Bottomline, Kerry is an honest centrist-progressive with moderate common sense policies. He's conservative on fiscal matters, tough on law enforcement and counter-terrorism and a populist on jobs and taxes. He's fairly liberal on social issues, but not for gay marriage. He's a great environmentalist, and conservatives should be for that too, as conservative should mean conservation.

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (17798)	4/25/2004 12:30:58 PM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Bush went AWOL in 1972 yet calls himself "the war president", poses with the troops and prances on aircraft carriers pretending to be a jet jock. He was nothing of the kind. He ran away from duty and hid from the war when it was his turn to serve. by James Glaser January 4, 2004 There is a lot of talk about President George Bush being a deserter during the Vietnam War. I first heard of it from a group of WWII veterans at a Veterans of Foreign Wars meeting in Duluth, Minnesota, three years ago. George Bush claims that he transferred to an Alabama National guard Unit to finish out his enlistment and that is why people think he was AWOL. "REWARD! Did you witness G W Bush performing any National Guard Service between May 1972 and August 1973 in either Alabama or Texas? If so you could be eligible for thousands of dollars in unclaimed reward money." Even though there were hundreds and hundreds of members of those two units, no one will come forward and say that George Bush served his country during the time people claim he was Absent With Out Leave. In the Military, after 30 days of being AWOL, you become a Deserter. Colin Powell, our current Secretary of State, wrote in his autobiography, My American Journey, on page 148, "I was angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well placed....Managed to wangle slots in the Reserve and National Guard Units. Of the many tragedies of the Vietnam War this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country." There is no doubt that when George Bush applied for the Texas National Guard, there were 500 men on the waiting list to get in. With his father's connections, George was admitted the next day. Now people wonder, did somebody go to Vietnam in George's place and was that person killed or wounded? For every Veteran, that is a very valid question. Congressional Medal of Honor winner Bob Kerrey said about Bush's missing service time, "I can understand if he forgot a weekend, but 18 months." On this awolbush web site, there is a long article written by the Boston Globe back in 2000 that tells the whole story. There are documents that are said to prove that Bush was AWOL. There is a report by his Commanding Officer that he never served during the months in Question. I can not tell you why this story did not explode during the last election, but I can tell you that it will in this one. Every Veteran that has served this Nation will find out about this story, mostly because there eight million Vietnam Veterans that will be telling it, along with all the World War II and Korean Vets that have been keeping it alive Do I think that George Bush was AWOL? Yes. Do I think he was a Deserter? Yes. Do I think he should stand trial? Yes. Read this web site and others, there are links on this one, and see what you think. POST SCRIPT One of the major reasons this claim about George Bush and his service record resonates so well with veterans is that speech George made on the Aircraft carrier. George wore a combat pilot's uniform and he never earned it. John F Kennedy was an American War hero with PT 109 and he never wore a uniform as President. Neither did General Dwight Eisenhower or for that matter Jimmy Carter who was a Navel Academy graduate and had a fine peace time service record. George Bush went to Iraq and hid in an underground bunker surrounded by every armed unit in the country, while the next day Hilary Clinton walked around Baghdad talking to the troops. Veterans know what it takes and George does not have it. That "Bring em on" speech made many vets angry.

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (17798)	4/25/2004 12:51:38 PM
From: tonto	Respond to of 81568

The facts once again prove that AS either knowingly or unknowingly lies about the Kerry past and his connections to Jane Fonda. I do not know why he made all those posts that we now know with absolute certainty were false...but AS did so. He has some explaining to do...or will this be whitewashed like the other posts of Kenneth? If people want honesty on this thread, then more must speak up. Kerry's link to Jane Fonda gave him early fame boston.com. Kerry's link to Jane Fonda gave him early fame By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff \|