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

To: American Spirit who wrote (34122)	7/7/2004 6:33:59 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

THE ULTIMATE TUG OF WAR This time we are risking the loss of a nation. THE GAME It’s not really a game, but almost seems like one. In reality, it’s a winner-take-all contest, in which half the nation is willfully pulling to the right, and the other half is just as willfully pulling to the left. It is, in essence, a rivalry with the highest stakes of any similar competition in history. For on Election Day, 2004, American voters will engage one another in the ultimate and most consequential tug of war, ever. In conventional competitions, only one side wins. Losers attend to their wounded egos, live to fight another day and life goes on. But this is an unconventional time with so much more to lose. This time, we are not risking the loss of an election. This time we are risking the loss of a nation. This time, good people from every walk of life will lose, unless they pull together to save this country. We must wrench this nation back from the brink of disaster to which it has been taken. If we don’t, the game will be over, for good. THE STAKES What makes this tug of war so strange is the fact that we’ve lost so much already. Some of what has happened in the past three and a half years is irreparable. Much of the damage to our nation and the world will take decades, if not generations, to undo. Winning will not insure the resurgence of our nation as we knew it before the theft of the presidency in 2000. Tragically, a victory that pulls the ropes of power back to the American people may only stanch the bleeding that is already out of control. But losing is unthinkable. That’s why there is so little discussion about the day after the national elections. We have to focus on victory, and we dare not think about the possibility of defeat. Losing can only bring us more of what we already have, and that is too painful for so many Americans to even consider. We cannot possibly allow four more years of the disastrous policies at home and abroad of the Bush administration. We simply cannot allow them to continue with business as usual. FOR IF WE LOSE: Lying to the people will become a standard method of implementing domestic and foreign policies. The government will never again be held accountable for its repeated deceptions and lies. The media will be even more controlled and intimidated than today and nothing will be investigated or known about the increasingly secret policies of the administration. People around the world who hate and fear our leaders will hate and fear us all, for they will see that Americans approve of the warmongers in their government. The credibility of the United States will never be restored anywhere in the world. The United States will never again be viewed with respect anywhere in the world, and its leadership will never again be recognized. The United States will continue to be feared and hated around the globe for its policy of might makes right, and for its responsibility in making the world a far more dangerous place than ever before. The United States will be seen as indifferent to the lives of nearly twenty thousand civilians in Iraq during its illegal and immoral invasion and occupation. Other nations will emulate the Bush Doctrine that legitimizes preventive and pre-emptive wars to invade and conquer weaker nations. Our participation in international treaties will be distrusted and seen as not binding. Any accusations against other nations, no matter how true, will be viewed with trepidation and skepticism. Nations around the world will refuse to risk the lives of their young people to come in and clean up the mess that this administration created in Iraq. Former allies will continue to refuse to cooperate on any level with an administration that dismissed their relevance and boasted of its ability to go it alone. American men and women will continue to die in wars of choice. The Middle East will continue to destabilize into greater and greater chaos The American military will be depleted and exhausted as it continues to be deployed to nations with no purpose or benefit to the United States. American corporations with ties to those in government will continue to profit from unnecessary wars. The national debt will continue to increase as more and more money is needed to support wars unrelated to any real terror threats. Domestic policy will be set by the religious right, and individual rights of women, gays, and minorities will be determined by Biblical interpretation. Stem cell research will not be funded as science continues to be superseded by ideology. Right wing, activist justices will be appointed to fill Supreme Court vacancies Environmental policies will continue to be abandoned in favor of deregulation of industries that pollute our air and waters. Tax relief legislation that benefits the richest Americans only will be made permanent. Pharmaceutical companies will continue to deny Americans access to cheaper prescription medication from Canada. Health care will not be subsidized by the government, and tens of millions of Americans will remain without coverage. Unemployment will continue as outsourcing of jobs will continue to be rewarded with tax benefits. And more….. AND…WE WILL NEVER KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT: Dick Cheney’s secret energy task force meetings What really happened before, during and after 9/ll Who manipulated intelligence to lie to the people and the world about WMD’s Who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to Robert Novak Who manipulated the cost estimates of the Medicare Bill Who manipulated the numbers to show that there were half the terror strikes in the world since Saddam’s fall than actually took place Who manipulated the numbers to show that more jobs were created in the past two months than really were Who approved the abuse and torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan So much, much more… THE ARENA The showdown is only months away. Half the nation is pulling with the present administration. That’s a formidable challenge in a tug of war this important. It will take only a few more hands pulling us back from oblivion to win this one. It’s all about strength in numbers this time. It’s all about getting the people on the sidelines to grab the rope and pull. It’s all about getting the onlookers to grab the rope and pull. It’s all about getting people who never played the game to grab the rope and pull. Print this out. Give it out to those who are undecided or unclued. Post it on Internet bulletin boards, discuss it in forums. The game is scheduled for November 2nd and the stakes are sky high. If we lose, and if we are forced to let go of the rope, our team will slide into the abyss and the nation will be lost. But if we win, we can begin to restore what was and show the world what real Americans stand for. We cannot, - we simply cannot afford to lose. United, we really and truly stand. Divided is not an option. tvnewslies.org

To: American Spirit who wrote (34122)	7/7/2004 6:37:55 PM
From: mph	Respond to of 81568

What was that, AS? Pre-programmed tirade #67?<g> It certainly had nothing to do with my post. Here's something you might want to comment on: Message 20287148 Don't you get a hoot out of the fact that all these European papers are falling all over themselves to praise the selection of Edwards at the same time as they dis your main candidate as "wooden", "lacking in charisma, etc............. Don't you regard that as a slap in the face? I would if I were a diehard Kerry supporter.............

To: American Spirit who wrote (34122)	7/7/2004 7:53:44 PM
From: zonkie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

<We still need to know who outed the CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. That was treason. Bush knows who did it but lied to the people that he didn't. The investigation is taking way too long and the WH is stonewalling. > _______________ Remember when Hatch was accused by the junior administration of leaking information to the press? Rumsfeld all but called him a traitor. Now when it looks like one of junior's closest advisors commits an act of treason which is much worse than what they accused Hatch of doing junior doesn't even try to help find the criminal. It's another of the many coverups. ________________ By John Diamond and Jill Zuckman Washington Bureau Published September 14, 2001 WASHINGTON -- A senior senator's disclosure of highly classified information about the U.S. terrorism investigation has infuriated Bush administration officials and led to a clampdown on how much the White House will share with lawmakers. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters hours after terrorists crashed hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that U.S. intelligence had intercepted a telephone call from a suspect reporting to his handler that the targets in New York City and near Washington had been hit. "They have an intercept of some information that includes people associated with [Osama] bin Laden who acknowledged a couple of targets were hit," Hatch told The Associated Press. He made similar comments to ABC News and said the information had come from officials at the CIA and FBI. Electronic intercepts represent some of the most sensitive intelligence possessed by the government. U.S. officials rarely discuss their content because to do so would reveal to adversaries, including foreign governments, that American intelligence had penetrated their sensitive communications. Hatch's disclosure, with the possibility it would tip off terrorists that their communications had been compromised, left senior officials of the administration dumbfounded and angry. "Well, that helps a lot!" exclaimed one official, who added an expletive for emphasis, after learning of Hatch's comments. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, without mentioning Hatch's name, said Wednesday that such public statements risk undermining the investigation into Tuesday's attacks by terrorists. "It's important to underline that, when people deal with intelligence information and make it available to people who are not cleared for that classified information, the effect is to reduce the chances that the United States government has to track down and deal with the people who have perpetrated the attacks on the United States and killed so many Americans," Rumsfeld told reporters. He described "people who ought to know better" who would disclose such information as being "willing to violate federal criminal statutes and willing to frustrate our efforts to track down and deal with terrorists." A Pentagon official said Rumsfeld was concerned by Hatch's comments as well as others. In an interview with the Tribune, Hatch testily denied he had disclosed any classified information. "I have been here 25 years and I have never violated a classified matter, and I never will," Hatch said. He said no one with the Bush administration had contacted him about his comments about the telephone intercept. Hatch has not been the only lawmaker to emerge from classified briefings this week and discuss sensitive information. One side effect of such leaks, said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), has been that the administration's briefings in Room 407 of the Capitol, a secure facility, have become gradually less informative. Amid all of the leaking, McCain said, "I can understand then why we go to these meetings in 407 and I receive much less information than I do from turning on the television set." Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called the briefings "a colossal waste of time."