[Vision2020] Fw: Not like most of us

[Tom Hansen]

I strongly agree with you, Joan.

Another couple items of interest.

1)  When I enlisted into the U.S. Army in June of 1969 there was an 18-month
waiting list to get into the National Guard.  There was a 6-month waiting
list to get into the Navy.  The Army had me in a barracks at Fort Ord within
48 hours.  The waiting list to get into the Alabama or Texas National Guard
during Vietnam must have been non-existent, which I seriously doubt.  Money.
Money.  Money.  It's what keeps your sons and daughters at home at times of
conflict.

2)  When the Dems repudiated Dubya's military record by saying that he
missed National Guard meetings, Dubya's response was that he received an
honorable discharge and that should be sufficient proof that he made all his
meetings.  Trust me.  You don't have to be an Audie Murphy to receive an
honorable discharge.  I was discharged honorably upon retirement and I know
that I had accummulated at least ten days of "bad time" (AWOL time) over the
previous 20 years.

Dubya says that he is a "war" president.  He may be.  But he CERTAINLY is
NOT a soldiers' president.

Take care,

Tom Hansen
Intolerista to the Stars

> -----Original Message-----
> From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com]On
> Behalf Of Joan Opyr
> Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 10:29 AM
> To: vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Fw: Not like most of us
>
>
> Dear Visionaries:
>
> In the New York Times today, David Brooks has written what I
> think is one of
> the most egregious pieces of Bush apologetics that I have ever seen:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/10/opinion/10BROO.html
>
> Incensed even more than usual, I wrote the following and emailed
> it to Mr.
> Brooks.  In the interests of our ongoing political discussion, I
> forward it
> also to you.  BTW, has anyone read Kevin Phillips' new book, American
> Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of
> Bush?  Phillips is a former White House strategist for Richard
> Nixon and no
> liberal, by any stretch of the imagination.  I think he's now
> registered as
> an Independent, but he's a cradle Republican.
>
> Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
>
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Joan Opyr
> >Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 10:13 AM
> >To: dabrooks@nytimes.com
> >Subject: Not like most of us
> >
> >Dear Mr. Brooks:
> >
> >You begin your column re-casting Mr. Bush's conversation with
> Tim Russert
> >by saying, "Like most of us, President Bush doesn't have the
> facility for
> >perfectly expressing his situation in conversation."  Within this simple
> >sentence lie the seeds of what make so many of us desperately
> unhappy about
> >Mr. Bush's occupancy of the Oval Office.
> >
> >Unlike most of us, George W. Bush is not a plumber, a factory
> worker, a bus
> >driver or the guy who asks, "Fries with that?" at the McDonald's
> >drive-thru.  No, he's the President of the United States, and as such he
> >can, should, and must be held to a higher standard.  It's okay
> to be vague
> >and inarticulate when you're shopping at the Wal-Mart or waiting
> for an oil
> >change at the Jiffy Lube.  It's not okay when you're the leader
> of the free
> >world; when you make life and death decisions; when you a lead a
> country to
> >war using faulty, inadequate, and jazzed up intelligence.
> >
> >I put myself through college, attending full-time while working three
> >part-time jobs.  I graduated on time, cum laude, and with double
> pneumonia
> >and a bad case of pleurisy.  I worked hard for my degree, and I
> worked hard
> >for my good grades, but I despaired as I watched less
> intellectually able
> >characters skate through their classes taking minimal course loads and
> >maximal incompletes, all given a pass and a buy and the benefit
> of a doubt
> >because they were rich, they were spoiled, and they had the
> expectations of
> >privilege.  George W. Bush skated through Yale and Harvard on a
> gentleman's
> >C.  He skated through the Texas Air National Guard, through
> Arbusto, Harken
> >Oil, and the Texas Rangers on his family's good name, good
> connections, and
> >good credit.  Now, unelected, unprepared, and undeserving, he has skated
> >into the presidency of what should be the world's greatest meritocracy.
> >How you can defend that, Mr. Brooks, is beyond me.
> >
> >Merit: what the founding fathers meant when they said, "No more kings."
> >
> >Yours sincerely,
> >
> >Joan Opyr
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Click here for a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee.
> http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
>
> _____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
>