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<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4>Joan, et al,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4>From Today's LA Times OP/Ed:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4>"If elections were solely a job performance
review, President George W. Bush would lose in a landslide. He has been a
reckless steward of the nation's finances and its environment, a divisive figure
at home and abroad. It's fair to say that Bush has devalued the American brand
in the global marketplace..."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4>"...Bush's lack of seriousness — and his
stubborn refusal to alter course in the face of altered circumstance — explains
his administration's notorious hostility toward expertise of all kinds. Whether
it is his own Treasury secretary telling him his tax cuts are no longer
affordable, intelligence analysts raising doubts about a supposed Al
Qaeda-Saddam Hussein tie, or his proconsul in Iraq clamoring for more ground
troops, Bush has a way of freezing out expertise he deems inconvenient. The
terribly botched occupation of Iraq — and the lost opportunity it represents
according to the president's own assessment of the stakes in that conflict — is
the price the United States pays for its president's
obstinacy..."<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=auntiestablishment@hotmail.com
href="mailto:auntiestablishment@hotmail.com">Joan Opyr</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020 Moscow</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, October 31, 2004 10:14
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Reasoning and the
vote (was Bush and war and Iraq)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Ted, Dick, Pat, et al.,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>You know what frightens me? Voters like my 82 year-old
grandmother. She voted early on Friday, and she voted for Bush.
Why? Because her 81 year-old boyfriend, Mr. Royall Beavers (yes, that's
his real name) flew on a bomber in WWII and, based on his Birdseye frozen war
expertise, he advised her that "you don't change horses in
mid-war." Now, never mind the mixed metaphor; the important thing
is that my grandmother cites this as her one-and-only reason
for voting for George Bush. She didn't watch the debates. She
didn't read the newspaper -- she never does except for the obituaries and
the Family Circus. She didn't watch any political programming on Fox, or
CNN, or PBS. She also didn't have any idea who she was going to vote for
until Royall called her on Thursday night and they reminisced about their high
school days, 1937 to 1940, and the time he spent on that WWII
bomber.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My grandmother votes in every election. She's voted for
Republicans, and she's voted for Democrats. She voted for Jimmy Carter
in 1976 because he was a Southern Baptist. She voted for Ronald
Reagan in 1984 because he was "better looking" than Walter Mondale.
Ditto for George H. W. Bush over Michael Dukakis (who had the added
disadvantages of being both short and Greek). She voted for Bill
Clinton, twice. Why? The Southern Baptist thing again; oh, and
because she thought he was "so handsome," even if that Yankee wife of his was
so stuck up she couldn't stand her. In 2000, she
picked Bush over Al Gore because she liked Laura and she
suspected that Tipper dyed her hair. (The shame!) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Had John Edwards been at the top of the ticket this time around, I
know that my grandmother would have been torn. She voted for him in the
primaries (she's a registered Democrat) because "he's from North
Carolina." Had they been in the running, my grandmother would
have voted for Clay Aiken or Andy Griffith or our state bird, the
cardinal, for the exactly same reason</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Now, dear Visionaries, why am I subjecting you to this history of my
grandmother's highly subjective voting record? BECAUSE
SOMETIMES PEOPLE MAKE NO SENSE. THEY ARE NOT RATIONAL.
THEY DON'T LOOK AT THE FACTS, THEY DON'T WEIGH THE OPTIONS, AND THEY DO NOT
MAKE REASONED CHOICES. THEY CLOSE THEIR EYES AND PULL THE
TRIGGER. For nearly sixty years now, my grandmother's participation in
the democratic process has consisted of playing pin the tail on the
candidate. This is the price of universal enfranchisement,
and while I am generally willing to pay it, it does occasionally
seem a little bit steep. This year in particular, if I could have had my
grandmother (not to mention Mr. Royall Beavers) declared <EM>non compos
mentis</EM>, I'd have put them in a home with a collection of Matlock
videos and an out-of-date calendar and not let them out until
November the 3rd. Maybe.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Oy.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>PS: Some reasons to change horses in the middle of a war: </DIV>
<DIV>1) Your horse is drowning. </DIV>
<DIV>2) People keep shooting you off it. </DIV>
<DIV>3) The glue factory called.</DIV>
<DIV>4) Your horse is defective, all ass and no head.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial">----- Original Message -----</DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt Arial; COLOR: black"><B>From:</B>
Tbertruss@aol.com</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, October 31, 2004 10:17
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial"><B>To:</B> dickschmidt@moscow.com;
rwiza@hotmail.com; vision2020@moscow.com</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Bush and War
with Iraq</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2
PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><BR>Dick et. al.<BR><BR>The amazing fact is,
there are die hard Bush supporters who will admit that Bush and his
administration "lied" about some of the reasons for going to war in Iraq,
yet they will still support him, believing the war in Iraq was still a good
idea for other reasons, and that it has made America safer.<BR><BR>I think
one argument that might make some Bush supporters question their loyalty is
to make the case that the war in Iraq has actually increased support for
anti-American terrorism in the Islamic world, making America less
safe.<BR><BR>However, what is revealing is how little the moods and opinions
of the Islamic world are given any attention by the presidential candidates,
demonstrating the insular, "we are the center of the world" attitude that is
part of the reason the US is so hated in many parts of the
world.<BR><BR>I've argued with hard line militarists who want to solve the
terrorism problem with military force, and I pointed out we would need to
bomb and/or invade numerous countries with a total population of over a
billion people to wipe out all the Islamic world's recruiting for Al Quada
style terrorism.<BR><BR>Better tighten your wallets, this could get
expensive, though investment in military sector stocks might
help.<BR><BR>Ted
Moffett<BR><BR></FONT>_____________________________________________________<BR>List
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of the Palouse since 1994.
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