Fop-Flip
Fri February 27th, 2004 12:44 MSTRoger Simon coins a new term:
Message alteration or flip-flop? Recommendation: when the Massachusetts Senator changes his position (or his haircut) we call it a “fop-flip.”
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After reading all the comments on this page March 3, 2004, it is another indicator how divided our country really is. It’s becoming class-warfare, like all of human history has ever really been. The masses manipulated by most leaders for their clan’s and personal gain, some
of them madmen - Hitler, Stalin, Pol-pot, Mao Tse-tung, madmen who were followed! Now the Bushes are being given their opportunity to be followed. (the first Gulf War was justifiable, what was Panama? Afghanistan is a must; The second Gulf war definitely is not- there were options) All men who have followed the call to battle and risked their lives have reason to be proud. Don’t bother the guy next to you who also did his duty. I say, focus on the ones who did not do their duty or did not risk their life and be careful of their motives to wage war. Some people like money and power too much to risk their life. But they sure as hell are willing to risk someone else’s life. War is now a political motive for the US under Bush. George W. Bush wanted the war with Iraq, claimed that there was intelligence indicating Iraq had W.M.Ds., which we all know now is relatively more untrue than true. Many congressmen who voted in favor believed their president, and that he would wait for the UN. However, soldiers have gone, done their duty, some may never see their families again. More than 500 certainly won’t. And we are not done sending men or women! The quality of a true leader is a compassionate individual who would be regretful to send his fellow “veterans” to die without blinking an eyelash. Bush expresses no regret. The truth be told, and it’s not easy to find in this current Whitehouse regime, and there will be less division among Americans. The vast majority would understand that George W. Bush’s clan and regime represent: Big money interests, civil liberties infringements, unilateral foreign policy, secretive tactics and information witholding from the public (anti-democracy), and of course lack of resolve in domestic issues.
Think of Eisenhower, a great leader, president and liberator who warned us of “the industrial, military complex”. That means war-for-profit. Who benefits from every war? Military contractors, private individuals who make millions of dollars reaping profit from the death of our brothers-in-arms and donating to Presidential campaigns. Presidents who can return the favor. Wake up gentlemen, some wars are necessary for defence and to contain anarchy, certainly, but a pattern emerges with the “hard-right republicans”. Bush Sr and Bush Jr and company have too many ties to make profits from War. Prescott Bush helped fund the NAZIs. Bush Sr.’s regime sold arms to the contras and his military contractor company is called The Carlysle Group. (Cheney’s old company, Halliburton, has overcharged the government by 60 million. If that was how much they overcharged, how much did they make, for Christsake, off the war in Iraq so far? ) There are so many more connections with the Bushes and government contracts/scandals, it will make a big light bulb in your head go off.
I ask you, do you want a man in office who would make a profit, like his forefathers, off the death of your fellow veterans or even your family members? Not just in the government sector, the Bush clan likes to pillage the private sector as well. Anybody remember the Savings and Loan Scandal of 1982? Neil and Jeb Bush never served jail time for the largest theft of history in the world. What about allowing a profit to be made off the labor of faithful civilian employees for 20 years whose retirement dreams have ended in poverty? (ENRON) Bush’s former largest political campaign donor. What about the secret energy panel meeting Cheney had during the early days of the California energy crises? You know, the one where there really was no crisis and California residents were overcharged 47$ million dollars?
Greed and Fear and their profiteers. All facts in this essay are researchable in The New York Times, Los Angeles Tribune, NEWSWEEK,
Time Life, Boston Globe and the Washington Post, by-the-way. For more information about the corrupt business deal by major investigative journalists check out this URL just to start: http://www.campaignwatch.org/details.htm
or about the fraudulent election: http://www.campaignwatch.org/index.shtml
The letter from the republican mormon is the most interesting piece of the latter URL.
We cannot risk this kind of leadership as an example for our selves and especially the next generation. They would be a sorry lot with war-for-profit and corporate corruption as an example of how the real world works. In america, we are told this is the greatest democracy all are equal. Now, we must vote to get our America back. Come together now, or I predict the riots will start in LA and Miami. We are not immune to civil war–our country was divided back in 1830- look at what happened. Republicans aren’t all bad - would somebody attack McCain’s war record? And why didn’t this credible, incorrigible veteran make it far in the campaign? Not enough money and too much honesty! All Democrats are not bleeding heart liberals–Lyndon Johnson. There’s your paradox. Rebuplican and Democrat and Liberal are general terms meaning nothing…examine the man, not the party. Come together and give America the hope it deserves with jobs and governmet services, or we are in danger of becoming a non 1st-world-country.
I am a Veteran of Grenada with a combat infantry badge, a foreign expedition badge, and an international peacekeeping badge, with an year honorable discharge as well as Cum_laude Alumni from the U of Mass. My father volunteered for the Vietnam to gain citizenship, received a silver and 2 bronze stars with clusters and 5 honorable dishcharges after 20 years. My grandfather fought in WWII. Would anybody like to attack my crediblity as a CHICKENHAWK?
thank you- dennis sagwitz
Vote against the current regime, you have nothing to lose except your dividends, which you lost 3 years ago anyway.
Get your money back from UMass.
By the way, your friends there said the same things about Grenada.
While your “All About the Oilllll!!!” ravings don’t merit refutation, please stop slurring the memories of those heroes who gave their all in this war. They knew what they were signing up for and believed in this mission. They deserve better than the likes of you.
Dennis wrote: (the first Gulf War was justifiable…The second Gulf War definitely is not…” Dennis further wrote: “George W. Bush wanted the war with Iraq, claimed that there was intelligence indicating Iraq had W.M.DS., which we all know now is relatively more untrue than true.”
Ironically, I just sent off the following to my local newspaper. “Letter to the Editor, As a veteran, I am offended by Mr. Paul McNeil’s (March 3rd) patronizing tone in his characterization of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq as “children.” They are, and deserve to be treated as, responsible adults.
Mr. McNeil stresses the importance of truth, and then lists Scott Ritter as a source of truth. Mr. Ritter was the former chief inspector for UNSCOM, during the Clinton administration. I am finding Ritter’s book, Endgame-Solving the Iraq Problem-Once and For All, very interesting.
In 1999, having just recently severed his official ties to the intelligence community, Mr. Ritter’s tellingly entitled his chapters “School for Weapons of Mass Destruction” and “Dr. Germ” and “The Chemist.” These chapters described Iraqi production of bacteria and toxins; products such as ricin, anthrax, plague, botulinum, aflatoxin, mycotoxins, as well as bacteria that cause gas gangrene. He described Iraq’s development and production of long-range missile delivery systems for such agents, and the Soviet Union’s initial involvement in such development. He discussed oil-soaked Iraq’s nuclear reactor and the Israeli destruction of that facility.
Ritter told about Saddam’s torture chambers. He quoted graffiti (found by his inspectors) scratched into the walls, such as, “To my wife and children: Tomorrow I die. I will miss you.” Or this, “To whoever reads this and lives, please tell my mother that I have perished and not to worry, for I am with God.” He noted that many prisoners had signed their names.
So, long ago in 1999, Ritter concluded, (page 204): “(T)o remove Saddam, we must employ the military forces of the United States. No one can doubt that the United States has the military might to overthrow Saddam Hussein. What is required is the proper mix of assets to remove him quickly, with the minimum loss of American lives.
“But before we can overthrow Saddam Hussein we must be certain that the United States government has the authority to undertake such an action, both domestically and internationally. The United States is the world’s leader; if it leads decisively, the world will follow. The United States must make a convincing case that in the future Saddam will represent a serious menace to his neighbors. When Iraq rebuilds it economy and its military, and seeks to reestablish itself as a regional superpower-probably equipped with WMD capability-it will represent a real threat. The time to solve this problem is now, when the cost in terms of lives and resources will be far less than it would be in the future.” However, it is very difficult to mobilize support for war based upon a potential threat. It is easier to hope that containment through a combination of economic sanctions and limited military action will suffice. But the framework of containment is collapsing, and Iraq is on the verge of breaking out. And when it does-perhaps three to five years down the road-” (that would be: 2002 to 2004) “the world will face a serious confrontation. So if the only way to prevent Saddam from igniting conflict is to overthrown him through military action, that is what we must do.”
On page 207, “A quick victory with as few casualties as possible depends on the use of overwhelming force. There will be many Iraqi casualties, but every month that we hold back and do nothing, several thousand innocent children die in Iraq. Prior to Desert Storm the annual mortality figure for children under the age of five in Iraq was a little over 7,000. Today it is over 50,000. That increase of 43,000 can be directly attributed to the effects of sanctions on Iraq. I bet there would be fewer Iraqi casualties in an all-out attack than the number of Iraqi children who die each year from malnutrition or untreated disease.
“The United States must be prepared, if necessary, to go it alone. But going alone means just that. There is a real possibility that the United States, in embarking on major military action against Iraq, might not attract any allies to its cause…”
On page 208, “The actual military campaign would be relatively short…should be over in less than a month.”
“And so the endgame. Military occupation. Military government. Nation building. All difficult problems but not insurmountable ones. The role of the organized opposition would become crucial now. The U.S. would set about the task of working with, say, Chalabi’s INC from the perspective of rebuilding Iraq and establishing basic democratic forms of government, the faster the better. The thought of American troops putting down civil unrest in Tikrit is not a pleasant one. There should be a residual military presence in Iraq after Saddam has been overthrown and a transition government set up. The new government would establish its own police force and its own military.”
Was Scott Ritter a font of truth? Apparently, George Bush has based his entire Iraqi policy on Mr. Ritter’s Endgame.
Paul
PS: I think it was John McCain who was involved in the Savings and Loan scandle.
Part 2-Dennis wrote: “Don’t bother the guy next to you who also did his duty. I say, focus on the ones who did not do their duty or did not risk their life and be careful of their motives to wage war.”
Dennis, what do you think of your Senator, Ted Kennedy, who enlisted in the U.S. Army during the Korean War? Did he do his duty, or did he not? Did he risk his life, or did he not? And did you question his “motives to wage war”?
I am looking forward to reading your answers.
Paul
Dennis says “Don’t focus on the party, focus on the man.”
The man is bad enough. Check out http://www.vetsagainstkerry.org/.
But even if the man was good, the party is full of leftist transnationalist academics who have no clue about how the world really works - people like Strobe Talbott, Clinton’s cheif foreign policy wizard, who in the 80’s predicted that the Soviet Union would be ahead of us economically by the end of the decade.
So even if the Democratic Party had a good quarterback (and they don’t), the rest of their team is a bunch of midgets.
Not my choice for the superboal.
Part 3: Dennis wrote: “Think of Eisenhower, a great…liberator.” If Dennis is truly concerned about great liberators, how could he be so blind to George Bush, who has, after all, liberated twenty-eight million people in Afghanistan and twenty-five million people in Iraq?
No, I don’t think Dennis is sincerely concerned about liberators. Rather, I think he is sincerely concerned only about helping Democrats (or other leftists).
Paul
Part 4-Dennis wrote: “(ENRON) Bush’s former largest political campaign donor.”
Please note the following news brief: Feb. 20, 04 (AP): Houston - Former Enron Corp chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, taken to court in handcuffs Thursday was charged with nearly three dozen counts of fraud, insider trading and other crimes…”
That’s the way the Bush Justice Department treats its own major campaign contributors when they break the law.
On the other hand, let us ask Dennis what the Clinton administration ever did to prosecute THEIR “former largest political campaign donor” LORAL Corp. for its part in the transfer of the nation’s most secret technology to Red China, or what the Clinton admin did to prosecute ANYONE mentioned in the Cox Report.
Please do tell.
Paul
Part 5-Dennis wrote: “…secret energy panel…Cheney…early days of the California energy crisis? You know, the one where there really was no crisis and California residents were overcharged $47 million dollars?”
Overcharged? One of my pals from RI who moved out to Cal thought his electric bills were great!
Until the interuption of services occurs, that is.
Which is inevitable, when you cap consumer fees while simultaneously allowing costs of doing business to rise.
If no business man will do business with you, then you really do have a crisis. Eventually, you are going to have to pay for the service.
By the way, Bush has been trying to modernize the nation’s power grid. However, it is the Democrats (and their special interest group the enviromentalists) who are blocking the construction of new power plants.
Paul
Part 6-Dennis wrote: “In america, we are…” Dennis claims he is a veteran. If so, he is the first veteran I have ever seen spelling our name with a small a. I hope its only a typo.
Paul
I’m getting a bit bored with earnest ignoramuses like Dennis. I see the social promotion policy is alive and well at UMass. For a guy with a lip lock like his on professorial anatomy, I can understand the “cum laude.”
Dennis, rattling off the standard Far Left Bush = Hitler earns you an automatic F. There are substantive grounds to attack Bush. You just haven’t listed any. Your distorted fantasy just means that you don’t get out enough.
Thank you, your father, and your grandfather for your collective service. Don’t let those G.I. benefits go to waste. Try to learn something when you go back to school.
I concur with Billy Hank. There are quite a few things that I also do not agree with Bush on. Foremost to my mind: his going soft on illegal immigrants, abandoning school vouchers, McCain’s campaign finance, and funding of faith based activities. However, all these mean very little in comparison to national defense. It seems Bush is the only candidate to realize that jihad has been thrust upon us, and that we are going to either deal with it or be destroyed.
His spotlighting of Dennis’s scholastic sycophancy reminds me of the disturbing pressures that face returning veterans.
The above article by Dennis was copy and pasted from portland.indymedia.org. I have therefore not been able to reply or promptly analyze any retorts. I have also realized that it would be wasted energy.
Goerge W. Bush and Dick Cheny represent everything that is wrong with America and Capitalism. They are business who can’t conceive of any other way of existence than lining their pockets and their cronies. They profit from corruption and war. Read the history at http://www.hereinreality.com/familyvalues.html
Anybody shines in comparison to these generations of american profiteers of war and lies. If you refuse to accept the truth, you are part of it.
Thank you very much and have a nice day.