Reflections on the Great Debate
For the 14th anniversary broadcast on Friday, we had a passionate debate between Santa Maria Bill and conservative Matt Kokkonen, covering everything from President Bush to illegal immigration, to whether or not Republicans are inherently racist.
Bob from San Luis sent me this email after catching most of the debate. I thought I'd share it with you:
" I understand that Matt K. is "married" to the Republican party and he wants to believe that President Bush can do no wrong, but sheesh. When Bush took the oath of office in 2001, we had one of the lowest rates of unemployment in decades along with the largest budget surplus in recent memory.
"Some like to say that Sept. 11th changed everything, but I feel that the President was totally unprepared for
that attack on our country. Instead of catching the person responsible for that attack, the search for him was farmed out to
those who had no interest in catching Bin Laden, as our military was being readied for invading a country that had no power to harm us and had no links to anyone who had attacked us. Instead of planning to take care of the country after we had invaded, we went in undermanned, ill equipped, and allowed the country to fall into kaos. The funds to rebuild Iraq were not accounted for properly and 8.8 billion dollars went missing. The no-bid contracts allowed a few well connected companies to make record profits while our enlisted personal were never outfitted with enough armour or equipment and we
have lost way too many of our best and bravest in this "war".
"Our civil liberties have been curtailed at an alarming rate all with the reason given that we need to be "protected", even while our luggage is not scanned for bombs, our ports not inspected for potential suitcase nukes, and our borders are as porous as ever. Our elections have had the taint of fraud, but because the media is in the hands of so few who are friendly to those in power, the reporting is sparse if existent, and those who try to question election results are labeled as kooks or someone who "can't get over it".
"This Administration has deregulated more industries than ever before, or they have de-funded the agencies that are responsible for enforcement of regulations resulting in record pollution, and some of the most unsafe working
conditions we have seen in a long time as well as record profits for many in the energy industry. Our natural resources have been sold off faster than anytime in recent history, many times with more of the no-bid contract style of paying back campaign donors to the Republican party and more and more corporations are being allowed to rid themselves of pension obligations putting more retirees in lower income brackets while the CEO's of those companies are bailing out with even larger golden parachutes.
" When a natural disaster struck our gulf coast, emergency response was dismal at best, and lethal at worst. The lack of a well executed federal response was infuriating to say the least, and a national embarrassment. The media has not done their job, being on the short leash held by their corporate owners so the corruption in politics now coming out is catching many by surprise.
" I am frustrated beyond belief that so many people just don't seem to care, or are simply asleep, but as much as I like to respect the office of the President of the United States of America, George W. Bush is, in my opinion, the worst President we have ever had. Period. I don't hate him or the Republican party, I hate what they are doing to our country, to the world, and that they are doing it in our name."
Bob from San Luis sent me this email after catching most of the debate. I thought I'd share it with you:
" I understand that Matt K. is "married" to the Republican party and he wants to believe that President Bush can do no wrong, but sheesh. When Bush took the oath of office in 2001, we had one of the lowest rates of unemployment in decades along with the largest budget surplus in recent memory.
"Some like to say that Sept. 11th changed everything, but I feel that the President was totally unprepared for
that attack on our country. Instead of catching the person responsible for that attack, the search for him was farmed out to
those who had no interest in catching Bin Laden, as our military was being readied for invading a country that had no power to harm us and had no links to anyone who had attacked us. Instead of planning to take care of the country after we had invaded, we went in undermanned, ill equipped, and allowed the country to fall into kaos. The funds to rebuild Iraq were not accounted for properly and 8.8 billion dollars went missing. The no-bid contracts allowed a few well connected companies to make record profits while our enlisted personal were never outfitted with enough armour or equipment and we
have lost way too many of our best and bravest in this "war".
"Our civil liberties have been curtailed at an alarming rate all with the reason given that we need to be "protected", even while our luggage is not scanned for bombs, our ports not inspected for potential suitcase nukes, and our borders are as porous as ever. Our elections have had the taint of fraud, but because the media is in the hands of so few who are friendly to those in power, the reporting is sparse if existent, and those who try to question election results are labeled as kooks or someone who "can't get over it".
"This Administration has deregulated more industries than ever before, or they have de-funded the agencies that are responsible for enforcement of regulations resulting in record pollution, and some of the most unsafe working
conditions we have seen in a long time as well as record profits for many in the energy industry. Our natural resources have been sold off faster than anytime in recent history, many times with more of the no-bid contract style of paying back campaign donors to the Republican party and more and more corporations are being allowed to rid themselves of pension obligations putting more retirees in lower income brackets while the CEO's of those companies are bailing out with even larger golden parachutes.
" When a natural disaster struck our gulf coast, emergency response was dismal at best, and lethal at worst. The lack of a well executed federal response was infuriating to say the least, and a national embarrassment. The media has not done their job, being on the short leash held by their corporate owners so the corruption in politics now coming out is catching many by surprise.
" I am frustrated beyond belief that so many people just don't seem to care, or are simply asleep, but as much as I like to respect the office of the President of the United States of America, George W. Bush is, in my opinion, the worst President we have ever had. Period. I don't hate him or the Republican party, I hate what they are doing to our country, to the world, and that they are doing it in our name."
posted by Dave Congalton at
1/07/2006 10:01:00 AM
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3 comments
