Letters to the editor

A letter to the editor I wrote to the Spokesman Review on September 8th was finally published today, October 16th. I have no idea why it was held over for so long. Happily, it was still more or less relevant.

A letter I wrote on August 30th was never published. It contained a list and I was told that the paper didn’t publish lists of things. So I will repeat it here:

“I didn’t realize the 2004 Presidential election was about who earned their medals and who did not. I assumed it was about whether Bush/Cheney deserved to be elected for a four year term on the basis of their accomplishments to date. I expected to hear about:

unemployment
economy and national debt
social security
treason (outing of CIA operative)
poverty and health insurance
the environment
failures in Afghanistan and Iraq
failure of the so-called “road map”
the secret Cheney energy plan
intelligence failures
lies that led us to “war”
war profiteering
the “Patriot Act”
torturing prisoners
possible criminal acts by the Vice President
our lost credibility in world affairs

It is not surprising that Bush/Cheney do not want to discuss these issues. It is also not surprising that Bush/Cheney do not want John Kerry to discuss them either. So let us just continue to argue over the medals while the United States continues to slide further and further into the dustbin of history and the gutter of international relations.”

On a more recent note, three teachers were removed from a Bush speech and threatened with arrest. Their violation: wearing t-shirts that said “Protect Our Civil Liberties.” One would think that not even proto-fascists would have the nerve to publicly object to protecting civil liberties (however much they seem to have no desire to protect them).

There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the Republicans are embarked on a highly coordinated nation wide campaign to illegally interfere with the democratic process. In state after state there have now been instances of attempts to alter voting rolls, intimidate voters, failures to produce enough ballots, actually altering requests for absentee ballots, attempting to avoid having to leave a paper trail of votes, etc., etc.

In the meanwhile Bush/Cheney keep appearing before their apparently totally mindless carefully screened supporters telling lie after lie and being wildly cheered by what increasingly seems to be an out of control mob screaming for even more blood and violence. If you do not see the threat of fascism here you are simply looking in the wrong direction. These corporate nazis and lunatic fundamentalists cannot be allowed to take over our beautiful and wonderful country.

Bush/Cheney - WMD’s