A friend sent me this and as you can see I liked it enough to post it. I don't agree with every word 100% but almost. Clinton played a large part in the deregulation on Wall Street and that let the bats out of their cage. Bush had time to fix it and he didn't. Bush passed the Patriot Act which is just one of the many things he got wrong and O'bama has not fixed them. In fact he just extended the Patriot Act for four more years. I have friends who say that I am an O'bama supporter and that I never complain about him. I try not to use names on here but I am going to make an exception. Quetta, O'bama was wrong to extend the Patriot Act. He should end it along with many of the things your best friend and favorite President George W. Bush did during his 8 years. See I can complain about him too. Anyway here is the e-mail. Enjoy and think.
Remember these? Americans have a short attention and memory. They will transfer these abominations of Governmental leadership from the Bush/Cheney years to the Obama administration, regardless of the truth in History. And you know why? Even well-meaning Americans will be seduced by the dark side.
After The 8 Years Of The Bush/Cheney Disaster, Now You Get Mad?
You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate Energy policy and push us to invade Iraq.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.
You didn't get mad when we spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.
You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined budget and current account deficits.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
You didn't get mad when we gave people who had more money than they could spend, the filthy rich, over a trillion dollars in tax breaks.
You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of job creations in several decades.
You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US Citizens lost their lives because they had no health insurance.
You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement, and home values.
You finally got mad
When a black man was elected President and decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, job losses by the millions, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, and the worst economic disaster since 1929 are all okay with you, but helping fellow Americans who are sick...Oh, Hell No!!
Thank you Lee for pointing out the most important thing that was left off the list and I should have caught it.
No one seem to be mad about the fact that as of 31 May 2011 49,856 soldiers have been killed and/or injured in the War on Terror. That number should be shameful but the truth is far too many people just don't give a damn. http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/gwot_reason.pdf
And you did not get mad when over 3000 Americans soldiers lost their lives when it was not needed.
ReplyDeleteYou and Thank Mr. Bush for that each and every day.
47,017 American deaths during GWOT? Really? Might want to check that number. Some of the other points on your list, like the health insurance reference, is something that was like that long before Bush. The fact that you put a torture comment and a Bin Laden comment on the same list is a bit ironic, since we used enhanced interrogation techniques to get the intel that led to UBL. Lastly, I don't think any President can stop or prevent an act of nature, or if they can, should we blame Obama for the worst year of tornado related deaths in US recorded history? Of course not. People who chose to live below the water table between a lake, a river, and the Gulf, were there on borrowed time. Should the response have been better, absolutely, but the majority of that fault was due to the local and state levels of government.
ReplyDeleteI did check the number and it was a little low. I posted the correction and the DOD website that I got the information from. I know we talked about this and I said I would post a response.
ReplyDeleteOn health care: I didn't say health care was Bush's fault. I said 200,000 people lost their lives because they didn't have health care and people were not mad about it.
On Torture: I don't find it ironic at all to mention it with Bin Laden. Enhanced interrogation techniques are a fancy way of saying torture. The fact that they changed the name tells you that it is wrong. It way wrong when it was done to our military members and it is wrong for us to do it to anyone. It was banned by the Geneva Conventions for a reason and we signed on to it. Rules and laws are created during times of peace to prevent actions during times of war. It is done that way because during war people are afraid. That fear will allow people to do the unimaginable. Torture is wrong no matter who does it. If torture worked, like in the ticking time bomb situation most people like to use to justify it, why did it take so long? Why did it take two Bush administrations and half way thru Obama's first administration before they got the target? Because it doesn't work, that is way it is not ironic.
On New Orleans: I didn't blame Bush for the storm. I blame him for not helping the people. The blame does not end with him. I also blame the Mayor, police and the Governor. They are all at fault. For that city there is no excuse for what they let happen. I had someone tell me one time. "Why should we try to help people when the helpers are being shot at"? At the time there were reports on TV that rescue people were being shot at. My response to him was "So you think we should leave the Middle East because we are being shot at"? Just so you know, Obama has done a very sad job with the oil spill in the Gulf and with Wall Street. It’s not just Bush.
You should give Fox News a break.
Very interesting stuff on that PDF of the casualties. As you and I talked about, I misread your initial post (thought you were saying 47k deaths not both). I think it's a slightly misleading way of stating it. I.e. 6000 some odd deaths and 43k injuries. One of the most interesting things on there was under the OIF wounded(by hostile action) column in the injured by NBC weaponry row...21 wounded by something that everyone keeps saying Iraq didn't have. (Even though it's a matter of public record that Saddam used them on the Kurds).
ReplyDeleteAs for torture vs. enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs), I do think there is a difference. Water boarding is extreme, and I would agree falls in the torture category (although we do train our own tier 1 personnel in how it will feel if it were to be used against them). However, my point being that they want to do away with all EITs. Things like sleep deprivation, taking away creature comforts, etc. Things that are used in US police departments across the country every day. After having spent 2+ years of my life in Iraq, and seeing the "above and beyond" treatment prisoners received (specifically at Camp Cropper, the main Iraq facility used post Abu Ghrab), I feel I can speak with some authority. There were days when due to water shortages, that soldiers couldn't take a 5min shower, but the prisoners had enough to wash their feet prior to praying. As in, that was the higher priority for the water trucks. Perhaps I'm ranting a bit, but my point is they were treated very well. If to save one of our soldiers lives, we have to disrupt some sleep or make a guy miss a meal (both EITs)...so be it! The information our guys got did take years to pan out (name of a courier). Who knows how much time and money was spent trying to track down that guy, I'm sure it was a lot though. It's not like we could go door to door throughout Pakistan.
Are you saying there would be 200,000 more people alive today if they all had had health insurance? Really? So people without insurance don't get treated? I seem to recall some COBRA rules that went against that.
Lastly, there is a slight flaw in your analogy between Katrina responders and soldiers overseas, soldiers are trained and prepared to be shot at. EMTs, not so much. You should know that better than most..."Is the scene safe?" How many times have we said/heard that working in emergency pre-hospital medicine?
If I remember correctly Sadam used those weapons in the early 90s. I don't recall anyone saying he didn't have Bio weapons. Let us not forget Bush sent us into Iraq for WMD. More to the point was them saying weapons that could produce a mushroom cloud. They repeated that mushroom cloud bit over and over on every network that would have them (if you want me to I can post some video). Nerve agents had nothing to do with it. So let’s stay on point. There were NO nukes. People died from that mistake, lots of them. The American public should be outraged for that alone. Also do you really think Bush cared about the Kurds? C'mon man
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to torture: We should NOT do ANYTHING that is listed in the Geneva Convention as torture. It is that simple. To say that we do it to our own soldiers is apples to oranges. Meaning would you feel the same if I pointed a gun at you as opposed to someone you didn't know? I think it would be different. Like you said we have an all-volunteer military so those tier 1 soldiers volunteered for it.
With healthcare I think you are messing with me. COBRA only works if you had insurance with your employer and then got laid off. Even then it is only temporary. Sure you can get emergency care and you get a huge bill. Chronic health care and maintenance drugs require insurance. You worked in healthcare so I know you know this.
With Katrina I meant sending and asking for military troops. If the Mayor and Governor couldn't do it then Bush should have sent in the military. My point is using active duty, reserve or National Guard. Whatever it took. Not local EMT. I said "is the scene safe too many times".