Posts Made By: Joe Lentz

This lawnmower is a 1969 Cub Cadet garden tractor. I've rebuilt it a couple of times and something breaks down on it a couple times a year. That said, it's otherwise reliable and gets the job done. No small feat given the 2 acres of grass and weeds it works out on every week. Politically speaking I'd have to say it's an independent. Sorry if I rattled anyones chain too hard today, I was bored and thought the forum was kind of quiet.

However, we cannot sit on our laurels because as the article says the libs have spread out to every socialist, communist and terrorist harboring country to find friends that will do what ever it takes to get their guy in.

Jim, if you really believe this (and I fear you do), then you are one sick puppy.

Civil disobedience has been an important tradition in this country, and has been responsible for many of the steps forward we have made in this society... not to mention it's role in the founding of our country.

Too much power in the hands of the government when used against it's citizens is NEVER a good thing. I would be careful about cheering on this sort of thing. The FBI doing it's job is one thing; harrassment and intimidation are quite another.

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny.

- Thomas Jefferson

Good old Tom, can't quote him enough.

Seems the legal system may be using some of the new laws and rulings to prevent problems.

Maybe so Bill, and if the intent is to prevent any violent disruptions, then fine. But some "problems" are just growing pains. I for one like the idea that the international community might see some americans actively protesting the Bush phenomenon. It's a healthy form of political expression that can be used by people who otherwise feel they don't have a voice.

More whacked out trash designed to appeal to weak minds. We've seen it before and will see it again. Too bad it actually works... on some folks. So this is how some people choose to reward a man's service in combat to his country? Pretty freakin sad.

One would think service in wartime would transcend all the partisan crap. Would you guys have respected Kerry more if he'd come back with a couple less limbs? Would that be enough for you? Because it could have easily happened. There were plenty of troops over there for a shorter time than he was who didn't come back.

If you don't like him fine, don't vote for him, but you might want to give the BS a rest.

Joseph, this same matter was also discussed in an article in today's Washington Post. Here is an excerpt:

Members of Kerry's crew have come to his defense, as has Rassmann, the Special Forces officer whom he fished from the river. Rassmann says he has vivid memories of being fired at from both banks after he fell into the river and as Kerry came to his rescue. The two had an emotional reunion on the eve of the Iowa Democratic caucuses in January, an event that some political analysts believe helped swing votes to Kerry at a crucial time.

The Bronze Star recommendations for both Kerry and Thurlow were signed by Lt. Cmdr. George M. Elliott, who received reports on the incident from his base in the Gulf of Thailand. Elliott is a supporter of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and has questioned Kerry's actions in Vietnam. But he has refused repeated requests for an interview after issuing conflicting statements to the Boston Globe about whether Kerry deserved a Silver Star. He was unreachable last night.

Interesting eh?

Sorry to bump up an old thread, but this is a current piece that came out on th subject today, and I thought it was relevant to the original thread. Events in Iraq tend to overshadow much of what goes on in the rest of the world, so I see this as an opportunity to do some informing on certain events in South America, and how the US is involved:

Chavez Victory: Defeat for Bush Policy

By Marjorie Cohn

t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Friday 20 August 2004

The Bush administration is gritting its collective teeth at the outcome of Sunday’s recall election in Venezuela, which overwhelmingly affirmed President Hugo Chavez’s tenure. If President Jimmy Carter had not lent his enormous credibility to the election results, Bush and his minions would surely be crying foul in unison with the opposition.

Chavez was popularly elected by his countrymen and women in 1998 and 2000. Yet in spite of Bush’s claims to support democracy around the world, his administration has given succor those trying to overthrow Chavez’s government before, during and since the aborted coup in April 2002.

Officials at the Organization of American States affirmed that the Bush administration had sanctioned the coup. Bush’s then-Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Otto Reich, met with leaders of the coup for months before it was executed. Elliot Abrams, one of the neoconservative policymakers in Bush’s inner circle, approved the coup, according to the London Observer. And John Negroponte, now our ambassador to Iraq, was in on it, too.

Reich, Abrams and Negroponte comprised the troika that administered the “Reagan doctrine” in the 1980s, which supported vicious dictatorships in Central America, including those in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

As documented in the film, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” Chavez was forcibly removed from the presidential palace on April 11, 2002 by forces acting on behalf of Venezuela’s propertied class. Pedro Carmona, head of Venezuela’s confederation of business and industry, declared himself president. Within hours, Carmona purported to repeal laws enacted under Chavez that the executives of foreign oil companies opposed.

Forty-eight hours later, after thousands of workers and peasants stormed the palace demanding Chavez’s return to power, the military did an about-face and brought him back. The filmmakers, fortuitously present at the scene, were caught inside the palace and filmed the class struggle that played out with Chavez’s ouster and reinstatement.

Former U.S. Navy intelligence officer Wayne Madsen told the Guardian that our navy helped with communications jamming support to the Venezuelan military during the would-be coup. An American plane was present on the island to which Chavez was whisked away. The Bush administration provided financial backing to key participants in the coup attempt, which resulted in the deaths of 19 people.

Chavez incurred the wrath of Team Bush by championing the interests of the working class over the oil-igarchy in Venezuela. The fifth largest oil supplier in the world, Venezuela is a key provider of U.S. petroleum. By using oil profits to help his people instead of the multinational corporations, Chavez created an alternative model to Bush-backed neoliberal globalization.

The rest of this article can be found at:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/082004A.shtml

This tells me that we need to find some accommodation between our fear of racial profiling and the abandonment of common sense. Obviously some old white guy like Ted isn't what we should be looking for in the way of Al Queda threats.

Kevin, what I want to know is; does he get a shoe phone?

Well I guess Georgie didn't have to worry about anyone shooting at him safe in Alabama did he Ronald. At least Kerry had the guts to go over there and put himself in harms way... unlike GWB. Common sense tells the story, but some folks are happy to abandon common sense in the service of partisanship.