|
CounterPunch
October
5, 2002
Memo to Junior:
You Owe Us Nader Voters as Much as Kenny Boy. Now Listen....
Remember Florida, Dubya?
by PHILIP FARRUGGIO
Dear Junior
Well, I must say that you should thank
me, and you owe me one. I was one of those responsible for your
election in 2000. I'm a Floridian who did not vote for you, but
helped you win all the more. That's right Junior, I voted for
Nader (and would again). If he were President now, I trust you
know (deep inside you must) that we would not be in the mess
we now face.
Why?
Well, first off, there would be no "Bush
Doctrine" of putting our noses all over the world (and our
troops and assorted military hardware). Now I would have thought
you of all people, Junior, would have remembered that from "Nam".
You remember "Nam", don't you? That was during the
late 60s when I withdrew behind my student deferment because
like Muhamed Ali "I got nothin against those Viet Cong",
while you publically supported the war.
Matter of fact, while Navy pilot (now
Sen.) McCain was being held prisoner in Vietnam, you, Junio,r
were protecting Texas from any Viet Cong air attacks (guess
you forgot they had no air force).
Fast forward 35 years, and you now plan
to send tens of thousands of our working class kids to risk
death in Iraq, while our weaponry destroys an equal (if not greater)
number of civilians there. I guess you forgot about all the "evil
regimes" this country has and does support all over the
globe. Junior, did you ever think that by "taking out Iraq"
( a sovereign nation by the way), what you officially declare
our Republic to be? I wonder if you had boys and not girls, Junior,
if they would be sent to the deserts to "defend America
and the world from tyranny"? Or would they too be flying
over Texas defending the skies?
Now, since you owe me Junior as much
as all those "Kenny Boys" out there who financed your
runs for office, let's talk turkey (and Iraq). Old Kenny boy
and the others got access to the White House ear and who knows
what other favors. Here's what I need to have done:
A) call off this obvious unconstitutional
plan involving Iraq. While you're doing that, begin dismantling
some of our myriads of military bases worldwide.
B) cut the defense budget and funnel
the monies saved into strong, as you call it (I hate the word)
"Homeland" defense. Really protect our ports, our airports,
rail systems etc from terrorism.Tell your friends at the "war
industries" to begin converting their equipment that builds
"weapons of mass destruction" into other more
peaceful and useful products.
C) Push Congress to pass "Clean
Election Laws" so as to take all private money out of political
campaigns. Urge states to do the same. Pressure Congress to pass
tough laws restricting the use of lobbyists, who only prostitute
our Legislative system.
D) Pressure Congress to give all Americans
the same health coverage you all now enjoy. Junior, it's called
"Universal Medicare", and everyone (including you in
gov't who get the free ride) contributes according to income.
E) Take some of the savings from the
defense cuts and lesser military presence, and use it to fix
and build more and better schools,and pay teachers, fire and
police personnel fairer wages. Make our U.S. rail system on
par with Europe and Japan, thus saving Americans billions of
dollars in gasoline use, plus lowering pollution levels.( sorry,
I must have struck a nerve there Junior- forgot about the oil
industry and your family).
I could go on, but you get my drift Well,
hope you consider my needs as much as you did the "fat cats"
who financed you. Remember Junior, if it wasn't for me, I'd be
writing "President Gore" now.
Regards,
Philip Farruggio
Philip Farruggio,
son of a longshoreman, is "Blue Collar Brooklyn" born,
raised and educated (Brooklyn College, Class of '74). A former
progressive talk show host, Philip runs a mfg. rep. business
and writes for many publications. He lives in Port Orange, FL.
You can contact Mr. Farruggio at e-mail: brooklynphilly@aol.com.
Today's Features
Gary Leupp
Talking
to Your Kids About Fascism
Will Youmans
The New
Anti-Apartheid Movement: The Campaign to Divest from Israel
Deb Reich
Report from a Mad World
Todd Chretien & Sue Sandlin
"It's All About Power on the
Docks"
Kurt Nimmo
Poetry
as Treason
Amiri Baraka
Somebody
Blew Up America
Alexander Cockburn
October Surprises
New
Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- Hunting Commie Perverts:
The Scarlet Professor
- DC's Best Political
Mind; DC's Most Dangerous Man;
- Dershowitz the Torturer:
Guess Why He Wants Clean Needles;
- Lese Majeste: That's
Against the Law Too;
- The Greatest Endorsement
AAA Will Ever Get;
- Merle Haggard on Civil
Liberties;
- Dullness Hailed: The Press on the Defeat of McKinney,
Traficant and Barr;
- National Review Puffs
into Town.
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|
October 2,
2002
Carol Wolman,
MD
Is the
President Nuts?
Diagnosing Dubya
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Something
Rotten in Klamath
Linda S. Heard
Might Sharon
Nuke Iraq?
Joanne Mariner
When
the Judge Says:
"I Botched It"
Peter P. Mahoney
A Vietnam
Vet Makes the
Case Against War on Iraq
Mark Engler
From the
Quarantine
Agaisnt Greed
Uri Avnery
Manufacturing
Anti-Semites
Jennifer Berkshire
Converging Against Capitalism
October 1,
2002
Benjamin Shepard
On the
Road Again:
IMF/World Bank Protest
Reveal a Revived
Movement for Global Justice
Dr. Susan
Block
Cockfight
at the
Baghdad Corral
Krystal Kyer
Growing Union Opposition
to War
Ron Jacobs
Born Without a Spine
Scott Loughrey
Mysteries
of 9/11
Jeremy Brecher
Collective
Security is Working
Brenda Norrell
Troy
Black Feather on
the American Flag
Sam Bahour
Wake Up
and Smell
the Occupation
Richard Harth
Contrary
to Reason:
Adieu, Hitchens, Adieu
Carol Norris
Rumsfeld
the Surrealist:
Things Related and Not
Ben Tripp
Lists Upon
Lists
September
30, 2002
Rep. Barbara
Lee
Alternatives
to War
Kurt Nimmo
Iraq: The
Vision
of the Velociraptors
Zeynep Toufe
"We
Own the World, We Ignore the Children"
Dave Marsh
The Troubador's
Highway
Tariq Ali
Taking
It to London's Streets
Neve Gordon
Bush's
War of Self-Adulation
September
25 / 29, 2002
Alexander
Cockburn
The
Dogs of War,
the Bears of Wall Street
Ben Tripp
Hunting with George
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Haywire: Boeing's New Navy Fighter Fails Bomb Tests
Joanne Mariner
Naming Genocide
James T. Philips
Riding to Maine
Anis Shivani
Life of a Bum
David Vest
Too True North
Jacob Levich
Case of the Missing Terrorist
William MacDougall
British Immigration Tests
Edward Hammond
Pentagon Develops Illegal Chemical Weapons Capability
Molly Secours
Bush's "I" Words:
Intervention & Impeachment
Edward Lazarus
Civil Liberties After 9/11
Lee Sustar
Employers Attack
Anthony Gancarski
Ledeen's Mad World
Krystal Kyer
Bush the Magician
David Wiggins
West Point Grad:
Bush Threatens World Peace
September
24, 2002
Chet Batsmack,
American
The American
Century
Paul de Rooij
Smear Mongers
George Szamuely
International
Kangaroo Courts
Jack Wheeler
Janet Reno: America's Saddam?
Linda S. Heard
Portrait
of Uncle Sam
Gary Leupp
Random
Thoughts on Anti-Americanism
Wayne Madsen
Germany
Leads the Way
William Hughes
George
Will: War Pimp
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By
Alexander Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
|