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The World According to Scott
This is the section of my site that is strictly reserved for my opinions, my beliefs, and whatever I feel like talking about at the moment. It's updated generally on a fairly regular basis, so check back to see what the most recent things on my mind are.
The views and opinions expressed on this page do not reflect that of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department or Cornell University.
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Back in April 04, I posted something about an old Bugs Bunny cartoon that I didn't know the original title of. I got an email today from someone who had Google-d the name of the cartoon (see search here, my site is the 2nd listing on the page) & came across the Soapbox. Turns out, the actual name of the cartoon is "Bushy Hare," which I don't think I've ever known. My thanks to Paulie Leadbetter for the info. It's funny how you post things & completely forget about them until someone else comes across them in some random way...
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I'm subscribed to Michael Moore's list-serv. Just got the following text in an email today, thought it was worth posting. He's saying a lot of things that I am hoping more & more Americans either agree with, or will hopefully come around to agreeing with. Time will tell.
A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore
To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:
On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?
How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were
attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was
that he ran horse shows?
That's right. Horse shows.
I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due
respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your
safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about
how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in
America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the
last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the
right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect
us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.
I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of
Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just
talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.
Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show
runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero
experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?
When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with
little experience in national security, do you feel secure?
When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in
battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a
war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that
was never there?
Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private
corporations has resulted in better services for the people?
Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians
for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal
government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army
Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?
With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich
are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of
homeless in New Orleans can have a home?
Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we
treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that
we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water
rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer
and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat
cake.
That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush,
John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day
after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr.
Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New
Orleans sank under water.
It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo
jet, peeking out the widow at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to
his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of
federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting
trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing
nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a
heck of a job!"
My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the
world?
And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who
died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as
vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the
3,000 die in vain?
Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural
disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans
to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six
children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent
sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills
and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.
Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so
many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing
through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until
that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil
themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street
that maybe the problem will somehow go away?
I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up
for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did
this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is
yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be
fixed. What do you propose?
I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.
Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com
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