From The Morning Call -- August 28, 2004
George W. Bush, who expresses horror over Saddam Hussein's human rights atrocities, has little to say about China's human rights record. The president's ''pro-life'' supporters should examine China's policies, which include using abortion as a population-control technique. But again, let's avoid this uncomfortable subject. China is helping Bush's friends earn billions of dollars, and we wouldn't want to offend. North Korea is another really frightening communist country, yet thousands of American troops are being removed from South Korea to burnish the president's image in the upcoming election.
Former President Bill Clinton has noted that he himself could have gone to Vietnam but opted not to. Clinton observed that Bush and Cheney also could have gone, but opted not to. Dick Cheney has explained this by saying, ''I had other priorities at the time.''
Republicans are determined to re-examine what was happening in Vietnam during the Cold War 35 years ago, so it behooves us to take a field trip back into history. As a child, I learned that communism was an evil system. I still catch myself using the phrase: ''Red China.'' At chambers of commerce meetings or at the Business Roundtable, that awful place is now ''The Peoples' Republic of China.'' I certainly wouldn't want to refer pejoratively to communists who now help our big corporations make so much money. China also supplied much of the weaponry that killed our soldiers in Vietnam, but we should put that technicality behind us now. In the words of Calvin Coolidge: The business of America is business. Sarcasm aside, it is appalling that ''patriotic'' American capitalists are making huge profits using communist nations to manufacture goods for American markets
The right-wing conspiracy theorists, exposed by The New York Times as being long-time supporters and associates of the two Presidents Bush and the current political adviser Karl Rove, claim Kerry duped the United States into awarding him those medals. This disrespectfully implies that the entire military was duped into handing out phony medals. President Bush, asked by broadcaster Larry King if he would denounce the ads being run by these slanderers, refused to do so. Bush, who has a history of smearing Vietnam heroes like John McCain, disingenuously distances himself from these attack ads. Chicago Tribune editor William B. Rood, the only surviving naval officer other than Kerry who commanded one of the three Swift boats on Feb. 28, 1969, broke his 35-year silence to forcefully denounce the anti-Kerry ads. (In case you really believe George Bush has nothing to do with the group that calls itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, do a Google search on its principals: Merrie Spaeth, Tex Lazar, Margaret Wilson, Harriett O'Neill, Harlan Crow or Bob J. Perry.
George W. Bush, who expresses horror over Saddam Hussein's human rights atrocities, has little to say about China's human rights record. The president's ''pro-life'' supporters should examine China's policies, which include using abortion as a population-control technique. But again, let's avoid this uncomfortable subject. China is helping Bush's friends earn billions of dollars, and we wouldn't want to offend. North Korea is another really frightening communist country, yet thousands of American troops are being removed from South Korea to burnish the president's image in the upcoming election.
Former President Bill Clinton has noted that he himself could have gone to Vietnam but opted not to. Clinton observed that Bush and Cheney also could have gone, but opted not to. Dick Cheney has explained this by saying, ''I had other priorities at the time.''
Republicans are determined to re-examine what was happening in Vietnam during the Cold War 35 years ago, so it behooves us to take a field trip back into history. As a child, I learned that communism was an evil system. I still catch myself using the phrase: ''Red China.'' At chambers of commerce meetings or at the Business Roundtable, that awful place is now ''The Peoples' Republic of China.'' I certainly wouldn't want to refer pejoratively to communists who now help our big corporations make so much money. China also supplied much of the weaponry that killed our soldiers in Vietnam, but we should put that technicality behind us now. In the words of Calvin Coolidge: The business of America is business. Sarcasm aside, it is appalling that ''patriotic'' American capitalists are making huge profits using communist nations to manufacture goods for American markets
The right-wing conspiracy theorists, exposed by The New York Times as being long-time supporters and associates of the two Presidents Bush and the current political adviser Karl Rove, claim Kerry duped the United States into awarding him those medals. This disrespectfully implies that the entire military was duped into handing out phony medals. President Bush, asked by broadcaster Larry King if he would denounce the ads being run by these slanderers, refused to do so. Bush, who has a history of smearing Vietnam heroes like John McCain, disingenuously distances himself from these attack ads. Chicago Tribune editor William B. Rood, the only surviving naval officer other than Kerry who commanded one of the three Swift boats on Feb. 28, 1969, broke his 35-year silence to forcefully denounce the anti-Kerry ads. (In case you really believe George Bush has nothing to do with the group that calls itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, do a Google search on its principals: Merrie Spaeth, Tex Lazar, Margaret Wilson, Harriett O'Neill, Harlan Crow or Bob J. Perry.
