Thankyou, Tom

Every once in a while, I watch Fox News, listen to Rush Limbaugh, or read the Editorials in the Knoxville News Sentinel. I do this, not to self inflict a brutish punishment, but in order to understand why people around me believe the goofy things they believe.

Yes, there are some thoughtful editorialists, like Don Williams and Molly Ivans, who will get called names by the writers of letters to the editor...Liberal, being chief among them. Those writers will never, never, never, offer a reasoned and factual rebuttal. Since the right wing can't rebutt Bill Moyers, they scream insults. Conservatives have always been quick to insult and slow to reason, but things have risen to a fever pitch at present.

I have to remind myself, when I see the likes of David Brooks, Bill Krystal, Brit Hume, or Sean Hannity, that the reason they sound batshit crazy is not because they are...not all of them, anyway.

No, the reason Sean Hannity will tell you that George Bush is a good President, the war in Iraq is going just peachy, and that Tom DeLay is a good Congressman...the reason these people will tell you a well chosen lie, and all look smilingly at each other and nod their heads in agreement...is that they all feed at the same pig trough of corporate money.

The reason George W. Bush has no real plan to hold down the cost of gasoline is the same reason that Dick Cheney has no real plan to end the war in Iraq, and it is the same reason that Senator Bill Frist has no plans whatsoever to hold down the cost of medical care for the average person. Bush is deeply indebted to the Saudis for his personal fortune (and we are just beginning to find out what the Carlyle Group is up to), Cheney has greatly increased his personal fortune while in office thanks to the war proffiteering of Halliburton, and Senator Frist has personally driven the cost of Medicare through the roof and eliminated hundreds of million dollars in fines for the family business, HCA.

The reason Tom DeLay's deeds are so evil and wicked is not just that his personal ethics would disgust a Sicilian gangster, it is that America is harmed in a deep and lasting way by his actions.

The concept of "one person, one vote" has been driven from the electoral lexicon by allowing corporate money into elections. It is now, "one dollar, one vote!" The State of Texas passed laws to eliminate corporate money form their state elections. Corporate money is exactly what Tom Delay was so good at delivering for politicians who are willing to bend over and lube up for the interests of corporations.

Wonder why tobacco is still legal? Corporate money given to poiticians.

Wonder why it is legal for one corporation to own all the newspapers and television stations in a major media market? Corporate money given to politicians.

Wonder why it is legal for power companies to belch the very pollutants that have been nailed as causing up to thirty thousand premature deaths a year in the eastern United States?

(...ever also,, wonder why you know so many children with asthma and it didn't used to be that way?)

Corporate money given to politicians.

And wonder why corporate money being given to politicians is legal in the first place? Corporate money being laundered...and given to politicians.

Wonder why Tom DeLay has been indicted and why his crime is such a great and evil thing? Tom DeLay is guilty of funneling millions and millions of dollars into the electoral process in order to make sure that your vote is not well informed...

Corporate dollars aimed at keeping you, the voter, from having any clue as to what evil schemes are afoot.

Informed and thoughtful voters are crucial to the very survival of American Democracy. Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Madison...All of those guys thought so.

Bush, Cheney, DeLay, Hastert, Frist...They don't think you should be informed.

Hannity, Limbaugh, Brooks, O'Reilly...It is the Corporate Media that pays them to think what they think and say what they say. The Knoxville News Sentinel censors its columnists as much as Fox news for exactly the same reason...

Corporate money.

Now make this connection! The Saudis and other Middle Eastern interests have been given the lion's share of all our oil money over the years. You know it's true!

Did you also know that the Saudis alone, own between 7 and 11% of the Corporate interests in America? Osama Bin Laden's family being chief among them...

The Bin Ladens...Set George W. Bush up in his first oil business...Are one of the main financial interests behind the Carlyle Group...the defense industry conglomerate, for which, George H. W. Bush has the front man.

All possible because of Corporate money being allowed to flow to our elected officials.

Thankyou, Mr. DeLay, for your part in ruining America.

Peace,

Steve

*****

Michael Moore has a new letter:

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?...

...

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?

Michael Moore

Letter from Michael