Bushisms and Other Ridiculous Ideas

Dear Lou,

I have been a regular viewer for over a decade, dating back to Moneyline. Oftentimes we differ, but I have consistently respected your comments and opinions, and your dedication to fair reporting and to exposing injustice whereever you find it. But I have no compunction about calling your bluff on this one. I hope you take the time to read what I have to say.

I watched your program Lou Dobbs - 22 September 2006, and the report and commentary regarding Hugo Chavez's public remarks in New York. During the broadcast you made two conflicting statements which demonstrate that we are a nation victimized by ignorance resultant from media sound bites predigested for the short attention span appetite; media included.

In one statement you rejected uncivil discourse with the sentence: "I take exception to all name calling." Yet on five occasions you engaged in it, to wit:

Don't feel ashamed ever to be Hispanic because of the actions
of this idiot... they are idiots out there doing all sorts of nonsense...

I really think in 2006 and I really fervently believe this, I think we have come a long way from listening to some idiot from Venezuela, who is a certified, card carrying idiot, have any reflection on anybody in this country except for those people who showed up to, you know, hold hands with him, like Danny Grover (sic) and a few of the other jerks.

In the interest of retention of the moral high ground and in me as a card-carrying viewer, please continue, as you have for so many years, to rise above trivializing yourself with such indignities.

Chavez's public remarks in New York, although distasteful to many, threatened no one and are protected by virtue of the fact he was standing upon U.S. soil when he made them. It is this protection that makes us what we are--or are supposed to be-- as a nation: the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. And the fact is that George W. Bush is a self confessed--yet untreated--alcoholic, who is known to have a bad temper.

Further, I ask you to consider some of Chavez's words in his address to the his Remarks by President Hugo Chavez at United Nations:

What type of democracy do you impose with marines and bombs?...

The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It’s not that we are extremists. It’s that the world is waking up. It’s waking up all over. And people are standing up...

Yes, you can call us extremists, but we are rising up against the empire, against the model of domination...

Yesterday, the secretary general practically gave us his speech of farewell. And he recognized that over the last 10 years, things have just gotten more complicated; hunger, poverty, violence, human rights violations have just worsened.

Lou, are these the words of an idiot, of a jerk? Frankly, I can easily imagine these pleas superimposed among similar words of our own forefathers during the Second Continental Congress' debate over independence.

Wasn't it Benjamin Franklin who said something about: 'A Rebel,' when referred to in the third person is a traitor, yet in the first person is a Patriot?

Chavez's ego notwithstanding, he is right about one thing. The U.S. is becoming increasingly unpopular around the world, primarily for one reason: George W. Bush. His policies and rhetoric taste of tyranny at home and abroad.

Finally, like you, there is a lot to like about Charlie Rangel. When Cong. Rangel Condemns Chavez's Attack On Bush, he is not without support.

George Bush is the President of the United States and represents the entire country. Any demeaning public attack against him is viewed by Republicans and Democrats, and all Americans, as an attack on all of us.

But as one of all Americans, I do not feel attacked or threatened; moreover ashamed of what this President and his administration have done to foster such hostility from the rest of the world towards all of us as a free nation and as democratic people.

You should too, Lou.

Sincerely,
JR Ford
UP (Unsubstantiated Press)
St. Petersburg, Fl.
sixtimeseven@aol.com

"There is no such ideal as the moral philosophy as Neo-Conservatism. It is but a perverse euphemism for the immoral discipline of Neo-Fascism." -- JR Ford, Jul 2006.

"Once you get to Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clear what kind of government you put in place of the one that's currently there now. Is it going to be a Shia regime, a Sunni regime, a Kurdish regime? Or one that tilts toward the Baathists, or one that tilts toward Islamic fundamentalists? How much credibility is that going to have if it's set up by the American military there? How long does the United States military have to stay there to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens once we leave?" -- Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, 1991.

TPMmuckraker September 18, 2006 02:10 PM
Halliburton to Wounded Employee: You'll Get a Medal -- If You Don't
Sue - By Justin Rood - September 18, 2006, 2:10 PM
Halliburton will help its combat-zone employees get the honors and recognition they deserve -- if they promise not to sue the company. That's according to new documents released today by Senate Democrats.

Ray Stannard was a truck driver in Iraq for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. In 2003, he was part of a fuel convoy that was ambushed by insurgents. Seven Americans died in the attack and 26 were injured, including Stannard. He is suing the company.

"The streets in Basra and Baghdad are sure to erupt in joy in the same way the throngs in Kabul greeted the Americans." -- Vice President Dick Cheney, August 2002.

On Monday, I watched on CSPAN the Democrats-only hearing (because no Republican committee chairman will hold any) which was the source of the documents referred to above. One of the witnessess was another former truck driver for KBR who had driven the same road earlier that same day. He claims he specifically advised the KBR contactor--prior to departure of the convoy that was attacked later when seven drivers were killed and driver Ray Stannard was wounded--not to send any more trucks on that road, that somebody would get killed.

An attorney for one of the plaintiffs said there are currently over 50 civil suits alleging fraud, overcharging and other malfeasence pertaining to KBR, yet the Justice Dept. has not filed a single charge. Justice has instead undertaken investigations, thus sealing all evidence the plaintiffs are seeking. Sealed evidence in cases pertinent to investigations is supposed to be unsealed after 60 days. Apparently, Justice has sought and received numerous extensions, effectively witholding the requested evidence for upwards to 2 years. (Read: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General at: Barnum & Bushly Circus.)

Further, the attorney said KBR claims it is not subject to civil suit in as much as it is sovereign, meaning KBR is an entity of the Department of Defense, ergo, the United States government. He stated that KBR representatives in Houston have said that they have "friends in high places," which they allege substantiates their claim of sovereignty. Wonder who they could be?

However, the private, cost-plus contract for fuel transportation awarded--no bid---to KBR was subcontracted through one of their subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven country. Thus, Halliburton/KBR is not only attempting to avoid prosecution with their claim of sovereignty, they are avoiding taxes on revenue earned from the contract.

A former Democratic House member on the same panel said he had asked the White House two years ago to see the contract, but never did. Why? Because the White House stonewalled.

In another Democrats-only hearing on CSPAN regarding congressional oversight, one witness was Clark Kent Irving, a former Bush recess appointee, who later was not confirmed because Democrat Joe Liebermann and one of the lady 'Publican senators from Maine blocked him. Irving said, along with others, that in all areas oversight by congress of the executive branch is virtually non-existant. Another witness whose name was Denis McDonough, or something like that, said quote: "(Congressional) oversight of intelligence is fundamentally broken."

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Other witnesses testified that KBR administrators considered requests for services from troops to be an annoyance, yet overtly bragged about enoromous profits being made in Iraq. KBR (a.k.a. BushCheneyCo) is blatantly fleecing the Federal treasury as their own personal cash cow, and and knowingly risking American lives purely for profit, and nobody does anything about it. Hopefully, Senators Dorgan and Durbin will continue to attempt to lasso them dogies, and skin 'em alive.

Strangely enough, on Tuesday, Dorgan and Durbin both spoke on the floor complaining about lack of oversight of fraud and profiteering by the do-nothing Republican congress. Afterwards, some red state Republican, I think the junior from Montana, got up to speak, ostensibly about progress in the area of border protection and illegal immigration (i.e. the War on Mexican Citizens), but pre-empted himself to respond to Dorgan and Durbin, and defend the Republican Congress claiming every piece of legislation they try to pass is filibustered by the Democrats. I'm still scratching my head as to how filibustering a bill on the floor of the Senate equates to not holding committee hearings to determine if our tax dollars are being spent as intended.

But where have I heard this story before? Oh yeah, 18 months ago!

Lopez Hodes Files Lawsuit Against KBR Halliburton for Wrongful Death of Contract Employee in Fuel Convoy Massacre
Newport Beach, CA—March 28, 2005—In the first of several lawsuits arising out of Halliburton's civilian-driven truck convoy of April 9, 2004 in Iraq, during which driver Tommy Hamill was taken hostage and six other drivers were killed by enemy insurgents, plaintiff in a California civil action entitled April Johnson, as the surviving daughter of decedent truck driver Tony Johnson vs. Halliburton and its subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, et al., alleges that Halliburton/KBR deployed its civilian truck drivers into a hostile active war zone despite knowledge from intelligence sources that there existed a substantial certainty the civilian drivers, moving in U.S. military vehicles, would be ambushed by Iraqi insurgents and killed or seriously injured. The drivers were following orders from Halliburton to deliver fuel to Baghdad International Airport ("BIAP").

According to the lawsuit, Halliburton intentionally sent the convoy as an enemy "decoy," in U.S. military camouflage vehicles, to ensure the safe arrival and delivery of a second H-KBR fuel convoy. As stated in earlier news reports, the lawsuit alleges that the doomed convoy was deployed for the sole purpose of KBR fulfilling its quotas of daily fuel deliveries, apparently specified under its U.S. government contract, without regard for the lives, safety, and well-being of its unarmed civilian employees.

The civil action filed on behalf of April Johnson, by the California-based Newport Beach law firm of Lopez, Hodes, Restaino, Milman & Skikos, alleges that Halliburton ordered the convoy in which Johnson was a driver, to take what was later discovered by the drivers to be a longer and extremely dangerous route to the airport's North Gate, along a highway that had been designated by both U. S. Military Forces and Halliburton/KBR's Central Command as a "black" zone – actively engaged in enemy attacks and military combat. Halliburton knew when it deployed its civilian drivers that that portion of the highway was to be avoided at all costs, especially by unarmed civilians driving U.S. military tankers. While Johnson's convoy was ordered to drive military camouflaged vehicles, ensuring the convoy would appear as a U.S. military operation and an enemy target, another KBR fuel delivery convoy simultaneously deployed to BIAP, was provided with European made Volvo and Mercedes civilian vehicles. This second convoy was directed to embark upon a shorter, more direct route and arrived at BIAP safely and without incident.

Halliburton knowingly failed to inform the drivers in Hamill's convoy before their departure of the "Black" status alert and instead informed the drivers that the road conditions were at a low "amber" status. Prior to being sent to Iraq, Halliburton assured the civilian drivers that they would not be driving "military-type " vehicles to transport fuel or supplies, as it was known that there existed a high level of insurgent hostility toward the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

In Houston, Texas, December 2003, Halliburton, KBR, and Service Employee's International, Inc. ("SEII") (Halliburton's Cayman Island subsidiary) recruited civilian employees from the U.S. to work in Iraq under assurances that the civilian workers would be placed in "100% safe" working conditions and engaged in peaceful rebuilding missions...

Receiving nothing more than hardhat helmets, bulky bulletproof vests, and outdated radio equipment, the unarmed civilian drivers, led by Tommy Hamill, unaware that their employer had planned and intended their tragic fate, boarded their unarmored, U.S. military camouflage-painted tankers, and departed to the airport along a route known by their employer and the U.S. military to be the location of constant enemy attacks...

To borrow an expression from Boll Weevil Jesse Helms: Gawd-a'mitey-dam! It only took 18 months to get to Capitol Hill.

After November, I don't care if a single piece of legislation is passed or rescinded for the next two years. We need to start taking back our government, and there needs to be a snowstorm of subpoenas and an inundation of investigations to do so.

JR Ford
UP (Unsubstantiated Press)
St. Petersburg, Fl.
sixtimeseven@aol.com

"If you are going to catch a 400 pound Black Mamba, someone is going to have to crawl into the Aardvark Burrow after him." -- JR Ford, Mar 2005.

Dear Keith,

Over the past two years I have watched Countdown with more regularity than any television program since SOAP. Each evening your acumen and tongue-in-cheek incisiveness are both informative and entertaining. As an interviewer you are fair and balanced, and Countdown's guests are usually representative of a cross section of opinion and unusually well informed. I admit I also have little or no interest in celebrity news, and simultaneously shake my head and chuckle over every episode of Worst Person in the World. No doubt these, as well as your personality and obvious character, have contributed to Countdown's uninterrupted climb in ratings since it's debut.

Last week, however, I questioned whether your personal address to Secretary Rumsfeld, albeit in every word truthful, may have been the blow that broke the belay of the chip on the bully's shoulder that might force a) GE/MSNBC to leave you dangling at the end of a precariously brittle limb or, b) a Ziegler-esque assault from the press room podium at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

"But among the crowds a little child suddenly gasped out, 'But he hasn't got anything on.' And the people began to whisper to one another what the child had said. 'He hasn't got anything on.' 'There's a little child saying he hasn't got anything on.' Till everyone was saying, 'But he hasn't got anything on.'"
-- Hans Christian Andersen.

After last evening it is glaringly obvious that yours is the one courageous voice that echos that the emperor has no clothes. After five years, there is absolutely nothing left to support a call for a network to retract with an apoplectic apology or for an apathetic administration to foment rage with, as Ben Bradley once coined, "a non-denial denial."

Your 9/11 commentary was Pulitzer prose. Your address to the President, in my opinion, ranks right up there with seeing Cronkite stand up and step out from behind the CBS news desk in 1968 to declare Viet Nam a stalemate. And both of us are too young to have witnessed it live, although I have read it in it's entirety, but your words were of the caliber and awe as those you cited last week, from Edward R. Murrow's fearless commentary.

Further, my own take on your nightly use of "Good night and good luck," has been that it is out of your personal respect and ennui for Murrow and his ethic, stemming from your own dignity and belief in the rights and responsibilities set forth in the Bill of Rights. Regardless of your motive, please continue the habit. I think Ed Murrow would be proud.

As I have emailed you a few times in the past I am aware that you may never read, much less respond to, this one. Nevertheless, as you go forward, I am compelled to emphasize John Dean's phrase: "Without Conscience." My Machiavellian paranoia recalls the names of Jimmy Hoffa, Dennis Cassini, Barry Seal, Daniel Ellsberg, and Vincent Foster; and causes me to shudder at the names of Murray Chotiner, Mac Wallace, Haroldson L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, Gordon Liddy, and, of course, Karl Rove.


This I believe,

JR Ford
UP (Unsubstantiated Press)
St. Petersburg, Fl.
sixtimeseven@aol.com
12 Sep 2006

"As for Nixon... he was an unprincipled puppet, which is the most dangerous kind." -- Nikita Khrushchev.

Cc: KOlbermann@msnbc.com
countdown@msnbc.com
AStewart@msnbc.com