So I forwarded a Michael Moore e-mail to my girlfriend's mom, a hardcore Republican. It started a flurry of e-mails back and forth where I try to relate statistics and what I feel are "real" issues and she combats me with abortion and gay marriage. We go at each other sometimes about politics. Sometimes she pisses me off, and sometimes I piss her off, but we usually agree to disagree. But while I tend to provide stats and figures, she doesn't read them. They don't matter to Bush, so why should they matter to her. It is fucking awful that so many people are Republican in just the same way she is: driven by issues that don't feed people, clothe people, or help people get jobs. [Note: Some of my shorter e-mails I didnt save, sorry. And I got a little sappy at the end to give her a guilt trip.] * Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004
$87 billion for Iraq Here are some real-life comparisons about what $87 billion means: $87 billion is more than the combined total of all State budget deficits in the United States. The Bush administration proposed absolutely zero funds to help states deal with these deficits, despite the fact that their tax cuts drove down state revenues. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities] $87 billion is more than double the total amount the government spends on Homeland Security. The U.S. spends about $36 billion on homeland security. Yet, Sen. Warren Rudman (R- N.H.) wrote, America will fall approximately $98 .4 billion short of meeting critical emergency responder needs for homeland security without a funding increase. [Source: Council on Foreign Relations] $87 billion is 87 times the amount the Federal Government spends on After School Programs. George W. Bush proposed a budget that reduces the $1 billion for after-school programs to $600 million cutting off about 475,000 children from the program. [Source: The Republican-dominated House Appropriations Committee] $87 billion is more that 10 times what the Government spends on all environmental protection. The Bush administration requested just $7.6 billion for the entire Environmental Protection Agency. This included a 32 percent cut to water quality grants, a 6 percent reduction in enforcement staff, and a 50 percent cut to land acquisition and conservation. [Source: Natural Resources Defense Council] $87 billion is enough to pay the 3.3 million people who have lost jobs under George W. Bush $26,363.00 each! The unemployment benefits extension passed by Congress at the beginning of this year provides zero benefits to workers who exhausted their regular, state unemployment benefits and cannot find work. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities] * Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004
SO WHAT! LISTEN TO THE STATE OF THE UNION MESSAGE TONIGHT. I AM VOTING FOR BUSH-BUSH-BUSH [Here I responded with something like: “so what to that. LIES - LIES - LIES, RHETORIC - RHETORIC - RHETORIC.”] * Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004
CAN'T HEAR YOU, DONNIE [Here I responded with something like: “you're breaking up, all i can hear is static too. blah blah blah.” Then she switches things up a bit.] * Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004
Do you believe in ABORTION-Yes or No?
* Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004
WHAT DO THESE QUESTIONS HAVE TO DO WITH THE GOVERNMENT PROTECTING ME AND MY FAMILY AND MY RIGHTS? These questions are made up to divide people and to divert people from issues where they have common ground. THERE AREN'T REAL ISSUES. REAL ISSUES: EDUCATION
THESE ARE ONLY A FEW OF THE REAL ISSUES. Do you believe that people should get health care if they needed it? [I do.] Do you believe there should be enough money to hire enough social workers to monitor the trouble signs of troubled kids and teenagers? [I think there should be.] Do you believe in freedom? [I do.] Do you believe that the tax burden should rest solely on the lower and middle classes? [I don't.] Those are my questions. I am not answering your questions because they don't mean anything to how this country is really run. They are issues to stir people's emotions; they are filled with buzz words and loaded words and religious rhetoric. * Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004
It would take me to damn long to discuss these issues. And you don"t know how I feel on those issues, Donnie, because we have never discussed them, so vote for your LIBERAL-RADICAL party democrats. As I heard on MSNBC, young people in colleges haven"t had the experience we old timers have had. I for one had been around longer than you and I believe I know how the democrats presidents have been in office. TO EACH HIS OWN! IMAGE EMOTION: sour/sour And you couldn"t even answer those question :( And don't piss me off anymore, I feel very sick today. Not in the MOOD today :( Mrs. BITCH. * Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004
I believe that you have the same ideas on the "real" issues that I do. That's why I brought them up. I know that we haven't talked about education and benefits and protection, but I believe you want the same things I do in those areas. I believe those are the real issues, and not things like marriage rights or whatever. Those are, like I said, divisive issues. The "real" issues bring people together and make the leaders more accountable. That is why the "leaders" don't talk about anything other than social constructs. That is why I don't like George W. Bush. He SAYS all kinds of things, but he doesn't DO anything for anybody like us. He helps the rich get richer. It doesn't matter that he doesn't believe in abortion and does believe in the death penalty. If he doesn't help women get education about pregnancies or money to help single mothers care for their children, then what is he really doing for the mothers' or babies' lives? NOTHING. If he doesn't care about helping children get the knowledge to get real jobs instead of resorting to a life of crime and going to prisons, then what is he really doing for them besides believing in capital punishment? NOTHING. So, questions about those social issues are bunk if there is nothing in that so-called moral code to help people out. Do you understand what I am saying? You can't answer my questions about real issues? You are the one who changes the subject. You don't have to tell me that I don't have "experience" or whatever. I can read about who's been in office and who hasn't. I can read about what has been done in the past and I can feel the effects of the history of the United States. I think that when you tell me that I am too young to understand what you have gone through is rude and that you are changing the subject because you don't really want to discuss anything. I am not trying to piss you off, though, you obviously are trying to be mean to me and how I think. I am sorry you feel bad today. :-( -donnie * Date: Wed., 21 Jan 2004
That's me after what I said yesterday, Donnie, ugly and mean. Please realize this was contributed
[Forever after at http://eyeshot.net/politicalboman.html]
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