An open letter from ‘Dubya’
Editor,
I want to thank all the fine Americans who supported me on November 2. Your confidence will not go unrewarded.
I especially want to thank you for the pass you have given me for eliminating all of those overtime hours. Your sacrifices on behalf of your country bring tears to my eyes.
Those sacrifices energize me and encourage me to continue down this road to greatness, knowing in my heart of hearts that you will be willing to give up even more overtime pay so that my -- oops, our pals in the corporate world can bring more honest American dollars to the bottom line.
Again, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
I also want to thank you for allowing me that little war in Iraq. Your willingness to forget about the WMDs will not be forgotten in my lifetime.
I am indebted to you, and, if we ever get those pesky Syrian and Iranian insurgents out of the place -- and the dumb Iraqis who have joined forces with them -- I will repay your generous spirits a hundred-fold -- say, one and a half cents for every dollar of profit that our little war has brought our buddies at Halliburton.
Don’t you think that’s fair? We will divide equally between every American citizen who can show their voter registration card along with some proof that they voted for me on November 2, 2004. So hang onto those documents, my friends, and thanks for giving me a pass on this one.
I also want to express my deepest sympathies and appreciation for all those whose jobs have been outsourced during the past four years. You are certainly true, red-blooded Americans.
Without your willingness to sacrifice your good jobs and go to work flipping burgers, we could not have given those tax breaks as incentive to corporations willing to move your jobs overseas.
You are one of this nation’s greatest assets, and I am already reaping the rewards of your sacrifices; corporate contributions to my recent campaign came in faster than we could spend them.
I thank you again for the pass.
I also need to mention all of the environmentalists who were willing to support me. While many have referred to me as the worst environmental president in history, you gave me a pass.
Our cleverly named “Blue Skies”
and “Healthy Forest” initiatives take us back about 40 years, back to a time when we didn’t worry about mercury levels in our streams and clear-cutting of federally owned forests.
What a country!
Lest we forget, I also wanted to thank you for letting me get away with that little Medicare drug plan that we started earlier this year. While it doesn’t help seniors, it certainly helped the drug companies, who, in turn helped to fill the bank vaults of the recent campaign.
Thanks, again, for the pass.
‘George W. Bush’ aka Archie Wilson
A short thank you
Editor,
Thank you for “Apocalypse Now?”
A deeply heartfelt, eloquent statement. Please keep up the fight.
Leigh Stenger
I see red people
Editor,
As I sat and read your article “Apocalypse Now?” the other night while watching the evening news, I was a bit taken back by the viciousness of what you wrote about the people who performed their civic duty and voted in the 2004 election.
I am a fairly recent resident of Savannah, having only lived here five years, but I am a lifelong resident of Georgia and proud to be part of not only what you termed the “deep red state” but also the state in its entirety.
I am currently an officer serving on active duty at Hunter AAF and have deployed over 500 days in support of both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and am deeply proud of being part of both those operations.
My brother is also an officer serving in the Georgia Air National Guard out at the Savannah Airport. He has completed multiple combat tours and each time he has deployed fully equipped and fully trained to do his job.
To my knowledge he’s bought nothing off of eBay and has not had to have anything sent to him while deployed other than photos of his beautiful twin daughters, a letter of love and support from his wife or just some nice to have things like a new DVD or junk food.
Your comment in the second paragraph of your editorial that the election of President Bush “may prove to be an even greater trauma than 9/11” is at best disgusting. Whether you agree with the President or not I would like for you to stand in front of one of the family members who lost a loved one on 9/11 or in front of a parent who has lost a child fighting in defense of this country, freedom across the globe, and you and repeat the awful, trivial things you wrote.
I, along with the rest of America, grieved to the depths of my soul for the victims of 9/11 that died in the Trade Centers, the Pentagon, or a peaceful Pennsylvania field and have attended several memorial services for fellow soldiers that have fallen in combat. Most of those occurred while in combat myself.
None of these soldiers thought that they died defending “the great white fundamentalist nation” or “the same good Christian folk who gave us Prohibition and Jim Crow.” They put their gear on when the country asked them to and did their jobs, just as they would have done when told to do so by any President serving in the White House.
Our roles as Americans are far more diverse than any nation in the history of the world and the freedoms that we are granted under the Constitution of this country and the Bill of Rights need to never be taken for granted. We are all Americans at the end of the day, sharing in the great experiences that we are so lucky to have and for you to attempt to label conservative voters who spoke through their vote, as some sort of Neo-Nazi movement is unbelievable.
I won’t mince words with you and talk around whom I voted for because I’m proud of it. I voted for President Bush and proudly displayed Bush/Cheney signs in the window of my Liberty Street home for all to see as they drove past.
I didn’t vote for him to suppress a gay persons right to be with the person that they love or to get rid of “liberals, labor unions, professors, scientists, immigrants, blacks or Jews”.
I along with the majority of the people you denigrated in your article fully believe in the rights of everyone in America to live their lives unencumbered by racism, hate or intolerance. I believe in it enough to lay my ass on the line by swearing to defend this nation, its citizens and the Constitution with my very life. I’m not really sure what more a person can do to show their support and love for the place that they live and all of their fellow citizens, liberal or conservative.
What about you, Jim? What have you done for your country today other than sit down in front of your computer, wring your hands and write some shrill, vitriolic article about people who legally expressed their wishes by voting? Sorry you don’t agree with them but that’s the way it all shook out this time.
I won’t end this letter by saying something hateful to you such as if you don’t like it to call Alec Baldwin and move to Canada or France. I hope that you stay in Savannah, continue writing for what is overall an entertaining paper and at some point sit down and reflect on some of the spiteful things in your heart that you chose to put on paper.
America will go on, and yes there will be some things that happen here that neither you nor I will agree with. A person who is of color will be called by a racial slur, someone who is gay will be treated unfairly, and an immigrant legal or illegal will be given a low-paying job that no American would ever think of doing. Those are some of the things that happen in any society and they are wrong whether you or a “Blue person” or a “Red person.”
You have to continue to participate and contribute even when you disagree with the person sitting in the White House. We’ve all had to do it. It’s part of being an adult, not a whiny, the sky is falling crybaby, unable to participate in political discourse without their voice rising thirty octaves just prior to hyperventilating and passing out.
America is awesome. Not perfect, but awesome nonetheless. It is the duty of all living here to try and make it better everyday when we get up in the morning. Crawling under a rock and hiding until political conditions you consider perfect occur is not going to do anything for anyone.
And remember Jim, as you so incorrectly put it in the second to last paragraph of your article; this is not “your” country. It is everyone’s that is lucky enough to have been born here or been given the great opportunity to become a naturalized citizen.
We all have a calling, so please try and pursue yours in a less hateful and divisive way. Your wife and daughters will appreciate it, and so will the rest of us that enjoy reading your paper.
Jason Drew
Editor’s Note: Jason, thanks for reading our paper though you don’t always agree with what’s in it. That’s a hopeful sign and a victory for both of us in and of itself.
To clarify: Millions of us who deeply value your military service -- including many who lost loved ones on 9/11 and apparently the overwhelming majority of voters in New York City itself -- think the victims of 9/11 would have been better served if our military had been sent someplace other than Iraq. It’s as important for you to know that as it is for professional hand-wringers like me to be reminded of you and your brother’s unquestioned bravery, dedication and sacrifice.
Hate the sin, love the sinner
Editor,
I have read several letters this year in the Feedback section that basically state that the government is “discriminating” against gay people by not allowing them to marry. The authors are concerned about their freedom being stripped away, and they are fearful of Christian morals being forced on them.
I can empathize with their feelings, however, I do not subscribe to their logic.
First, the government is all of us. We have and always will operate this nation by following a set of laws that we collectively impose. For example, we have decided that distributing child pornography is illegal. A majority of us feel that it is not in the best interest of our children, and it is therefore not in the best interest of society at large. One cannot state that such laws unfairly “discriminate” against people involved in that activity.
The overwhelming majority of Americans want to maintain the legal concept of marriage to be between one man and one woman. The reason why many of us see the need to amend the Constitution is because it is the only way to have the majority of Americans define the law of the land, not five judges that “interpret” the Constitution against the will of the people.
Secondly, many of the authors in favor of gay marriage either misunderstand basic Christian concepts or are antagonistic toward the Christian faith for whatever personal reason they may have.
One author tried to make their case for gay marriage by saying that the Bible “preaches love and not to judge.” The Bible is extremely clear about how one can love his or her brother and still state that a certain action they take is wrong.
One is not to think that they are better than another person. That would be judging. I don’t judge my friend if I tell them to stop cheating on their wife. I judge him if I say that he’s a worthless human being for cheating on his wife.
I love my friends and family members who are gay AND I don’t believe that we should have gay marriage. Legalizing gay marriage would change our entire family institution and would force us (the government) to routinely grant adoptions to same-sex couples.
Such a law would deny children even the possibility of having a mother and a father before they’re even born. Who’s being discriminated against now ?
‘Family Advocate’
Another look at exit polls
Editor,
Why did the exit polls show Kerry winning the election, but the vote showed Bush winning?
The apologia by the exit poll system architects reported in the New
York Times Nov 5 sounds like post-facto reasoning which assumed that
the vote is correct, and therefore the exit polls must be wrong. In its own words, it then “theorized” reasons why the exit poll could have been wrong.
Why did these problems occur now and not in previous elections? Didn’t
the poll architects plan for them?
The wrong-exit-poll theories should
be tested. At the polls where the reasons occurred, how are the results different from the vote at those polls? If those results are thrown out, do the remaining results still show a difference between the exit poll and the vote, at that polling station?
“The last wave of national exit polls we received, along with many other subscribers, showed Kerry winning the popular vote by 51 percent to 48 percent, if true, surely enough to carry the Electoral College,’’ Steve Coll, managing editor of The Washington Post, wrote in an online chat with readers.
Assuming that the “last” exit poll
covered the last voters, then the last exit poll should have been very accurate if there were sufficient numbers.
It’s very scary to think that George Bush & company created or suppressed
4,000,000 or more American votes. It implies widespread conspiracy, and
also implies that many other close races have been fraudulently won by
Republicans.
Is it a coincidence that Walden O’Dell, CEO of Diebold, the maker of electronic voting machines, told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year?”
It cannot be assumed that the vote is correct and the exit polls flawed when the leadership of the U.S. and the world is at stake. This has to be investigated in a non-partisan manner.
Tom Trottier
Thanks for SCAD radio piece
Editor,
I just wanted to thank you for the excellent article “SCAD Radio sponsors a free concert,” by Jim Reed. I know we got some of that info to you last-minute, and so I was pleasantly surprised to return from a trip to Nashville to find a full article displayed on your website.
Thanks for your publication’s unceasing support of local music! (Of course, mega props to Mr. Reed as well.)
Marc Femenella
SCAD Radio general manager
One thumb down for Ebert
Editor,
In reply to the article on the contribution of Roger Ebert to the Savannah Film Festival (“Democracy in the Dark,” by Jim Morekis), I would just like to say that it is certainly not true that he is one of America’s most important film critics.
In fact, he is not really a film critic at all; he writes a kind of advertising copy for Hollywood films, in which Hollywood stuff is given a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” The kind of thing that people who just want to go out on Saturday night and need help choosing a film might read.
However, for at least a couple of years running, the Festival did, in fact, invite, and was fortunate to have, one of the most important film critics in the U.S., Jonathan Rosenbaum. Interestingly, in light of Roger Ebert’s Welles lectures, Rosenbaum is a foremost authority on Welles and is responsible for editing This is Orson Welles, a book I highly recommend to Welles fans.
Rosenbaum is also single-handedly responsible for creating the vibrant and intelligent film community in Chicago, as people began responding to his critical reviews in the Chicago Reader and then attending viewings at the Art Institute Film Theatre and Facets Multimedia.
Now Chicago is a mecca for films and hosts a number of wonderful film festivals yearly, showcasing films from practically every country in the world. Through reading and discussions of Rosenbaum’s excellent criticism, the Chicago film audience has become knowledgeable and demanding, and the cultural life of the city is much enhanced.
It’s good to see that Ebert wants to say something about Welles, but simply because SCAD has invited him here doesn’t make him a great film critic (any more than Debbie Reynolds is now considered a great actress). I just want to put the record straight. And, frankly, I think Roger Ebert would agree.
Lillian Thorsen
Editor,
I want to thank all the fine Americans who supported me on November 2. Your confidence will not go unrewarded.
I especially want to thank you for the pass you have given me for eliminating all of those overtime hours. Your sacrifices on behalf of your country bring tears to my eyes.
Those sacrifices energize me and encourage me to continue down this road to greatness, knowing in my heart of hearts that you will be willing to give up even more overtime pay so that my -- oops, our pals in the corporate world can bring more honest American dollars to the bottom line.
Again, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
I also want to thank you for allowing me that little war in Iraq. Your willingness to forget about the WMDs will not be forgotten in my lifetime.
I am indebted to you, and, if we ever get those pesky Syrian and Iranian insurgents out of the place -- and the dumb Iraqis who have joined forces with them -- I will repay your generous spirits a hundred-fold -- say, one and a half cents for every dollar of profit that our little war has brought our buddies at Halliburton.
Don’t you think that’s fair? We will divide equally between every American citizen who can show their voter registration card along with some proof that they voted for me on November 2, 2004. So hang onto those documents, my friends, and thanks for giving me a pass on this one.
I also want to express my deepest sympathies and appreciation for all those whose jobs have been outsourced during the past four years. You are certainly true, red-blooded Americans.
Without your willingness to sacrifice your good jobs and go to work flipping burgers, we could not have given those tax breaks as incentive to corporations willing to move your jobs overseas.
You are one of this nation’s greatest assets, and I am already reaping the rewards of your sacrifices; corporate contributions to my recent campaign came in faster than we could spend them.
I thank you again for the pass.
I also need to mention all of the environmentalists who were willing to support me. While many have referred to me as the worst environmental president in history, you gave me a pass.
Our cleverly named “Blue Skies”
and “Healthy Forest” initiatives take us back about 40 years, back to a time when we didn’t worry about mercury levels in our streams and clear-cutting of federally owned forests.
What a country!
Lest we forget, I also wanted to thank you for letting me get away with that little Medicare drug plan that we started earlier this year. While it doesn’t help seniors, it certainly helped the drug companies, who, in turn helped to fill the bank vaults of the recent campaign.
Thanks, again, for the pass.
‘George W. Bush’ aka Archie Wilson
A short thank you
Editor,
Thank you for “Apocalypse Now?”
A deeply heartfelt, eloquent statement. Please keep up the fight.
Leigh Stenger
I see red people
Editor,
As I sat and read your article “Apocalypse Now?” the other night while watching the evening news, I was a bit taken back by the viciousness of what you wrote about the people who performed their civic duty and voted in the 2004 election.
I am a fairly recent resident of Savannah, having only lived here five years, but I am a lifelong resident of Georgia and proud to be part of not only what you termed the “deep red state” but also the state in its entirety.
I am currently an officer serving on active duty at Hunter AAF and have deployed over 500 days in support of both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and am deeply proud of being part of both those operations.
My brother is also an officer serving in the Georgia Air National Guard out at the Savannah Airport. He has completed multiple combat tours and each time he has deployed fully equipped and fully trained to do his job.
To my knowledge he’s bought nothing off of eBay and has not had to have anything sent to him while deployed other than photos of his beautiful twin daughters, a letter of love and support from his wife or just some nice to have things like a new DVD or junk food.
Your comment in the second paragraph of your editorial that the election of President Bush “may prove to be an even greater trauma than 9/11” is at best disgusting. Whether you agree with the President or not I would like for you to stand in front of one of the family members who lost a loved one on 9/11 or in front of a parent who has lost a child fighting in defense of this country, freedom across the globe, and you and repeat the awful, trivial things you wrote.
I, along with the rest of America, grieved to the depths of my soul for the victims of 9/11 that died in the Trade Centers, the Pentagon, or a peaceful Pennsylvania field and have attended several memorial services for fellow soldiers that have fallen in combat. Most of those occurred while in combat myself.
None of these soldiers thought that they died defending “the great white fundamentalist nation” or “the same good Christian folk who gave us Prohibition and Jim Crow.” They put their gear on when the country asked them to and did their jobs, just as they would have done when told to do so by any President serving in the White House.
Our roles as Americans are far more diverse than any nation in the history of the world and the freedoms that we are granted under the Constitution of this country and the Bill of Rights need to never be taken for granted. We are all Americans at the end of the day, sharing in the great experiences that we are so lucky to have and for you to attempt to label conservative voters who spoke through their vote, as some sort of Neo-Nazi movement is unbelievable.
I won’t mince words with you and talk around whom I voted for because I’m proud of it. I voted for President Bush and proudly displayed Bush/Cheney signs in the window of my Liberty Street home for all to see as they drove past.
I didn’t vote for him to suppress a gay persons right to be with the person that they love or to get rid of “liberals, labor unions, professors, scientists, immigrants, blacks or Jews”.
I along with the majority of the people you denigrated in your article fully believe in the rights of everyone in America to live their lives unencumbered by racism, hate or intolerance. I believe in it enough to lay my ass on the line by swearing to defend this nation, its citizens and the Constitution with my very life. I’m not really sure what more a person can do to show their support and love for the place that they live and all of their fellow citizens, liberal or conservative.
What about you, Jim? What have you done for your country today other than sit down in front of your computer, wring your hands and write some shrill, vitriolic article about people who legally expressed their wishes by voting? Sorry you don’t agree with them but that’s the way it all shook out this time.
I won’t end this letter by saying something hateful to you such as if you don’t like it to call Alec Baldwin and move to Canada or France. I hope that you stay in Savannah, continue writing for what is overall an entertaining paper and at some point sit down and reflect on some of the spiteful things in your heart that you chose to put on paper.
America will go on, and yes there will be some things that happen here that neither you nor I will agree with. A person who is of color will be called by a racial slur, someone who is gay will be treated unfairly, and an immigrant legal or illegal will be given a low-paying job that no American would ever think of doing. Those are some of the things that happen in any society and they are wrong whether you or a “Blue person” or a “Red person.”
You have to continue to participate and contribute even when you disagree with the person sitting in the White House. We’ve all had to do it. It’s part of being an adult, not a whiny, the sky is falling crybaby, unable to participate in political discourse without their voice rising thirty octaves just prior to hyperventilating and passing out.
America is awesome. Not perfect, but awesome nonetheless. It is the duty of all living here to try and make it better everyday when we get up in the morning. Crawling under a rock and hiding until political conditions you consider perfect occur is not going to do anything for anyone.
And remember Jim, as you so incorrectly put it in the second to last paragraph of your article; this is not “your” country. It is everyone’s that is lucky enough to have been born here or been given the great opportunity to become a naturalized citizen.
We all have a calling, so please try and pursue yours in a less hateful and divisive way. Your wife and daughters will appreciate it, and so will the rest of us that enjoy reading your paper.
Jason Drew
Editor’s Note: Jason, thanks for reading our paper though you don’t always agree with what’s in it. That’s a hopeful sign and a victory for both of us in and of itself.
To clarify: Millions of us who deeply value your military service -- including many who lost loved ones on 9/11 and apparently the overwhelming majority of voters in New York City itself -- think the victims of 9/11 would have been better served if our military had been sent someplace other than Iraq. It’s as important for you to know that as it is for professional hand-wringers like me to be reminded of you and your brother’s unquestioned bravery, dedication and sacrifice.
Hate the sin, love the sinner
Editor,
I have read several letters this year in the Feedback section that basically state that the government is “discriminating” against gay people by not allowing them to marry. The authors are concerned about their freedom being stripped away, and they are fearful of Christian morals being forced on them.
I can empathize with their feelings, however, I do not subscribe to their logic.
First, the government is all of us. We have and always will operate this nation by following a set of laws that we collectively impose. For example, we have decided that distributing child pornography is illegal. A majority of us feel that it is not in the best interest of our children, and it is therefore not in the best interest of society at large. One cannot state that such laws unfairly “discriminate” against people involved in that activity.
The overwhelming majority of Americans want to maintain the legal concept of marriage to be between one man and one woman. The reason why many of us see the need to amend the Constitution is because it is the only way to have the majority of Americans define the law of the land, not five judges that “interpret” the Constitution against the will of the people.
Secondly, many of the authors in favor of gay marriage either misunderstand basic Christian concepts or are antagonistic toward the Christian faith for whatever personal reason they may have.
One author tried to make their case for gay marriage by saying that the Bible “preaches love and not to judge.” The Bible is extremely clear about how one can love his or her brother and still state that a certain action they take is wrong.
One is not to think that they are better than another person. That would be judging. I don’t judge my friend if I tell them to stop cheating on their wife. I judge him if I say that he’s a worthless human being for cheating on his wife.
I love my friends and family members who are gay AND I don’t believe that we should have gay marriage. Legalizing gay marriage would change our entire family institution and would force us (the government) to routinely grant adoptions to same-sex couples.
Such a law would deny children even the possibility of having a mother and a father before they’re even born. Who’s being discriminated against now ?
‘Family Advocate’
Another look at exit polls
Editor,
Why did the exit polls show Kerry winning the election, but the vote showed Bush winning?
The apologia by the exit poll system architects reported in the New
York Times Nov 5 sounds like post-facto reasoning which assumed that
the vote is correct, and therefore the exit polls must be wrong. In its own words, it then “theorized” reasons why the exit poll could have been wrong.
Why did these problems occur now and not in previous elections? Didn’t
the poll architects plan for them?
The wrong-exit-poll theories should
be tested. At the polls where the reasons occurred, how are the results different from the vote at those polls? If those results are thrown out, do the remaining results still show a difference between the exit poll and the vote, at that polling station?
“The last wave of national exit polls we received, along with many other subscribers, showed Kerry winning the popular vote by 51 percent to 48 percent, if true, surely enough to carry the Electoral College,’’ Steve Coll, managing editor of The Washington Post, wrote in an online chat with readers.
Assuming that the “last” exit poll
covered the last voters, then the last exit poll should have been very accurate if there were sufficient numbers.
It’s very scary to think that George Bush & company created or suppressed
4,000,000 or more American votes. It implies widespread conspiracy, and
also implies that many other close races have been fraudulently won by
Republicans.
Is it a coincidence that Walden O’Dell, CEO of Diebold, the maker of electronic voting machines, told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year?”
It cannot be assumed that the vote is correct and the exit polls flawed when the leadership of the U.S. and the world is at stake. This has to be investigated in a non-partisan manner.
Tom Trottier
Thanks for SCAD radio piece
Editor,
I just wanted to thank you for the excellent article “SCAD Radio sponsors a free concert,” by Jim Reed. I know we got some of that info to you last-minute, and so I was pleasantly surprised to return from a trip to Nashville to find a full article displayed on your website.
Thanks for your publication’s unceasing support of local music! (Of course, mega props to Mr. Reed as well.)
Marc Femenella
SCAD Radio general manager
One thumb down for Ebert
Editor,
In reply to the article on the contribution of Roger Ebert to the Savannah Film Festival (“Democracy in the Dark,” by Jim Morekis), I would just like to say that it is certainly not true that he is one of America’s most important film critics.
In fact, he is not really a film critic at all; he writes a kind of advertising copy for Hollywood films, in which Hollywood stuff is given a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” The kind of thing that people who just want to go out on Saturday night and need help choosing a film might read.
However, for at least a couple of years running, the Festival did, in fact, invite, and was fortunate to have, one of the most important film critics in the U.S., Jonathan Rosenbaum. Interestingly, in light of Roger Ebert’s Welles lectures, Rosenbaum is a foremost authority on Welles and is responsible for editing This is Orson Welles, a book I highly recommend to Welles fans.
Rosenbaum is also single-handedly responsible for creating the vibrant and intelligent film community in Chicago, as people began responding to his critical reviews in the Chicago Reader and then attending viewings at the Art Institute Film Theatre and Facets Multimedia.
Now Chicago is a mecca for films and hosts a number of wonderful film festivals yearly, showcasing films from practically every country in the world. Through reading and discussions of Rosenbaum’s excellent criticism, the Chicago film audience has become knowledgeable and demanding, and the cultural life of the city is much enhanced.
It’s good to see that Ebert wants to say something about Welles, but simply because SCAD has invited him here doesn’t make him a great film critic (any more than Debbie Reynolds is now considered a great actress). I just want to put the record straight. And, frankly, I think Roger Ebert would agree.
Lillian Thorsen
