I have a good friend who is a former Halliburton employee, and he forwards me e-mails from time to time. I often check them at snopes.com to debunk them if there's anything to debunk. Usually I don't reply except to correct the sender, and gently.
But I got this one early this morning, and it just pissed me off. I take things like this personally, which maybe I shouldn't, but I did. I had to reply, and feel better that I did...
Here is much of the text of the e-mail I got, I won't use the senders name, as I don't want to be responsible for a flame war of any kind:
Subject: My thoughts on Memorial Day from Mosul, Iraq
Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 10:24:55 -0700 (PDT)
Hi,
I've been thinking today about Memorial Day. The past wars and the present one. Yes, I know the politicians have the declared the war over but I don't think the people planting bombs in the road, blowing up their fellow countrymen, lobbing mortars at us, and sniping at our soldiers got the word. I don't think the soldiers getting shot at and bombed are convinced either. I wasn't too convinced myself a couple weeks ago when a bomb in the road went off close enough for me to smell the powder smoke as we zoomed past the crater it left in the road. I've often wondered how I would react in combat. I've had combat veterens I've trained with tell me that I'd do alright. Most of you have heard me joke about the closest I've been to combat was when I was called up for Desert Storm and met a girl at Fort Knox who told me she was divorced and it turns out it wasn't quite final. I've been associated with and served in the U.S. Army in one form or another since I was 17.
I have always been in combat arms for a reason. But, it seems I'm destined for support roles for the fighters instead of being one. That's OK. I can live with it. It isn't glamourous but it's a job that needs to be done.
I think back to what I know of my families history. We've been soldiers from way back. The first of our family to come to America was a French soldier. I guess he knew something back then that we are figuring out today. It was over 300 years ago that he and his pregnant wife left France for the New World. Having fathered 4 of my own children I admire his and her shear guts to attempt that trip with a baby on the way. From what I can tell Xxxxxx's have been in every war our country has had including The Revolution. Our forefather helped kick out the Brits. I know my brother Xxxxx is serving in Baghdad now and I have a young cousin in the Marines somewhere around Fallujah I believe. Some of you that I will send this to have been in your own wars. I want to thank you for your service.
I think about Uncle David and how what happened to him messed up his head, of the shrapnel still in his body. I think about you Ron and the things you've shared with me. Herman, even though we've not met face to face I am glad I've come to know you. God willing we will meet when this is over. I think about Uncle Gerald and how he served in the National Guard. I think about Xxxxx Thurston Xxxxx, my Papaw, and all he went through in World War II, the grenade that bounced off his head and didn't go off, the prison camp, the escape, the purple heart, the time he said he'd killed enough men that one more wouldn't matter. I think about ancestors that I'll only meet in the next life like Yerby Newton Xxxxx of the 12th Ky Volunteer Cavalry U.S. All of us have done our part to keep our country free. Some of you have paid a much higher price than I have. To all of you I say thank you.
(Emphasis here mine:) The tree huggin', bunny lovin', bed wetters who want everyone to just play nice and for us all to get along, who are willing to give up our freedoms in the hope appeasing our enemies don't have a clue. Our enemy is no longer the Soviet Union. Our enemies are both inside and outside of country. Our country is rotting from the inside due to a bunch of immoral liberal lies that whatever you want to do is OK as long as you are comfortable with it in your own heart. What a crock of cow manure. Our country was founded by God fearing Christians who knew the difference between right and wrong and stood up for what was right. It may sound funny or sacreligious coming from me having lived the life I did for a while, but be that as it may, it is still the truth. Our forefathers didn't earn our freedoom by playing nice. They took it by force of arms and that is how we've had to keep it. We will continue to have to keep it that way too. There will always be those who
hate us because God has blessed us. So we will always have soldiers who have to do the dirty work.
Our enemy abroad kills without remorse. There is no sense of honor among the cowardly bombers. An Iraqi truck driver I talked to yesterday said it best. He said dignity and respect are concepts that they don't understand. He is one of the good guys. Our enemy will not play nice and doesn't want to get along. Our new enemy only wants us dead. They don't even want surrender. They just want us dead. We will have to continue the fight against these kinds of enemies and if we do it in their own backyards we won't have to do it in ours.
Those of you at home can do your part in keeping our country free by the simple act of voting. Throughout history there have been two successful tools used to shape governments. There are ballots and there are bullets. I believe that history will prove me correct when I say that those who have the ballot and don't use it will loose there freedoms. Then it will come to bullets. We have the ballot. We need to use it. I love my country and each of you that I'm sending this to. Stand up for what you believe even if you disagree with me. Let Freedom Ring!! May God Continue to Bless America!! May the perpetrators who caused this current war burn in hell! I will not forget September 11, 2001 and may God forgive me for not forgiving them. These are my thoughts from Mosul, Iraq May 29th, 2006.
Sincerely, Xxxxx Xxxxxx
Please feel free to pass this on if you want or delete it as you see fit. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
Here's my reply:
May 31, 2006
To Mr. Xxxxxx, whom I have never met, to Xx, who I have, and who I love as a brother, and to all the others who may read this:
I'm sorry you are there. My heart goes out to you. I think about you guys a lot, usually when I read a story about how Veteran's benefits were cut by a Republican administration, or when I read about the lies that were told to take us to war. Those things thoroughly piss me off. We could have at least had the common sense after Vietnam to be more careful about sending our men out to war for no good goddamn reason.
I get these e-mails from time to time, and sometimes I read them; sometimes I delete them.
Not this one.
I was going along just fine, agreeing with most of what you had to say, until I read the following:
The tree huggin', bunny lovin', bed wetters who want everyone to just play nice and for us all to get along, who are willing to give up our freedoms in the hope appeasing our enemies don't have a clue. Our enemy is no longer the Soviet Union. Our enemies are both inside and outside of country. Our country is rotting from the inside due to a bunch of immoral liberal lies that whatever you want to do is OK as long as you are comfortable with it in your own heart. What a crock of cow manure. Our country was founded by God fearing Christians who knew the difference between right and wrong and stood up for what was right. It may sound funny or sacreligious coming from me having lived the life I did for a while, but be that as it may, it is still the truth. Our forefathers didn't earn our freedoom by playing nice. They took it by force of arms and that is how we've had to keep it. We will continue to have to keep it that way too. There will always be those who
hate us because God has blessed us. So we will always have soldiers who have to do the dirty work.
Mr. Xxxxxx, it sounds like you want civil war when you return. Let me remind you of the oath you took when you became a member of the military, assuming that you have done military service:
I, {insert name here}, do solemnly swear, (or affirm), that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
Maybe you had better cut your tour short. You have work to do here; lots of it. Iraq never did a goddamn thing to threaten us. It's as plain as the nose on your face. And yes, I will have to agree with you that the enemies are over here, but they aren't who you apparently think they are. Their names (among others) are Limbaugh, DeLay, O'Reilly and Coulter. They work for Fox, the Wall Street Journal, and Enron. They have helped plunder our country of its wealth, and spent a large portion of it on sending you to Mosul. For what, exactly? We were all told by them, and by George Bush and Dick Cheney, that Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction". That Saddam Hussein was in league with Al Qaeda, and that they were planning attacks on the United States. All this has been revealed to be false. I was lied to, you were lied to, all of us were lied to.
Now, its been nearly 5 years since 9-11, what has happened to this constitution you swore to defend?
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Dead, or dying. We are swiftly being made into a Christofascist state. I grew up in Virginia, and as a part of going to school there, studied Virginia History. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and their ilk are behind the attempted revision of the history of that great state, and of the Founding Fathers, who lived and fought there, into a fundamentalist Christian, twisted version that has no resemblance to the proud, brave, free-thinking men the Founders were. And I might add that Falwell and the other Far Right preachers, and their agents within government, enjoy the help and protection of George Bush and the Republican Party.
"God Gave U.S. 'What We Deserve,' Falwell Says," The Washington Post (September 14, 2001) And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."
If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure
as a human being.
Rev. Jerry Falwell
"Every good Christian ought to kick [Jerry] Falwell
right in the ass." ---Barry Goldwater
"You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit
of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don't have to be nice to them."--Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, January 14, 1991
"How can there be peace when drunkards, drug dealers, communists, atheists, New Age worshipers of Satan, secular humanists, oppressive dictators, greedy money changers, revolutionary assassins, adulterers, and homosexuals are on top?"--Pat Robertson, The New World Order, p.227
"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good...Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."--Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 8-16-93
"Our country was founded by God fearing Christians who knew the difference between right and wrong and stood up for what was right."
"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own."
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814
". . . That sacred and lovely thing, religion, ought not to rest on the ingenuity of logical deduction. Holy religion, sir, will be prostituted to the lowest purposes of human policy. What has been more productive of mischief among mankind than religious disputes? Then here, sir, is a foundation for such disputes, when it requires learning and logical deduction to perceive that religious liberty is secure."
-Patrick Henry in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 12 June 1788
And finally: Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Well, we still have that one. For now.
Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Google "posse comitatus" I'm sure there is a wikipedia article.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Are you kidding? Our phones have been tapped since just after 9-11 - and our e-mail. Doesn't sound very secure to me. "No warrants shall issue..." Sounds like Habeas Corpus to me. George Bush knew. Dick Cheney knew. Hell, it was their idea. Courts (FISA) were established to approve this kind of tapping and surveillance. They didn't bother to bring it up before a court of any kind, they just did it. One of the FISA judges resigned in disgust over this last year. Do you see anything in this amendment that says, "unless the president thinks it's a good idea"?
The tree huggin', bunny lovin', bed wetters who want everyone to just play nice and for us all to get along, who are willing to give up our freedoms in the hope appeasing our enemies don't have a clue.
Who's giving up our freedoms again?
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
See "Kelo v. New London". Google "eminent domain"
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
I don't see anything in this one that says, "except Muslims" or "except our enemies" or "except brown people". Or, "except Liberals".
Doesn't sound like there is much left to defend any more.
For the last 30 years or so, I have watched men go overseas to fight. I have watched so many of them come back, broken, twisted and bitter. My own father fought in WW2, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres. He was injured, and took fire from the enemy. For 10 years after his return, he had to be awakened by my mother with a broomstick. For the rest of his life, he remained aloof and distant, haunted by the memories of what he had seen. I know now he suffered from PTSD. He was never treated, never recovered. He was cruel to our family, not physically, but mentally. And I know he suffered inside. He went to war for a reason - we had been attacked by Japan, and Japan declared war against us. They were allied with Germany and Italy, who had also declared war. My uncle Joe, my mother's brother, went too. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, with George Patton. They were paid between 21.00 and 84.00 per month. Obviously they didn't fight for the money, but for our constitution, and our way of life. You fellows working for Halliburton, how much do you get paid? 84.00 adjusted for inflation comes out to $1117.80. Per month. I hope to hell you make more than that.
Now, Mr. Xxxxxx, let me repeat what you wrote:
Our country is rotting from the inside due to a bunch of immoral liberal lies that whatever you want to do is OK as long as you are comfortable with it in your own heart.
There are lies, but they aren't liberal.
Aug. 26, 2002
Dick Cheney, Vice President
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
March 22, 2003
Gen. Tommy Franks: "There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them."
Bush, May 29, 2003: We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories. You remember when Colin Powell stood up in front of the world, and he said, Iraq has got laboratories, mobile labs to build biological weapons. They're illegal. They're against the United Nations resolutions, and we've so far discovered two. And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them. (May 23, 2003--a month after he declared victory.)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
`We know where they [WMD] are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.'
- Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003
`[Saddam Hussein is] a man who loves to link up with al- Qaida, a man who is a true threat to America.'
- George W Bush, New York Times, September 28, 2002
"I don't want to be quoted on this, so don't quote me. [Winston Churchill] said `sometimes the truth is so precious it must be accompanied by a bodyguard of lies.'"
- Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense, September 25, 2001 Pentagon briefing
"Our country is rotting from the inside due to a bunch of immoral liberal lies"
"CBS News has learned that barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq--even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks."
- CBS News, September 4, 2002
"We've been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwait border and Baghdad, but they're [WMD's] simply not there.'
- Lt. Gen. James Conway, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, May 30, 2003
`But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them.'
- George W. Bush, May 30, 2003
`Consider the case of the production of contracts for a presumed Iraqi purchase of enriched uranium from Niger. This was a crude lie. All false. The information was provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency by the U.S. intelligence services.'
- Hans Blix, head of UN weapons inspections, El Pais interview, April 9, 2003
Journalist Arnon Regular wrote, in the June 26 edition of Ha'aretz (Israel's most reputable newspaper), that he has minutes of a meeting among top-level Palestinian leaders, including Prime Minister Mahmoud Abas. The minutes are apparently quite detailed, because Regular wrote a long article recounting very specific conversations. The last paragraph of the article reads:
"According to Abbas, Bush said: 'God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.'"
"Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere!" --President Bush, joking about his administration's failure to find WMDs in Iraq as he narrated a comic slideshow during the Radio & TV Correspondents' Association dinner, March 25, 2004
You know, Mr. Xxxxxx, I'm a liberal. I'm also gay and a pagan if you want to know the truth. I don't lie, cheat or steal. I don't hang around anyone who does. And I don't know any liberal who does. What's more, I haven't wet the bed since I was 5 years old.
Were you talking to me?
"whatever you want to do is OK as long as you are comfortable with it in your own heart."
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men."
US Declaration Of Independence
You don't think I have morals or ethics? You think I do just whatever pops up in my head? Guess again. You don't know me. But you were talking about me, and people like me. Must have been something you heard about us on O'Reilly. Oh, wait:
Bill O'Reilly's Caribbean fantasy monologue, 9/1/2004:
Well, if I took you down there then I'd want to take a shower with you right away, that would be the first thing I'd do...yeah, we'd check into the room, and we would order up some room service and uh and you'd definitely get two wines into you are quickly as I could get ino you I would get 'em into you... maybe intravenously, get those glasses of wine into you...
You would basically be in the shower and then I would come in and I'd join you and you would have your back to me and I would take that little loofa thing and kinda soap up your back... rub it all over you, get you to relax, hot water... and um... you know, you'd feel the tension drain out of you and uh you still would be with your back to me then I would kinda put my arm -- it's one of those mitts, those loofa mitts you know, so I got my hands in it... and I would put it around front, kinda rub your tummy a little bit with it, and then with my other hand I would start to massage your boobs, get your nipples really hard... 'cuz I like that and you have really spectacular boobs...
So anyway I'd be rubbing your big boobs and getting your nipples really hard, kinda kissing your neck from behind... and then I would take the other hand with the falafel thing and I'd put it on your pussy but you'd have to do it really light, just kind of a tease business.
The complaint goes on to say: "During the course of Defendant Bill O'Reilly's sexual rant, it became clear that he was using a vibrator upon himself, and that he ejaculated. Plaintiff was repulsed."
Or maybe it was that other guy, what's his name, Limbaugh? Oh wait:
Cline said she gave Limbaugh 10 pills the next day and agreed to give him 30 of her husband's pills each month. When the doctor stopped renewing the prescription in early 1999, Limbaugh allegedly went ballistic.
"His tone was nasty and bullying. He said, 'I don't care how or what you do, but you'd better - better! - get me some more,'" Cline said.
The housekeeper said she found a new supplier and arranged to hide Limbaugh's stashes under his mattress so his wife, Marta, wouldn't find them.
After several months, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox and didn't need any more pills, Cline said.
But a month later, he said his left ear was hurting and asked her for hydrocodone, followed by an order for OxyContin.
Limbaugh, 52, suffered from autoimmune ear disease, a condition that left him deaf and had to be corrected with cochlear implant surgery two years ago.
Cline said she continued to make deliveries to Limbaugh even after she quit as his housekeeper in July 2001 - but he became increasingly paranoid, even patting her down for recording devices, she said.
In June 2002, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox a second time.
After he returned, "I went to talk to him, and he cried a little bit," she said. "He told me that if it ever got out, he would be ruined."
She claimed that a lawyer for Limbaugh gave her a payoff - $80,000 he owed her, plus another $120,000 - and asked her to destroy the computer that contained the E-mail records.
Look, you might want to be careful when you come back here all wound up about wanting to do something about all these "tree huggin', bunny lovin', bed wetters". You might have had as much as 70 percent of the country thinking generally in that direction right after 9-11, but it's down to more like about 25 percent now. As much as we appreciate your service, we still don't have much love for insurrectionists. And that's not likely to change.
"It may sound funny or sacreligious coming from me having lived the life I did for a while, but be that as it may, it is still the truth."
Not funny, or sacrilegious either. Definitely not the truth.
Look, I agree that this country has problems, but talk like this is never going to help anything. We could use more people here in the states with the bravery you seem to have speaking up and helping right some of the wrongs going on here. Not trying to create a Christian Dominionist state, but helping us live out the dream our Founding Fathers had for us.
Good luck to you.
Joe