"It's not just the young people"
Thursday. And I am posting. Three Cool Old Guys say hello to everybody. They were very vocal on wanting me to note an article C.I.'s noted at The Common Ills, Gareth Porter's "Witnesses Describe Ballot Fraud in Nineveh:"
Both U.S. military informants and testimony gathered by civil society leaders in
Nineveh reported that the Kurds had spread the rumour in Nineveh province that
voters who did not vote "yes" would lose their food ration cards. Many farmers
and their families were said by the independent informant to have voted "yes" on
the understanding that would ensure the renewal of their ration cards. The
picture of voting irregularities and fear in Nineveh sketched out in these
reports from non-Sunni sources collected by the U.S. military and civil society
groups support the complaints about electoral fraud by Sunni political figures.
And they belie the official portrayal of the referendum as a step toward
political legitimacy and democratic development.
That's "democracy" and "liberation" is what they wanted me to put in here. They wanted something else noted on this anniversary of Falluja, retired people aren't frothing at the mouth over Bully Boy. They see that in our church and at the nursing home they live in.
Our church is a Black church. Other races are welcome, but we're a Black church. And African-Americans haven't been big supporters of Bully Boy Bush (unless they were on the payroll like Armstrong Williams). But their nursing home is a mixture of races and the ones there who did support Bully Boy stopped as the war turned out to be lies and people kept dying.
Tuesday, they took me around to some of the former Bully Boy supporters. The thing I heard the most was that they were appalled that Bully Boy hasn't attended one funeral of an American military person who died in Iraq. This wasn't the thing that turned them against him but it was always the first thing that they noted. They'd name presidents who had attended funerals and they'd say it was shameful that Bully Boy hadn't attended even one. Then they'd usually follow that with their belief that he couldn't attend one because he knew he lied and he'd have to confront the costs of lies and deal with reality -- which he can't do.
Most of the people were white. One was a Hipsanic woman and one was a man whose parents had come over from Japan in the 1920s. These were the ones who had openly supported the Bully Boy and even voted for him in 2004.
Three Cool Old Guys know that this might be something that's just happening in their nursing home but they wanted it noted. This came from the network news. They weren't online. This came from just following the network news and feeling like they were lied to. Until Three Cool Old Guys got their laptops, no one in the nursing home had web access.
And this was another big thing they voiced. They feel the news people on TV lied to them and continue to lie to them. They feel like if this were any other leader, Carter was the one they usually named the most, then Bill Clinton, the media wouldn't soft peddle or make excuses the way they do for Bully Boy. I heard names I'd never heard of, TV journalists from long ago, and they'd talk about how they asked hard questions at press conferences and weren't sucking up and laughing the way they do today.
This one woman told me that she blamed her vote in 2004 for Bully Boy on the press.After Bully Boy and the network news, the third thing most distrusted was the AARP. They feel the AARP sold out the elderly when they got in bed with the administration to push the phoney programs. They said no one even talks about that anymore on TV and they can't figure out the new plans but can't believe that they will benefit from them. It was really interesting to speak to them because we'd go up and they'd be smiling and Three Cool Old Guys would explain to them why they brought me over and they'd stop smiling and launch into these long lists of the ways the Bully Boy was ruining the country.
I heard "He needs to fire Karl Rove" a lot. That was for outing the CIA agent Valerie Plame. But what I heard even more than that was that he needs to be impeached.
I went back to tonight to talk to some of the ones there wasn't time to talk to Tuesday night and it was the same message. (I had told my date about them on our first date and she wanted to meet Three Cool Old Guys, so Tuesday we spent an hour and a half at the nursing home before going out to eat.)
I've got to do laundry and go get some milk and other stuff at the stores so this isn't a long entry. But Three Cool Old Guys thought this was important and I agree with them. It's not just the young people that have turned against the Bully Boy.
gareth porter
iraq elections
iraq
elderly
the common ills
