Thursday, February 12, 2004
Truth is neither trash nor gutter politics
Question anything about George W. Bush and you are "trolling for trash" and engaging in "gutter politics."
The only sorry pieces of trash are in the White House and it's time for someone to take out the garbage.
The things the Bushies are good at are lying, intimidation and harassment. But Bush and all his men are not making the questions about his service in the Texas Air National guard -- or his lack of service -- go away, as they did four years ago. Despite Bush's lie to Tim Russert on Meet the Press that he would release all his military records to prove he completed his obligation, so far what has been produced raises more questions.
Now, the more they fuss, fume, waffle and spin, the more determined even the corporate media are now to join us in digging even deeper.
The true heroes in this effort are Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, now retired, who served under then-Adjutant Gen. Daniel James of the Texas Air National Guard, and Iowa farmer Martin Heldt. Online Journal, among other online publications, broke the stories about what Burkett had to say and Heldt obtained through Freedom of Information requests, beginning in June 2000 (See Bush Military Info), but after buying into the Bushies' "explanation" the corporate media, with a few exceptions, gave the revelations short shrift.
The White House would have you believe that Burkett is either a disgruntled former officer or just plain crazy. Yet, The Dallas Morning News took him seriously enough to report today that "Burkett told the AP that he saw documents from Bush's file discarded in a trash can a few days later at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas. Burkett described them as performance and pay documents. He said the documents bore the header: 'Bush, George W. 1lt.' -- meaning first lieutenant."
The Boston Globe today said Bush's removal from flight status should have sparked a probe. The Globe went on to report, "Brigadier General David L. McGinnis, a former top aide to the assistant secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, said in an interview that Bush's failure to remain on flying status amounts to a violation of the signed pledge by Bush that he would fly for at least five years after he completed flight school in November 1969."
The horror of it all is that this privileged son, who threw away the best schooling money could buy, jumped ahead of hundreds of his contemporaries to secure a place in the TANG and zoomed to the head of a three-year waiting to become a fighter pilot, could not even complete that service while other people's less fortunate sons were being killed or maimed in Vietnam. And it is this same privileged son, who likes to don military uniforms, who is now sending other people's sons and daughters to be killed or maimed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and who know where next.
Trolling for trash? No, Mr. Bush, we are trolling for truth and truth knows no ideology or political party.
The only sorry pieces of trash are in the White House and it's time for someone to take out the garbage.
The things the Bushies are good at are lying, intimidation and harassment. But Bush and all his men are not making the questions about his service in the Texas Air National guard -- or his lack of service -- go away, as they did four years ago. Despite Bush's lie to Tim Russert on Meet the Press that he would release all his military records to prove he completed his obligation, so far what has been produced raises more questions.
Now, the more they fuss, fume, waffle and spin, the more determined even the corporate media are now to join us in digging even deeper.
The true heroes in this effort are Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, now retired, who served under then-Adjutant Gen. Daniel James of the Texas Air National Guard, and Iowa farmer Martin Heldt. Online Journal, among other online publications, broke the stories about what Burkett had to say and Heldt obtained through Freedom of Information requests, beginning in June 2000 (See Bush Military Info), but after buying into the Bushies' "explanation" the corporate media, with a few exceptions, gave the revelations short shrift.
The White House would have you believe that Burkett is either a disgruntled former officer or just plain crazy. Yet, The Dallas Morning News took him seriously enough to report today that "Burkett told the AP that he saw documents from Bush's file discarded in a trash can a few days later at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas. Burkett described them as performance and pay documents. He said the documents bore the header: 'Bush, George W. 1lt.' -- meaning first lieutenant."
The Boston Globe today said Bush's removal from flight status should have sparked a probe. The Globe went on to report, "Brigadier General David L. McGinnis, a former top aide to the assistant secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, said in an interview that Bush's failure to remain on flying status amounts to a violation of the signed pledge by Bush that he would fly for at least five years after he completed flight school in November 1969."
The horror of it all is that this privileged son, who threw away the best schooling money could buy, jumped ahead of hundreds of his contemporaries to secure a place in the TANG and zoomed to the head of a three-year waiting to become a fighter pilot, could not even complete that service while other people's less fortunate sons were being killed or maimed in Vietnam. And it is this same privileged son, who likes to don military uniforms, who is now sending other people's sons and daughters to be killed or maimed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and who know where next.
Trolling for trash? No, Mr. Bush, we are trolling for truth and truth knows no ideology or political party.
