I want SO badly to respond to my Repub senators oped-help me!

I have developed a total mental block..give me some ideas.

http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2007/11/26/dailylight/opinion/editorials/column8.txt
American liberties cause for real Thanksgiving
Posted: Monday, November 26, 2007 11:44 AM CST


Long before serving as one of this nation’s greatest Presidents, Ronald Reagan quipped that he has “always thought of America as a place in the divine scheme of things that was set aside as a promised land.” Truly, we live in a nation of great prosperity. But perhaps what is more important, we live in a nation where we may exercise free will, speak without censorship, and worship in the way we choose. The Thanksgiving holiday allows us to reflect on these American liberties that have been defended with enormous sacrifice throughout our country’s history.

In 1621, the Pilgrims who had settled at Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts set apart a day to celebrate their first successful harvest. These early settlers had more to be thankful for that day than just a bountiful crop. They rejoiced in the promise of living outside of oppression and under the liberties God intended for all mankind. In 1789, George Washington built on that first Plymouth feast and issued the first national Thanksgiving proclamation, devoting a day for Americans to observe their sincere and humble thanks for our nation’s prosperity.

Nearly eight decades later, the United States was deeply embroiled in its greatest internal conflict. The War Between the States had been raging for two years, and Americans would endure another two years of bloody strife. Yet Abraham Lincoln, demonstrating principled leadership, called on the nation to reflect on its blessings. He issued a proclamation designating April 30, 1863 a national day of fasting, prayer, and humility. In his charge to our divided country, the President said, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no nation has ever grown.”

Though our modern-day Thanksgiving holiday, marked by feasting and celebration, seems in sharp contrast to the fasting and humility President Lincoln urged so many years ago, the importance of recognizing our blessings and prosperity remains. And if America, under Lincoln’s leadership, offered gratitude on a solemn day in a dark period, our thankfulness on a day of celebration should be boundless. As we gather around our tables this year and recount our blessings, I hope that each of us will consider how much we have to be thankful for.

On this Thanksgiving in particular, as so many of our military servicemen and women are separated from their loved ones, we should recognize how fortunate we are to be served and protected by our nation’s armed forces. It is because of those who have defended this nation — from the early Revolutionary War to today’s Global War on Terror — that we have the liberties that have allowed us to grow and prosper. I encourage all Texans to reach out to friends whose loved ones are serving overseas, and especially thank them during this holiday.

The 21st century has brought a new and unique set of challenges, in many ways starkly different from the conflict of Lincoln’s day, but also bearing high stakes. Today, the United States is fighting a new kind of war against a foreign adversary who fundamentally opposes democracy and is determined to destroy our way of life. In this struggle too, freedom will prevail.


The liberties we so vigilantly protect have created a country where every person can pursue opportunity and exercise personal freedom as no other nation allows. This realization alone gives us much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is the senior U.S. Senator representing the State of Texas.

In this one, he exported torture, tried to break Labor and preyed upon the poor and the vulnerable.

I can see how this would be hard because the world view is so out of touch with reality, it's numbing.

I had always wondered if Senator Hutchinson had bothered to read the USA PATRIOT Act prior to voting for it.

Thanks to her recent editorial, where she erroneously states that we in the US "created a country where every person can pursue opportunity and exercise personal freedom as no other nation allows", I now know that she didn't.

Thanks for clearing that up for me, Senator.

Love and kisses,
W8liftin' Gal

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

banned. Argue positions and policies, but keep the personal attacks to yourself.

We don't suggest that other DUers are "idiots" because they're stuck for ideas. We help each other out.

If you no like, you're FREE to PERsue other online forums more to your liking.

instead of attacking others who are trying to change the mindset of America,I have chosen to speak out in my overwhelming Republican area.Maybe someday,you can channel that negativity into something positive.

Reagan's was:

the first administration in American history to have a sitting cabinet member indicted.
the first administration in American history to have an Assistant Secretary of State indicted.
the first administration in American history to have an Assistant Secretary of Defense sent to prison.
the first administration in American history to have over 100 members of an administration charged with crimes.
the first administration in American history to have more members of his administration charged with crimes than the cumulative total of all other presidents in the twentieth century.

Lebanon: Reagan decided to "cut and run" after hundreds of Marines perished when a suicide bomber invaded their compound.

El Salvador: where the right wing FMLN, armed with Reagan money, Reagan weapons, and Reagan military training from the School of the America's at Fort Benning, Georgia slaughtered more than 80,000 civilians in the "War on Communism."

The Iran-Contra Scandal: an event that Reagan evidently "could not recall" in response to more than one hundred questions during the Congressional hearings.

Reagan destroyed the groundwork laid for nuclear disarmament by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nixon.

The re-freezing of the Cold War: following the Nixon thaw, Reagan bellicosely denounced the Soviets as the "Evil Empire," and then joked on his weekly radio address that our missiles were ready to launch.

The silly invasion of Grenada following the Lebanon disaster, and the reversal of goodwill gestures made to the Caribbean made by previous administrations, including the return of the Panama Canal.

The Soviet Union's internal move to Perestroika, a groundswell that occurred over decades resulting in a generation of new Communists by 1985 who were not manufactured by Reagan's bravado, but were products of the "Evil Empire."

Reagan presided over the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The cuts to social welfare programs and the Veterans Administration, moves that led to such an enormous rise in the homeless population, especially evident on the streets of Washington, D.C., that even comedians felt that they had to do something to stop the bleeding with "Comic Relief."

Reagan's policies enriched agri-business at the expense of small farmers, continuing the decline of the family farm to the point that recording artists were the only ones left to uphold the Populists' mantle with "Farm-Aid."

Reagan slashed taxes for the wealthiest, raised taxes on the poor, and then bailed out the corrupt Savings and Loan industry at taxpayer expense.

Reagan's SEC presided over such a corrupt and over-inflated stock market that the Dow saw the largest one-day crash in its history, greater than in 1929.

Reagan's economic policies effected a reversal in the trend toward greater distribution of wealth begun by Progressive Republican, Democratic, and Socialist politicians in the early twentieth centuries, and have led us to the greatest concentration of wealth today since the days of Andrew Carnegie and James Pierpont Morgan.

Outrageous military contracts: for which American taxpayers paid hundreds of dollars for nuts, bolts, and toilet seats, and the nation saw defense-spending rise to astronomical heights.

The Reagan Administration opposed the Civil Rights movement, blocked busing programs and made cuts to Head Start—programs designed to bring educational equality of opportunity to all Americans .

Reagan considered ketchup to be a vegetable in federal school lunch programs.

He spent his entire time in office proving that point as do all the rest of the Republicans. How can any person that hates government and blames it for all our problems be fit to manage our government? Republicans are doing everything in their power to prove government does not function, why would any person vote for that?

Particularly stupid (but not for Senator Hutchison) was when she said:


Is she saying our previous opponents like the Nazis and Soviets were in favor of democracy, and not out to destroy our way of life?! Then what was our beef?

--IMM

I read Kay Bailey Hutchison's recent op-ed piece with great interest and a little bit of disgust.I'll save the discussion over the "benevolence" of Ronald Reagan for a later date.My concern is with Sen. Huthcison's tendency,like others of her party, to hide behind a backdrop of soldiers, proclaiming "It is because of those who have defended this nation — from the early Revolutionary War to today’s Global War on Terror — that we have the liberties that have allowed us to grow and prosper. "Why then,Senator,did you vote for The first "Patriot Act"-which has basically dissolved our 1st and 4th Amendment rights?
Why do you and your comrades in the Senate seek to push the passage of "Patriot Act 2"?While presented as a tool on the "Global War on Terror",this gives the Government access to any citizens' phone,internet,library and other records.It gives the President the authority to label anyone he/she sees as a threat to "National Security" as an enemy combatant.(Might I remind you that this power can be abused by any political party).It allows the Government to keep anyone labeled an enemy combatant imprisoned without charges for an indeterminate length of time(this includes American citizens).It would deny the press and public access to Grand jury proceedings held regarding said enemy combatants,and any material evidence surrounding the case.
Is this the America you speak so highly of?The same America we saw "praised" by Joseph McCarthy and his minions in the 50's?
Regardless of our party affiliations,there are a few things as Americans we must remain united on.Some brave men and women back in the 1700s made the sacrifices to realize the dream we now live.The Constitution is what defines us as America,Senator.It's the same document you swore to uphold,remember?