Email

I received the following within an email from an individual who believes for better or worse much the same as so many others do. Where this person received it, who knows. So many of these silly things are sent around the internet with no real origin, nor does it matter who first wrote it. The point is it gives the opportunity not to use someone elses silly email, rather, to address the stupid comments. I will paste the email and respond to several questions. As time permits, I will address the remaning accusations.

The email is as follows. Below, I reprint the email with my responses.
To be a Republican you need to believe:
1. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals, Hillary Clinton, liberals, Muslims, socialists, ........
2. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him to gas the Kurds and the Iranians, a bad guy when Bush's Daddy made war on him , a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
3. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Viet Nam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
4. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq. Obviously there are no UN resolutions against other countries in the Middle East.
5. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational drug corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay as fiscally responsible.
7. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
8. A good way to fight terrorism is to promote Wahabiism in the late 70's and 80's to combat the Soviets and the Iranian Revolution, to train these thugs and let them loose in the area to terrorize the people, to creat the Taliban and their rise to power, to negotiate with them on gas and oil pipelines during the Clinton and Bush Administrations, to cancel negotiations because the Taliban was asking too much, to set them up, to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money. Just a short list of Imperial policy in work!!!
9. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMO's and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.
10. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
11. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying us into a war in which hundreds of thousands of people die is solid defense policy.
12. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet and torturing captives.
13. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.
14. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
15. Supporting "Executive Privilege" for every Republican ever born, who will be born or who might be born (in perpetuity.)
16. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960's is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80's is irrelevant.
17. Support for hunters who shoot their friends and blame them for wearing orange vests similar to those worn by the quail.


****************************

To be a Republican you need to believe:
1. 1. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals, Hillary Clinton, liberals, Muslims, socialists, ........

[Response]
Conservatives do NOT HATE homosexuals. In fact, conservatives do not care if you are homosexual just as long as you do not try to force those individuals who do not agree or accept a practice that violates Biblical teachings to confront the practice. In your home, privately, what you do is your business and conservatives do not care.

Conservatives dislike Hillary Clinton and do so for reasons that defy logic for liberals. This has nothing to do with Jesus.

Conservatives dislike liberals and do so for reasons that defy logic for liberals. This has nothing to do with Jesus.

Conservatives dislike socialists and do so for reasons that defy logic for liberals. This has nothing to do with Jesus.

According to conservatives, Jesus loves everyone including Hillary, socialists, homosexuals, liberals, and Muslims. He would not want any of those peaceful and passive groups of people to force anyone else to swallow their beliefs. Conservatives do not and have never wanted everyone to accept their beliefs, rather do not try to perpetrate upon the body, that which defies religious teachings.



2. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him to gas the Kurds and the Iranians, a bad guy when Bush's Daddy made war on him , a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

[Response]
This is why liberals should not be in charge of anything except trash collection and nursery school. The simplicity defies logic. Conservatives never argued Saddam was a good guy at any time, ever, not ever. He was not given gas to kill the kurds, he was armed with bullets and plane parts to defend against Iran. We did not give him gas nor did we sell him biological weapons nor any weapons but bullets and parts to equipment.
He was most clearly behaving badly in 1991, he defied the UN, invaded a sovereign nation and the UN requested the US and allies expel him, which we did.
Cheney never did business with him, it was Rumsfeld – yet another reason why liberals should stick to nursery school. It is very difficult to get that wrong.
We never needed a diversion from bin laden. Liberals forget it was all about oil in Iraq, not diversions.


3. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Viet Nam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

[Response]
True enough. Conservatives have acquiesced to the demands of a democratic congress and president, but singly they would have been less likely to encourage trade. Having stated that point, I will rescind my faith in the correctness – Conservatives can be just as dimwitted as liberals. Clinton was one of the first to begin the dialogue with Vietnam and while Bush 41 took us in to trade with China, Clinton took us to bed with China. A very difficult relationship and one many would disagree with.
The question of Cuba is another. Vietnam and China said they wanted to be friends. They didn’t call us names nor write rambling speeches extolling the virtues of their system and the failure of democracy. If Fidel had sat down and shut up for 1-2 years without any vitriol … we could very well have relations, rightly so, with Cuba today.


4. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.
Obviously there are no UN resolutions against other countries in the Middle East.

[Response]
This is an Israel baiting hate question. The only resolutions in the ME not enforced are the ones against Israel. However, if we take away Iraq and Afghanistan, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan … the vast majority of resolutions in the UN are against Israel. This is so not because Israel continues to do deep and desperate things, rather it is a sign of the anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish lobby in the UN. The US and or Israel unilaterally had Israel pull out of Gaza and begin the process of pulling out from over 90% of the West Bank. No UN resolution called for that nor did Israel do it because of a UN resolution nor did the UN demand it – they suggested various points of interest. What hope exists in Israel and between Jews and Palestinians is only because of Israel and the US – not the UN and its hundreds of resolutions against Israel.

Israel has never claimed it would use a WMD on a civilian population. Saddam did and he used it. Saddam was responsible for the hiring of assassins to murder President Bush 41. Bill Clinton took action against him for that behavior. Saddam demonstrated his intentions. In 1991, when the US pushed Iraqi forces back into Iraq, they killed over 300,000 Shi’a on their way back to Baghdad. The UN took action and called upon the US, UK, FR to enforce resolutions protecting millions of people in Iraq from reprisals. Failure to do so would have led to attempted genocide and the UN was keenly aware of its role in assisting genocidaires in the past.


5. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational drug corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

[Response]
Simplicity again – multinational. That means in very simple words – companies who have their headquarters around the world. US laws must not and do not impact companies who have offices elsewhere and ONLY when they try to sell their drugs in the US does the US government intervene and they do. There are hundreds of laws and rules governing attempts to sell, production, distribution, and the sale of drugs – from testing done to medical results. This is a strawman built by liberals to bash something no one likes – drug companies.

What is most likely at the heart of this issue is the costs charged. The problem with this silly point is pharmaceutical companies give away hundreds of millions of dollars worth of drugs free to the parts of the world that cannot afford it. Socialized countries purchase the drugs and underwrite the cost (subsidy) to their citizens. It is only in the US that the companies make any profit to provide for the free drugs around the world. In effect, our higher costs allow them to provide hundreds of millions in free drugs to people desperate for a chance to survive AIDS or other life threatening illnesses.



6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay as fiscally responsible.

[Response]
False charge. The Bush administration has NOT done this. This false claim has been running around since 2003. It is factually inaccurate – and those who spread it, know it is a lie or are ignorant and spread it without any knowledge of the facts.

Between 2001 and 2006 – overall benefits for veterans increased 34%.



7. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

[Response]
No one on earth said this. What conservatives believe is, rather than promoting sex, abstinence should be promoted. That does not mean condoms are not available, they are not however the first line of defense. Rather, a policy that suggests teens NOT have sex should be the practice rather than being ridiculed by liberals who bring cucumbers and condoms into first grade classrooms along with individuals who tell the children there is no difference between what their mommy and daddy do and what Bob and Joe do. THAT is the issue less than the condom.
Virtually every study done supports the evidence that providing condoms to children encourages sexual behavior – they feel safer in trying it and less fearful of risks. Fear of sex is what liberals have a problem with and want to eradicate from earth as badly as conservatives want to eradicate Islamofascisim. Liberals find it unhealthy to have a fear of sex, but children should be fearful of sex and perhaps that will slow down the tsunami of underaged children giving birth to babies and unwed mothers in some communities.
The current practice of condoms on every corner and in every class has not helped.

8. A good way to fight terrorism is to promote Wahabiism in the late 70's and 80's to combat the Soviets and the Iranian Revolution, to train these thugs and let them loose in the area to terrorize the people, to creat the Taliban and their rise to power, to negotiate with them on gas and oil pipelines during the Clinton and Bush Administrations, to cancel negotiations because the Taliban was asking too much, to set them up, to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money. Just a short list of Imperial policy in work!!!

[Response]
Stupid and ignorant. Devoid of facts and heavy on ignorance.

The US has never promoted Wahabiism. Not in the 70s or 80s, not for the Soviets nor Iran. We didn’t train any thugs nor did we let them loose to terrorize people. We didn’t create the Taliban. The one fact is the Taliban did go to Washington in the mid 1990s to negotiate over pipelines. Due to their repressive actions and ideology, the US government forbid US oil companies from doing business with them and instead, opted to develop an alternative pipeline involving the Russians.



9. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMO's and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

[Response]
On a scale of 1-10, Americans without medical insurance have a 9.99 relative to the world. In Iraq, those with medical insurance rate somewhere above 2. No one said HMOs have anyones interest but their own at the forefront of any decision … but if Iraq has an HMO, they will still rate around 2-2.25 relative to our 9.9. Saddam was a socialist, his Baath party is and was a socialist organization – socialized medicine for Iraq is comfortable and what they would expect. The real issue to scream about would be if we suddenly wanted to offer them all PPOs.





12. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet and torturing captives.

[Response] Or permitting abortions.

No where in the constitution is there any mention of an abortion being a right of anyone to do or have done to their body. But that doesn't mean we do not interpret the rights contained in the constitution broadly - much like the issue of gay marriage.