Letter: Right-wing lies

Letter: Right-wing lies

Edward A. Slavin Jr.
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 01/26/05

Editor: Lies are destructive to the soul of a democracy. As Bill Moyers documented (PBS Now, Dec. 17), today's collection of right-wing opinionated liars are typified by Fox News (its bias wrought by Nixon's ad man is exposed in the movie "Outfoxed").

Lies are as dangerous to democracy as chocolate to a dog. Bush lied to get re-elected. He's appointed a new Cabinet to replace his first string prevaricators.

Bush's new Acting OSHA Administrator is Jonathan Snare, a Texan who sued to silence a website linking ENRON and Republicans - he'll be "protecting" worker free speech and safety rights now. Believe that?

Moral values? Bush nominated for Attorney General one Alberto Gonzalez, who engineered Iraqi prisoner torture. America's World War II German prisoners of war were treated humanely because America did not want our own prisoners to be treated inhumanely. The Geneva Convention was written and signed with that logic.

After U.S. torture was exposed, is it any wonder that insurgents turned to kidnappings, beheadings and murders? During the recent election campaign, I and hundreds of thousands of Floridians received a computer-generated telephone message from the peripatetic Kerik, identifying himself as a "former NY police commissioner," questioning Sen. John Kerry's patriotism, strength and resolve, saying he could not be trusted to protect our national security from terrorists.

I received Kerik's automated recorded phone call on Oct. 29 (four days before we voted), placed on behalf of the "Bush-Cheney '04" campaign, showing a fictitious caller ID of 1-111-111-1111. That is a phony phone number. This was massive deception, violating federal telecommunications law.

"Lame duck" Bush now faces his legacy: huge deficits, rising interest rates, sagging credibility, environmental depredations, corporate greed, uncaught Osama, exploding Iraq, increasing poverty, proliferating billionaires, a shrinking middle-class, overcrowded schools and warring right-wing supporters.

We shall overcome.


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