Read 3 Old Men

I read the blog 3 Old Men every day. I was excited when Abby announced that her dad was going to start blogging w/ his friends in tow. She'd posted several blurbs he'd e-mailed to her and immediately she and I agreed he should blog. Then, I got hooked by the whole pole barn saga and am eagerly awaiting an update after they've had guests stay in it. In the meantime I'm reading political writing from Abby's dad. It's really thoughtful. And I highly suggest reading it.

Here is a post from yesterday.

"To: Republican LawmakersFrom: We the peopleRe: President George W. Bush

In recent months, issues that have been largely speculative and colored by the traditional partisan posturing that characterizes American political dialogue have come into much sharper focus. President George W. Bush and his Administration have lead the country into an unprecedented and dangerous quagmire. It is increasingly clear that both Democrats and Republicans in their zeal to react to the Middle East Crises and the Campaign of Islamic Terrorists have been lead to act in ways that are now clearly detrimental to our country based on false and misleading information. To mention a few examples:

1. The Iraq War is not part of our War on Terror. It is and always has been an agenda of a small group of people from several non-governmental Think-Tanks [The American Enterprise Institute, The Project for the New American Century, etc.] that was effected in the guise of being a response to the 911 tragedy.
   
2. The justifications for this war were al Qaeda ties with Iraq and Iraq’s fabled weapons of mass destruction. This information was false, and the Administration knew it was false in October 2002 when the President went before Congress asking for the power to make war.
   
3. Congress did approve that power to disarm Iraq. But when Mr. Bush exercised that power, he went for a regime change, not disarmament. He was following the neoconservative agenda, not the will of the Congress.
   
4. There are now numerous examples that the Administration’s tactics have been executed through clandestine and corrupt pathways. While the "outing" of a C.I.A. Agent is the most blatant example, there are many other examples that Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rove, etc. are regularly acting covertly to control the outcome of the political process.
   
5. Through the efforts primarily of Mr. Cheney, Congress is being manipulated to pass legislation that is diametrically opposed to what America stands for - Torture, no Habeas Corpus.
   
6. Mr. Bush has appointed a man, John Bolton, who has been a major critic of the United Nations as our representative to the United Nations by waiting until Congress was recessed and making an interim appointment.
   

We, the people have been lied to and we now know it. The Members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, have been lied to. Worse, our young men and women who are dying daily in Iraq have been lied to.
It is time to recall that the Republican Party was brought into America’s consciousness as the anti-slavery party, a party dedicated to human rights. The first American Republican President was Abraham Lincoln, the man who saved our Union and freed the Slaves. He stands before us as a symbol of integrity and greatness. It is time for the Republican lawmakers to stand with the rest of America and restore the Union again, to join in the fight to clear this blemish of lies and manipulation from our political scene.
You were lied to too. There is no shame in opposing the misuse of power by a President who happens to be in your party. Party affiliation is not the same as your job as representatives of the people and the government of our Union. A simple perusal of any opinion polls should make it clear what the people feel. Many Democrats were wrong, as were many Republicans, as were many voters. We are in a period of our history where previous mistakes need not be perpetuated. Who knew that the President was going to misrepresent information and his intentions not only to his critics, but also to his allies?"