Impeach Bush and Cheney: Messages From Michael Moore and Eric Benson

MESSAGES FROM MICHAEL AND ERIC BENSON

TO MY CONSERVATIVE BROTHERS AND SISTERS

by Michael Moore

I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go.

Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.

Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans.

You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.

Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:

Dear Conservatives and Republicans,

I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:

1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.

2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.

3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.

4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.

5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.

6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.

7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.

8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.

9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.

10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.

11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice.

In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.").

We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.

12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich.

We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people.

And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST.

If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray.

Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.

I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are.

We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one.

Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.


Writings of Holy Men

by Eric Benson

While I am thrilled, as most indie singer/songwriters would be, that one of my songs is included on the LWWT page, and quickly rose toward the top ten (Writings of Holy Men, as I write, listed at #14), bragging rights aren't the only reason I submitted it in the first place.

Neil Young has not only solidified his already massive fan base by releasing a gem of an album with "Living With War", but has garnered many new fans, namely those opposed to what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. Vastly different tastes in music have come together on one platform, and the sharing of passionate beliefs has been made further possible through this forum.

As a Canadian, I was of course appalled at the CNN interview of Neil about the album, when asked if he felt his was a legitimate voice of opposition and fair, as he was in fact a Canadian. The outrageousness of that question is beyond measure, particularly in a democracy. Neil handled it far better than I could have articulated, trust me.

Also as a Canadian, I was grateful to have this outlet for my song that I wrote at the beginning of the Gulf war, when Bush Sr. stated that sending troops to Kuwait was "doing God's will".

How many times has that line been tightly wrapped around soldier's bodies, limbs and shattered emotions? As most songwriter's will relate to, the song took about a half an hour from the first chord strums, to the final lyric.

When something so asinine and obviously corrupt is being fed to the public from our "leaders", it stirs a passion in writers of conscience like no other.

As a Canadian, I'd also like the troops that are fighting and dying right now to know that as people, as human beings, I only wish them Godspeed home, safe and sound, never to have to return to that bloody mess.

As a Canadian, I want my American cousins to understand that some of our young men have been killed and permanently injured in Afghanistan, and frankly, we're not sure if it's to help infuse democracy and human rights so desperately needed in that country, build roads, schools, return women to their rightful place in their own society, - and/or searching for Bin Laden, or unknowingly aiding Haliburton complete the natural gas pipeline to a huge consumer base in China.

As an averagely intelligent and curious person, I marvel at microscopic images of dust particles from the surface of Mars, and photos from Hubble that show images and light from a mere 300,000 years after the Universe began - and once in a while watch to see if the much touted "String Theory" of our very make up is unravelling - and yet, we can't find one very recognizable and infamous person in a cave?

As a Canadian, I am concerned that our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, a very right wing man to be sure, is meeting with Blair and Bush. The ramifications of this are suspect at best, and frightful at worst.

Is Harper going to "offer" more support in the form of thousands of young men and women in the Iraq mess? Is he going to justify such a move using our latest "terror threat" in Toronto?

A few months ago, more than a dozen men of middle eastern origin, and Muslims to boot, were arrested in a major security operation that apparently uncovered explosives and a plot to blow up strategic locations in the province.

Given all the lame answers from the 9/11 Commission, and the unanswered ones uncovered from every direction and source that pose there may be more of a threat emanating from right here within our own political agendas than a cave in Afghanistan or a country filled with weapons of mass distraction - it's difficult not to think that the arrests in Toronto had more to do with political grandstanding and chest pounding that will result in a deeper grab into the tax coffers for beefed up security, and as an excuse for sending more young men and women to their deaths.

It's hard not to be skeptical.

As a man who's "religious" beliefs border on more spiritual doctrine than ritual (I prefer to subscribe to Good Orderly Direction), of course it's frustrating to think that anyone, Christian or Muslim, in this day and age (omg, I'm becoming my grandfather....) think that whatever force is responsible for creating life, could possibly sanction the wholesale slaughter of any life at all.

It would seem that life is about moving forward, evolving, and creating. How many ingenious ideas, medicines, tools etc., that would further our journey in the Universe, have met their demise in a hail of bullets or shrapnel?

Therein lies the crux of my lyrics - the outrageous scenarios we see played out everywhere on this beautiful planet.

From brainwashed young men in destitute circumstances in third world countries, to the wealthiest of leaders, both political and religious.

All touting "Writings of Holy Men", that I would think was intended originally to move mankind (and womankind of course...) forward, not purposely to our demise.