Posted on 05/19/2004 5:05:46 AM PDT by Lance Romance
To the president from a father: Shame on us
David F. D'Alessandro May 19, 2004
FOR TWO GUYS about the same age, George W. Bush and I do not have much in common. There are, however, two realities we do share: His daughter Barbara and my son Michael both attend Yale. And neither one is about to join the United States Armed Forces in Iraq.
Why not?
Because they don't have to, they don't want to, and George W. and I won't let them.
One of those "flaming liberals" for which Massachusetts is famous asked me, "Why are people not taking to the streets every day protesting the Iraq war like we did in the '60s?" As I thought about it, the answer is simple. The Iraq war is not being fought, for the most part, by the children of the affluent or even affluent-hopefuls. And that is because it's not being fought by the conscripted.
Vietnam-era protest rules do not apply. There are no chants outside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. of "Hell, no, we won't go." There are no draft classifications like 1-A or 4-F or student deferments. There is no threat that after next week's Yale graduation, the baby boom generation's kids will involuntarily be sent to places like Fort Dix, Parris Island, or Camp Pendleton.
This is a war of volunteer US combatants and National Guard "weekend warriors" who are trying to figure out how a monthly training exercise turned into a living hell. Patriots, one and all, and they should be lauded for their courage. But they shouldn't be there any more than Michael and Barbara should be.
When George Bush senior decided in 1991 not to continue the Gulf War into Baghdad, he was roundly criticized for being a "coward."
In the end, he was right. He knew that there was a reason not to occupy a country for a prolonged period in an attempt to simultaneously toss out a dictator, find weapons of mass destruction, police the country, establish a new democratic government, and stabilize the entire region. He knew it could not all be accomplished and the endeavor would soon become "quicksand in the desert."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Apparently, this position gives him the authority to speak on matters of war.
Go back to your manicures and three martini lunches.
On a related note, the new offcial Massachusetts state flower is the Pansy!
"I hate me....I hate my country. I hate me....I hate my country. I hate me...."
The Hate America First Crowd rears it's ugly head yet again.
The Wealthy Liberal Guilt...It is a disease.
investor_relations@manulife.com
"Apparently, this position gives him the authority to speak on matters of war"
And what position do you hold that gives you the authority to speak on "matters of war"?
Well, those guys like to call the war in Iraq a mistake. But, none of them offer a realistic alternative response to terrorists. What???.. Give the stockade away to the Indians??? NOT!
There's a difference between 'Let's roll' and 'Let's roll over".
D'ALESSANDRO, DAVID WESTON,MA 02493 JOHN HANCOCK/CEO 11/21/2003 $2,000 Gephardt, Richard A
D'ALESSANDRO, DAVID WESTON,MA 02193 JOHN HANCOCK MUTUAL LIFE 8/25/1999 $250 John Hancock Financial Services
D'ALESSANDRO, DAVID WESTON,MA 02193 JOHN HANCOCK MUTUAL LIFE 10/5/2000 $2,500 John Hancock Financial Services
D'ALESSANDRO, DAVID F WESTON,MA 02493 JOHN HANCOCK FINANCIAL SERVICES 6/30/2002 $1,000 Kerry, John
D'ALESSANDRO, DAVID F WESTON,MA 02193 JOHN HANCOCK INSURANCE 9/23/1999 $1,000 Bush, George W
D'ALESSANDRO, DAVID F WESTON,MA 02193 JOHN HANCOCK FINANCIAL SERVICES 5/29/2002 $500 Walters, David Lee
D'ALESSANDRO, DAVID F BOSTON,MA 02116 JOHN HANCOCK FINANCIAL SERVICES IN 9/6/2002 $500 Shaheen, Jeanne
D'ALESSANDRO, DAVID F MR WESTON,MA 02193 JOHN HANCOCK INSURANCE 9/22/1999 $1,000 McCain, John
DAVID F DALESSANDRO, MR MR WESTON,MA 02493 JOHN HANCOCK FINANCIAL SERVICE/CHAI 1/8/2003 $5,000 Republican State Cmte of Massachusetts
For this limp-wristed limousine liberal D'Alessandro to appropriate the name of John Hancock is a travesty.
True!!!!
Wasn't one of the arguments against the draft that the rich didn't have to go?
I wonder if all the investors whose funds his company manages agree with his politics. If they don't, they're free to take their money elsewhere.
How does he know that Bush 'won't let' one of his daughters go?
Maybe the reason that there aren't huge anti-war marches going on is not as he says, it's that the KGB is dead and there is no strong force of Communist propaganda to fund an anti-war movement of tenured professors and hedonistic, pampered 20-somethings.
PS I wonder how this man, and his business partners, would feel about that?
(rubbing chin and knitting eyebrows) Yeah, I'm having trouble figuring it out too... Was it because THAT'S WHAT THEY SIGNED UP FOR?
Living proof that, like cream, a turd may also rise to the top.
My guess is he has never heard of Pat Tillman. If I had any investments in this idiots company, I would definitely be selling them. I certainly wouldn't trust my money to anyone so devoid of logic!
He puts false words in the mouths of reservists. He thinks all reservists and military personell are going to Iraq kicking and screaming.
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