LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (09/26/04)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

One reader's opinion about George W. Bush

Dear Editor:

In a recent letter (July 4), Roman Golash says that he could hide weapons of mass destruction "in a very small container," so that a person he named could never find them. This revelation may warrant an agonizing reappraisal of the consensus that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction in the year 2003.

Even more depressing is Mr. Golash's claim that President George W. Bush "has restored pride and dignity in the White House." Aside from pristine ignorance revealed each time Mr. Bush spills his verbal jewels (e.g., "They misunderestimated me," "They think that Social Security is some kind of government program"), his résumé offers a grotesque chronology.

During the Vietnam war, Mr. Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard and could not be found for several months, and the controversy over his service continues.

In a sweetheart deal, he bought the Texas Rangers baseball team that took land using taxpayer money.

As governor of Texas, Mr. Bush changed pollution laws in favor of power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the union. On his watch, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the smog capital of the United States.

As president, George Bush invaded two countries, at a continued cost of over $1 billion per week.

He shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history, and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.

According to The New York Times (July 27, 2002), he set an all-time record for the most private bankruptcies - 1.45 million filed in 2001 alone - in a 12-month period in the United States.

He is the all-time record holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations (see "Bushwacked" by Molly Ivins and "American Dynasty" by Kevin Phillips).

His largest lifetime campaign contributor and one of his best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history, Enron.

On the same day he was making patriotic thunder on a fund-raising tour, he cut health benefits for veterans; he supports a cut in benefits for active duty troops' families - in time of war.

He violated the U.N. Charter by launching an unprovoked attack against a sovereign state.

He changed U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.

He violated the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to launch the construction of an ABM defense system judged technically not feasible by all reliable scientists, but politically lucrative and highly profitable to his pals.

He withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

He violated both the Geneva conventions and U.S. law concerning the treatment of POWs. This is an impeachable offense with criminal penalties.

President Bush is the first president to have a majority of Europeans - 84 percent - viewing his presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security (see Nicholas Kristof's article of January 31, 2003, in The New York Times).

One could go on and on filling pages. The damage done by this president to America is a product of his ability to mask incompetence and his main role as a committed agent of pressure groups with their own agendas. His functioning in this capacity is enhanced by his irrational, almost fanatical belief that he "gets direction from God" (Mr. Bush's own words). This president's guiding proxies are Dick Cheney's corporate cronies and neo-conservative think-tanks that advocate military confrontations, especially in the Middle East.

Mr. Bush's visions are reinforced by his evangelical verve as a born-again Christian, which he shares with Pat Robertson's large Bible Belt assemblies and their literal interpretation of Old Testament prophecies and the coming of the Armageddon in our time.

Many Americans in the red zone of the nativist heartland connect with Mr. Bush because of an instinctively perceived regional affinity, disdain for the norms of civil society as accepted in most advanced countries and in much of the U.S., veiled race-baiting (acclamation of "Southern traditions"), and delight in Mr. Bush's sporadic holy-rollers. Substantive issues usually go over their heads, and they are easily persuaded by Rush Limbaugh lingo to vote against their own economic interests and in favor of conservative values merchants who will rob them of their pensions. In the 2000 elections Mr. Bush won the five poorest states (except New Mexico).

Mr. Bush's backwardness, unworldliness and spectacular blunders, e.g., the recent Medicare legislative scam (a windfall for pharmaceutical companies and private health plans at taxpayer expense), and, most of all, the Iraq fiasco with its Abu Ghraib decorum, are catching up with him. Indeed, this is a time of shame, big-time shame, despite a guaranteed white-wash at the top.

Boris Danik
North Caldwell, N.J.

Why no ads for tour of Virsky troupe?

Dear Editor:

Am I the only one who is frustrated by the current Virsky tour of North America? In contrast to other tours by Ukrainian artists, there has been zero advertising in your fine publication. In addition, there is no functioning website, and Ukrainian sites have been frustrated in attempts to obtain info from the tour promoters.

The Houston community had to play detective in order to find the Beaumont venue, and I seek in vain the San Antonio venue mentioned for September 28 on the Art Ukraine site.

In whose interest is it to keep this such a secret from U.S. Ukrainians?

Stephen Sokolyk
New Braunfels, Texas

EDITOR'S NOTE: We at The Ukrai-nian Weekly also are frustrated by our inability to receive information about the tour, as well as paid advertisements to promote it. Thus far we have received information only about two of the Virsky ensemble's performances, those in Morristown, N.J., and in Chicago, and that information came directly from the local organizers of the troupe's appearance - not the tour's principal organizer. It would be helpful if readers could contact local organizers to inform them of advertising opportunities via The Weekly.

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