One Radical Opinion

by "Radical" Russ Belville
Sunday, September 5, 2004

"Radical" Russ Belville was born on the first day of the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War in the town of Nampa in the "red" state of Idaho, where any opinion to the left of Reagan gets you labeled as "radical". He currently resides in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon (a.k.a. "Little Beirut") where he works in Information Technology. In his spare time, he enjoys writing about current events, playing the six-string bass guitar, and volunteering for liberal political causes. You can contact him via e-mail at letters 'at' radicalruss.net.

Article Index

9/11. Terror. I listened as Rudy Guiliani described watching a man leap from the burning 102nd floor of the World Trade Center. 9/11. Terror. Rudy said he held the arm of the police commissioner and said, "Thank God George W. Bush is our president." 9/11. Terror. Hmm, what about saying, "oh my God, look at that poor man leaping from the tower!" 9/11. Terror.

9/11. Terror. God. I listened as a genuine war hero endorsed the leadership of a president who avoided the draft. 9/11. Terror. God. I listened as this decorated veteran endorsed the foreign policy of a president who sent too few under-equipped troops to battle without the benefit of a serious coalition, in a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. Terror. God. I listened as this determined politician endorsed the man whose campaign had smeared him as being against breast cancer research, fathering a black baby out of wedlock, and being possibly too crazy from five years as a POW to run the country. 9/11. Terror. God.

9/11. Terror. God. Leadership. I listened as the largest response from the crowd was not for tributes to the 9/11 victims, platitudes from the speakers, or elucidation of their president's record and values. 9/11. Terror. God. Leadership. No, the biggest response from the group of people who complain about the negativity of the campaign came in the form of a minutes-long cascade of boos directed at Michael Moore. 9/11. Terror. God. Leadership. I watched as Moore smiled that irrepressible smile that says, "thanks for the free publicity and the extra millions of dollars at the box-office you just gave me!" 9/11. Terror. God. Leadership.

What I didn't hear a lot about was the stagnant economy, a net loss of jobs and new jobs that pay much less than the jobs lost, corporations that get tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas, and criminal business failures like Enron.

They didn't mention rising health care costs, rising levels of the uninsured, exorbitant prices for prescription drugs, refusal to allow importation of cheap Canadian drugs, and refusal to allow Medicare to bargain for cheaper drug prices.

I missed the part about restricting stem cell research, not funding No Child Left Behind, and opposing benefits (not just marriage but existing benefits) for homosexuals.

Did they cover the loosening of environmental protections to allow more pollution, opening old growth forests for logging, refusing to extend an assault weapons ban, and continuing a law enforcement assault on sick people legally using medical marijuana in their home states?

They surely didn't mention instituting the 9/11 Commission recommendations, protecting our nation's ports and chemical plants, and – strangely enough, considering the insistent hammering away at 9/11 – Osama bin Laden!