Post by GMCarterHere is a letter that reflects some of my sentiments.
George M. Carter
**A Letter
I am writing this letter to the people in the red states in the middle
of the country -- the people who voted for George W. Bush. I am
writing this letter because I don't think we know each other.
Probably not.
Post by GMCarterSo I'll make an introduction. I am a New Yorker who voted for John
Kerry. I used to live in California, and if I still lived there, I
would vote for Kerry. I used to live in Washington, DC, and if I
still lived there, I
would vote for Kerry.
OK.
Post by GMCarterKerry won in all three of those regions.
OK
Post by GMCarterMaybe you want to know more about me.
Yes, why would you support John Kerry?
Post by GMCarterOr maybe not; maybe you think
you
know me already.
No, I don't I already said that.
Post by GMCarterYou think I am some anti-American anarchist because
I
dislike George W. Bush.
Not anti-American, Just under the influence of poor information.
Post by GMCarterYou think that I am immoral and anti-family,
because I support women's reproductive freedom and gay rights.
I think no such thing. Where did you get this Idea? You listen to your sid's
propaganda too much.
You
Post by GMCarterthink
that I am dangerous, and even evil, because I do not abide by your
religious beliefs.
No, I do not think any such thing. I am secure in my beliefs and secure
enough to let you have your beliefs.
It is a free country.
Post by GMCarterMaybe you are content to think that, to write me off as a "liberal" --
You seem to be labeling yourself here. Just because you don't like bush
means nothing about your politics or labels thereto.
Post by GMCarterthe dreaded "L" word
Trite. You can write better.
Post by GMCarter-- and rejoice that your candidate has triumphed
over evil, immoral, anti-American, anti-family people like me.
I am happy Bush won, but the other tripe is made up assumptions you have
about what I think of you. And you cold not be more wrong.
Post by GMCarterBut
maybe you are still curious. So here goes: this is who I am.
I am a New Yorker.
Me too, born in Buffalo.
Post by GMCarterI was here, in my apartment downtown, on September
11th. I watched the Towers burn from the roof of my building. I went
inside so that I couldn't see them when they fell. I had friends who
were inside. I have a friend who still has nightmares about watching
people jump and fall from the Towers.
He will never be the same.
How many people like him do you know?
I come from a family of commercial airline pilots, and I work in aviation
myself, though not as a pilot.
My father is retired, but my brother departed NYC in a 737-800 bound for Los
Angeles on September 10. Further, my brother, although high enough on the
seniority list to avoid lay-offs, has chosen to leave the cockpit and earn a
living with his law degree so that someone else won't have to be laid off.
I am as close to September 11 as anyone, OK?
Post by GMCarterPeople that can't sit in a
restaurant without plotting an escape route, in case it blows up?
Good general idea anyway.
Me two. I come from a family of them.
Post by GMCarterI work across the street from the Citigroup Center,
which the government told us is a "target" of terrorism.
I come from Nevada, where the Las Vegas Strip and other Casino areas have
been designated target areas. Muhammed Atta et al hug out there several
times and debauched.
Post by GMCarterLater, we
found out they were relaying very old information, but it was already
too late. They had given me bad dreams again. The subway stop near
my office was crowded with bomb-sniffing dogs, policemen in heavy
protective gear, soldiers. Now,
Everyone is affected. Try to fly anywhere recently?
Post by GMCarterevery time I enter or exit my office, all of my possessions are
X-rayed to make sure I don't have any weapons. How often are you
stopped by a soldier with a bomb-sniffing dog outside your office?
It happens every time I fly, however I am living in amsterdam whhere last
week a Muslim extremist with Al Queda links shot and stabbed to death a
Dutch film maker on his bike on a street in the city.
The knife stabbed into the bodied held a 5-page declaration of jihad against
the Netherlands and a list of its government officials and personalities.
This happened not 1 mile from my home.
So the danger touches us all. Don't claim to have suffered any extra,
especially as it related to an anti bush tirade with massive assumption
making about those who voted for him.
Post by GMCarterI am a neighbor.
Me, too. I live in an apartment building along the category 3 ils form
schiphol's Buitenveldertbaan, or runway 09-27. There are 12 floors and 6
apartments on the floor. So I have 71 neighbors.
Post by GMCarterI have a neighbor who is a 9/11 widow.
I have a friend in Amsterdam who lost a close friend.
Post by GMCarterShe has two
children. My husband does odd jobs for her now, like building
bookshelves. Things her husband should do. He uses her husband's
tools, and the two
little girls tell him, "Those are our daddy's tools." How many 9/11
widows and orphans do you know? How often do you fill in for their
dead loved
ones?
What does this have to do with Bush?
I have established that you have suffered no more than I. I watched the
second plane hit live. MY father flew the 767. I saw the buildings fall down
live. I was talking to my father at the time on the phone.
Post by GMCarterI am a taxpayer. I worked my butt off to get where I did, and so did
my
parents.
So did we. Father 20 years in military, 30 years commercial airline pilot. 2
overseas tours, 1 in vietnam. Brother. USAFA graduate, 1985. Air force pilot
10 years. 1 Overseas deployment, Desert Storm. MBA, JD, Commercial Airline
Pilot with 12 years experience, attorney at commercial jet leasing company 7
years.
I am handicapped with a severe neuromuscular disease, and I write an
in-flight magazine for an airline group based here in Holland.
Post by GMCarterMy parents saved and borrowed and sent me to college.
Me to. Grad school, too.
I
Post by GMCarterworked my way through graduate school.
Good for you.
Post by GMCarterI won a full tuition
scholarship to law school.
Good for you.
Post by GMCarterAll for the privilege of working 2,600
hours last year.
Don't throw me in that briar patch. If I could work 2600 hours a year I
would be equally as productive as my brother, and I could add another
250,000 in income to support the family.
Post by GMCarterThat works out to a 50 hour week, every week,
without any vacation days at all. I get to work by 9 am and rarely
leave before 9 pm. I eat dinner at my office
Life is a bitch and then you die.
Try doing it with a muscle disease.
Post by GMCarterthem.. I see that we have a Constitution.
Me, too. But the Democrats and their incessant drug wars have reduced it to
a pile of ash.
Post by GMCarterTherefore, I think it
should be upheld.
Me, too.
Post by GMCarterI see that there were no weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq.
Not, yet discovered. However up until GW Bush became president, we were
assured by the Clinton Administration in the form of clinton and albright
that indeed there were WMD in Iraq.
Post by GMCarterTherefore, I think that Iraq was not an imminent danger t o me.
SO you were willing to let the killing machine of Saddam, Uday, and Cusay to
just keep killing?
That is something that we can discuss the morality of.
Post by GMCarterIt
seems so pragmatic to me.
Yes. It is someone else killing someone else, and its all very far away.
Post by GMCarterHow do you see the world?
In terms of right and wrong.
Post by GMCarterDo you really
think voting
against gay marriage will keep people from being gay?
I did not vote against gay marriage. In any case, Kerry opposed gay
marriage. So why bring it up here?
Would you
Post by GMCarterreally
prefer that people continue to die from Parkinson's disease?
There is a loaded question. I assume you are referring to stem cell
research?
Did it ever occur to you that some of is might disagree with bush on certain
issues, or do you see us as simpletons or automatons marching glassy-eyed to
some orders given via fax from Bus..ahh--Cheney?
Do you
Post by GMCarterreally not care about the Constitutional rights of political
detainees?
I oppose the abuses under the post 9/11 circumstances. That is why we have
courts.
Why would you assume that we don't care about their rights when we care
about ours? We could be the one's jailed next, you know.
Post by GMCarterWould you really have supported the war if you knew the
truth, or would you have
I knew the truth, and so did you. WMD were in Iraq until the day that GWB
was elected. Check the papers of the time.
However the answer to your question is yes. There was a violent, rogue
killer regime in iraq which had already invaded two of its neighbors and
performed an attempted genocide on its own people.
That was reason enough.
The fact that you had to be sold on some other story except doing the right
thing by running to the rescue of fellow man in need, that is a moral
problem we could discuss.
Post by GMCarterwanted to spend more of our money on health care, job training,
terrorism preparedness?
All of the above. 2,000 billion dollars per year(at the federal level alone)
is not enough
Post by GMCarterI am an American.
Me too.
Post by GMCarterI have an American flag flying outside my home.
Me too. I also have 6 individual flags for individual flag waving.
Big deal.
Post by GMCarterI
love my home more than anything.
Me, too. Looks like we are not all that different.
Post by GMCarterI love that I grew up right outside
New York City.
I love that I grew up in the eastern end of the San Francisco /Sacramento
metropolitan area.
Post by GMCarterI first went to the Statue of Liberty with my 5th
grade class,
I first went when I was 11.
Post by GMCarterand my mom and dad took me to the Empire State Building
when I was 8.
My dad took me to the Chrysler Building in when I was 12.
I stood on the WTC look out in 1996.
I love
Post by GMCartertaking the subway to Yankee Stadium.
I love subways, period. Amsterdam is Building a new line right now.
Post by GMCarterI loved living in Washington DC
and going on dates to the Lincoln Memorial.
My mom loved her time there, too, studying at the RNC's Campaign academy.
Post by GMCarterIt is because I love
this country so much that I argue with my political opponents as much
I do.
So far you have said only two things which require discussion. Neither
really involves Electing Bush.
Yes, you are.
Post by GMCarterI never feel safe.
If this is the case, you may be suffering from a generalized anxiety
disorder. Medicine can help this easily.
Post by GMCarterMy in-laws live in a small
town in Ohio, and that town has received more federal funding, per
capita, for terrorism preparedness than New York City has.
Ridiculous statistic.
I take
Post by GMCartersubways and buses every day. I work in a skyscraper across the
street from a "target."
You are not forced to work there.
Post by GMCarterI have emergency supplies and a spare pair
of sneakers in my desk, in case somethng happens while I'm at work.
Good. You will make a good Mormon.
No. But my footwear requirements are special.
Post by GMCarterHow many times a month do you worry that your subway is
going to blow up?
0
Post by GMCarterWhen you hear sirens on the street, do you run to
the window to make sure everything is okay?
No. Only when the siren stops in the neighborhood.
Post by GMCarterWhen you hear an
airplane, do you flinch?
No. I hope for a west or west southwest wind so the arrivals at schiphol
will use runway 27.
This brings planes 700 meters from my balcony.
I love it. I can see the movement of the control surfaces and I can judge
hi/lo too far left too far right.
And I am so moved when a large aircraft passes I shout out, "bitchin'," and
I have a great big smile on my face.
Our former HQ was right on the end of Runway 36r. The landing and departing
aircraft was one of the best, in fact the only good, things about the
building.
Post by GMCarterDo you dread beautiful, blue-skied
September days?
No. MY birthday is in september, and if it is still warm, you can water ski
on still blue sky days.
Post by GMCarterI don't know a single New Yorker who doesn't spend
the month of September on tip-toes, superstitiously praying for rain
so we don't have to relive that beautiful, blue-skied day.
Then you all need help for PTSD.
Me, too. Do you have a sister in her late 30's or early 40's? I'm looking
for a wife.
Post by GMCarterI feel that we, as a nation, have alienated all our
friends
Living abroad in the middle of all that alleged alienation, I just don't
feel or see it.
Post by GMCarterand further provoked our enemies.
I have news for you...they are self-provoking.
Post by GMCarterI feel unprotected.
It really does seem like you need some professional help with this.
Post by GMCarterMost
of all I feel alienated from my fellow citizens, because I don't
understand what you are thinking.
And we don't understand what you are talking about.
Post by GMCarterYou voted for a man who started a
war in Iraq for no reason,
No, he did not. There were lots of reasons, and UN resolution 1441 which
gave us permission to do it.
Post by GMCarteragainst the wishes of the entire world.
There was UN Resolution 1441, 12 years of ignored un demands and 14 months
of warning before invasion along with 30 other nations.
That is hardly against the wishes of the rest of the world.
Further, Germany and France and Belgium don't count as the rest of the
world.
Post by GMCarterYou voted for a man whose
lack of foresight and inability to plan has led to massive
insurgencies in Iraq,
In your humble opinion. How do you know this was not anticipated nor planned
for? It was pretty reasonable to expect.
Post by GMCarterwhere weapons are disappearing into the hands of terrorists.
I thought terrorists had nothing to do with Iraq.
You
Post by GMCartervoted for a man who let Osama Bin Laden escape into the hills of
Afghanistan so that he could start that war in Iraq.
I your humble opinion.
Post by GMCarterYou voted for a
man who doesn't want to let people love who they want to love;
That is a mischaracterization and you know it.
He only opposes marriage.
Post by GMCarterdoesn't want to let doctors cure
their patients;
How is that? Is this guy some evil price or something?
Post by GMCarterdoesn't want to let women rule their destinies.
What are you talking about?
I
Post by GMCarterdon't
understand why you voted for this man.
Because you have your head filled with a bunch of untrue propaganda.
You are the confused one, not us.
Post by GMCarterFor me, it is not enough that
he is personable;
Who cares?
Post by GMCarterit is not enough that he seems like one of the
guys.
Again, who cares?
Post by GMCarterWhy did you vote for him?
A litany of reasons.
Post by GMCarterWhy did you elect a man that lied
to us in order to
convince us to go to war?
Because he knew you were unwilling to do the right thing and had to be sold
on some huge dangers to the us, which quite coincidentally, bill clinton and
his secretary of state said was the case in 1998 and everybody was in
agreement.
Why is it OK for Clinton to say there are WMD in Iraq and not for Bush?
They were using the same intelligence departments.
Post by GMCarter(Ten years ago you were incensed when our
president lied about his sex life; you thought it was an impeachable
offense.)
1998 was 10 years ago?
Post by GMCarterWhy did you elect a leader who thinks that strength cannot
include diplomacy or international cooperaton?
As far as I know, Bush has cancelled no international cooperative programs,
nor has he abandoned diplomacy. There were 14 months of intense diplomacy
before the liberation of Iraq.
Post by GMCarterWhy did you elect a
man who did nothing except run away and hide on September 11?
I am told that this is not a criticism which sticks. What exactly should
bush have done on that morning?
Be specific.
Post by GMCarterMost of all, I am terrified. I mean daily, I am afraid that I will
not
survive this.
Then I really suggest you need psychiatric help. PTSD is real and affects
people as you have described.
You may have to leave New York, but then you would have to live with us whom
you have already labeled bigoted religious intolerants who are stupid for
voting for someone you don't like.
Post by GMCarterI am afraid that I will lose my husband, that I will
never have children, that I will never grow old and watch the sunset
in a backyard of my own.
The reelection of Bush does not represent the beginning of Armageddon, lady,
come on. Can't you see how overboard you are going here?
If you are really having these problems, I beg you to seek psychiatric help.
Post by GMCarterI am afraid that my career -- which should
end with a triumphant and good-natured roast at a retirement party in
2035
Which unless you are killed on the highway, you will almost certainly do.
Post by GMCarter-- will be cut short by an attack on me and my colleagues, as we
sit sending emails and making phone calls one ordinary afternoon.
Once again, seek help. This should not bother you so much.
Post by GMCarterIs your life at stake?
No, and neither is yours.
Post by GMCarterAre you terrified?
No. I refuse to live my life that way, and neither should you.
Post by GMCarterI don't think you are.
No, I am not, Nor should I or you be. To be afraid is to let the terrorists
win...think about it...you are in terror.
I don't think you realize what you have done.
Post by GMCarterAnd if anything happens to me or the people I love, I blame you.
Oh? The sociopaths who actually do the deeds are not to blame for their
actions, but people in the USA who voted for Bush are?
Don't you see how overboard you are with this sort of statement?
I
Post by GMCarterwanted you to know that.
And that makes you mean spirited and hate filled.
To blame horrific deed on people who had nothing to do with said deeds is
irrational.
--
Eric R. Johnson