"George,

SAVE THE NATION, , , DEFEAT BUSH IN 2004!

That is the way I am seeing it, anyway. I'll take anyone (or anything) in preference to this parsing, mindless fraud residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The latest tragic joke is the way the 455 BILLION dollar deficit is being spun, never mind it is almost twice what was forecast just months ago, now, we are told it really is good for the nation, because it is so manageable!

We are told that the 5.6 Trillion dollar surplus forecast for 2010 has disappeared in the interest of 'homeland security, the war against terrorism and the "righteous" war against Iraq', not only has the surplus evaporated , but the monumental debt, that seems to have no end in sight, grows with each passing day.

What else? Bush and his sycophants don't tell us they have raided Social Security funds and don't even include the skyrocketing costs of the ongoing war in Iraq (twice original projected cost) in the 500 billion dollar deficit forecast for next year. We fought the Civil War (Union), the Mexican War, Spanish American War, WWl, WWll, Korean War, Vietnam War, War in Kosovo, and the First Bush War against Iraq for less than Bush ll is telling us HIS WAR against terror, Iraq , etc. is costing the taxpayers.

Meanwhile, the states are so upside down , fiscally, that in Oregon, for example, parents are having bake sales and blood sales to keep the public schools limping along.

Bush wants to shift the cost of Head Start back to the states, almost assuredly destroying the program.

He sits next to Kofi Anan and revises history by telling the world that Saddam Hussein refused to allow inspectors to enter Iraq, an incredulous [sic] statement!

Maybe the Congressional Democrats are willing to watch the nation implode with an incompetent at the helm, but I think "When in the Course of Human Events" should be the operative words for the nation, at this juncture; we simply MUST work, and work tirelessly, to put an end to this scourge that grips our land. It appears that only an aroused public can see this naked emperor.

Given the ability to corrupt the electoral process and the oligarchs willing to contribute hundreds of millions to this corrupt regime's war chest, the task will not be easy. Hopefully, the democratic process can still be revived and we can show these monsters, the door! I'll take Bart Simpson, Donald Duck or anyone of the Democratic candidates in preference to this American Destroyer.

-Harry Tenney (electronic mail, July 17, 2003)