( OT ) President Bush: Don't use my husband as your mascot
 

March 5, 2004 | Dear President Bush:

My husband, Luis Eduardo Torres, was at his second day of work at Cantor
Fitzgerald when he was killed on Sept. 11. He jumped from the 105th
floor of the North Tower. Most of his upper body was recovered,
identifiable only through dental records. I was seven months pregnant at
the time.

It is with him in mind that I'm writing to you, to question your
disturbing reelection ad campaign. Yesterday I saw the three ads you're
now running all over the country, specifically on cable stations in the
"swing states," where you feel you need to come out fighting strong. It
was the "Safer, Stronger" ad that shocked me the most. At the
commercial's midpoint, the words, "Then ... a day of tragedy"
dramatically appear on the somber black screen. And the centerpiece: an
image of ground zero, the hulking remains of a tower, alongside a human
corpse, carried out by several firefighters. Both the tower and the
human are draped in American flags.

The flags were intended to honor ground zero and the remains of the
dead, but here they are merely props, used to add a powerful patriotic
punch to your message. The tower and the corpse are two hideously broken
and disfigured things behind and under the flag, and your image -- with
your red tie, white shirt, and blue suit, standing in front of thick
strong white columns -- serves as another, symbolic, flag.

That image of ground zero, and the body shrouded with the flag, reminded
me of the sulfur from the few pathetic remnants of my husband's last
day: his Cantor ID, Debitchek Meal Card and subway Metrocard.

I thought I'd finished dealing with the gruesome aspects of his dead
body, but it came back to me during your commercial. I had a thought I'd
never had befo Was every corpse draped in an American flag as it
emerged from ground zero, or was it just an honor bestowed upon the
uniformed workers? What if that was my husband's body, now serving as a
"spokesman" for your campaign?

I canceled my toddler's afternoon activities so I could do research. I
could hear my voice quake as I called the medical examiner and the
mayor's office. Initially, uniformed personnel were the only ones
wrapped in the flag, I learned -- but it became standard practice to
cover all the dead in that way.

In effect, then, Mr. Bush, you've paraded all our 9/11 dead out as the
official mascots of your reelection campaign. You use them to show our
nation that you can protect us against what we should all fear the most
-- being an anonymous corpse in another attack.

But these sleights of image and crafty juxtapositions are the only true
demonstrations of your leadership abilities. After all, on that tragic
day you didn't actually lead the nation: according to the work of the
"Jersey girls" -- the four 9/11 widows who fought to have an independent
commission investigate the tragedy -- your first reaction to the plane
hitting the North Tower was to blame the pilot. And you continued your
activities -- reading stories to a group of young schoolchildren. And as
you try to impress our nation with your role during and after 9/11 in
these ads, you refuse to talk meaningfully to the independent commission
about the specifics of your role prior to 9/11 and how much you knew
about a potential large-scale al-Qaida plot.

I didn't think that co-opting 9/11 with such disregard for those of us
who have been affected by this tragedy would anger me so much. I hope
that John Kerry doesn't use 9/11 to strengthen his own candidacy . But
so many 9/11 families are sick at your use of our sadness ... I can't
imagine it being any worse than where you have already led us.

( OT ) President Bush: Don't use my husband as your mascot
 

"Jim" wrote in message
...

Thoguth this was very interesting:

From http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f...osts?page=1,100
The 'Offended' 911 Group "Peaceful Tomorrows" is funded largely by Teresa
Heinz
various sources, mostly Tom Randall of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |
3/5/04

"Peaceful Tomorrows" is being portrayed as an independent group of relatives
of victims of the 911 attacks. They are getting a lot of press claiming to
be outraged over the new Bush ads.
Call me insensitive if you like, but I wonder if this outrage could possibly
be a tad overblown, and more likely attributable to the millions and
millions of dollars this group has received from endowments chaired by
Teresa Heinz, wife of Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry.

According to their own contribution page, "Peaceful Tomorrows is a project
of the Tides Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization."

According to an article in the Pittsburgh Review,

"Between 1995 and 2001, $4.3 million of that money came from the Howard
Heinz Endowment. In 2002, it and the Vira Heinz Endowment blessed The Tides
Center, a San Francisco spin-off of the Tides Foundation, with another
$190,000 while the two endowments gave $1.6 million to the new Tides Center
for Western Pennsylvania." (The Heinz Endowments have teamed up with a
secretive left-wing group)

The money that flows into The Tides also flows out. They have given grants
totaling $489,000 to the Iraq Peace Fund, who used that money to fund the
anti-war marches and media costs of 27 groups, including MoveOn.org, whose
purpose is to defeat George W. Bush.

Other Tides Center projects include The Youth Gender Project, which seeks to
"empower and support transgender, gender-variant, intersexed and
gender-questioning youth and young adults."

They also shoveled $200,000 towards The Ruckus Society - founded in 1995 to
train activists in violent protest against biotechnology, globalization and
the World Bank. It incited property destruction in the Seattle riots of 1999
and Washington, D.C., the following year.

Now, if you really want to get mad, you should also know that $8,000,000 in
taxpayer money flowed into the Tides Center in the form of federal grants
made by eight different agencies between 1997 and 2001.

( OT ) President Bush: Don't use my husband as your mascot
 

memo from Terry McAuliffe a couple of weeks ago:

Find me a couple of dozen 9/11 widows, with kids, who are Democrats.

Have them write nasty letters.

( OT ) President Bush: Don't use my husband as your mascot
 

On Sat, 6 Mar 2004 01:05:09 -0500, "John Gaquin"
wrote:

memo from Terry McAuliffe a couple of weeks ago:

Find me a couple of dozen 9/11 widows, with kids, who are Democrats.

Have them write nasty letters.

memo from Rove a couple of month ago:

Find a way of getting even with anyone who doesn't agree with the
administration, like an opponent who doesn't back up the Iraq nuclear
connection, and happens to have a wife who works undercover for the
CIA.

Out the wife.

bb

( OT ) President Bush: Don't use my husband as your mascot
 

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 21:11:38 -0500, Jim wrote:




March 5, 2004 | Dear President Bush:

My husband, Luis Eduardo Torres, was at his second day of work at Cantor
Fitzgerald when he was killed on Sept. 11. He jumped from the 105th
blah. blah, blah, snipped.

I wonder how many folks were on the committee that wrote that
"letter."

Some good friends of mine were killed in Vietnam. Perhaps Kerry could
quit portraying himself as the single-handed winner of that war.

Garbage!

John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

( OT ) President Bush: Don't use my husband as your mascot
 

On Fri, 5 Mar 2004 22:27:58 -0500, "JGK"
wrote:


"Jim" wrote in message
...

Thoguth this was very interesting:

From http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f...osts?page=1,100
The 'Offended' 911 Group "Peaceful Tomorrows" is funded largely by Teresa
Heinz
various sources, mostly Tom Randall of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |
3/5/04

"Peaceful Tomorrows" is being portrayed as an independent group of relatives
of victims of the 911 attacks. They are getting a lot of press claiming to
be outraged over the new Bush ads.
Call me insensitive if you like, but I wonder if this outrage could possibly
be a tad overblown, and more likely attributable to the millions and
millions of dollars this group has received from endowments chaired by
Teresa Heinz, wife of Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry.

According to their own contribution page, "Peaceful Tomorrows is a project
of the Tides Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization."

According to an article in the Pittsburgh Review,

"Between 1995 and 2001, $4.3 million of that money came from the Howard
Heinz Endowment. In 2002, it and the Vira Heinz Endowment blessed The Tides
Center, a San Francisco spin-off of the Tides Foundation, with another
$190,000 while the two endowments gave $1.6 million to the new Tides Center
for Western Pennsylvania." (The Heinz Endowments have teamed up with a
secretive left-wing group)

The money that flows into The Tides also flows out. They have given grants
totaling $489,000 to the Iraq Peace Fund, who used that money to fund the
anti-war marches and media costs of 27 groups, including MoveOn.org, whose
purpose is to defeat George W. Bush.

Other Tides Center projects include The Youth Gender Project, which seeks to
"empower and support transgender, gender-variant, intersexed and
gender-questioning youth and young adults."

They also shoveled $200,000 towards The Ruckus Society - founded in 1995 to
train activists in violent protest against biotechnology, globalization and
the World Bank. It incited property destruction in the Seattle riots of 1999
and Washington, D.C., the following year.

Now, if you really want to get mad, you should also know that $8,000,000 in
taxpayer money flowed into the Tides Center in the form of federal grants
made by eight different agencies between 1997 and 2001.




Thank you. I've been wondering how so many could be using the same
phrases to describe their "hurt feelings."

John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

( OT ) President Bush: Don't use my husband as your mascot
 

On Sat, 6 Mar 2004 01:05:09 -0500, "John Gaquin"
wrote:

memo from Terry McAuliffe a couple of weeks ago:

Find me a couple of dozen 9/11 widows, with kids, who are Democrats.

Have them write nasty letters.



Have them sign the attached, DNC-written letters.

John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

( OT ) President Bush: Don't use my husband as your mascot
 

John H wrote:
On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 21:11:38 -0500, Jim wrote:




March 5, 2004 | Dear President Bush:

My husband, Luis Eduardo Torres, was at his second day of work at Cantor
Fitzgerald when he was killed on Sept. 11. He jumped from the 105th

blah. blah, blah, snipped.

I wonder how many folks were on the committee that wrote that
"letter."
************************
Some good friends of mine were killed in Vietnam. Perhaps Kerry could
quit portraying himself as the single-handed winner of that war.
*************

I lost some friends too -- please post examples of anyone
"portraying himself as the single-handed winner of that war."

( OT ) President Bush: Don't use my husband as your mascot
 

On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 08:52:36 -0500, John H
wrote:

My husband, Luis Eduardo Torres, was at his second day of work at Cantor
Fitzgerald when he was killed on Sept. 11. He jumped from the 105th
blah. blah, blah, snipped.

I wonder how many folks were on the committee that wrote that
"letter."

It would appear you have the opinion 9/11 was only a tragedy if you're
a Republican. 9/11 was a tragedy to both sides, John. People who
don't approve of Bush and lost loved ones on 9/11 have every right to
oppose Bush using 9/11 to prop himself up.

bb

( OT ) President Bush: Don't use my husband as your mascot
 

On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 09:04:22 -0500, Jim wrote:



John H wrote:
On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 21:11:38 -0500, Jim wrote:




March 5, 2004 | Dear President Bush:

My husband, Luis Eduardo Torres, was at his second day of work at Cantor
Fitzgerald when he was killed on Sept. 11. He jumped from the 105th

blah. blah, blah, snipped.

I wonder how many folks were on the committee that wrote that
"letter."
************************
Some good friends of mine were killed in Vietnam. Perhaps Kerry could
quit portraying himself as the single-handed winner of that war.
*************

I lost some friends too -- please post examples of anyone
"portraying himself as the single-handed winner of that war."

Watch TV.
John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!