Joe Lieberman’s record: Why would anyone in Connecticut vote for him?

Joe Lieberman’s record: Why would anyone in Connecticut vote for him?
By Mary MacElveen
November 2, 2006

Living on the north shore of Long Island and if the weather if favorable, I can see the coast line of Connecticut. The only thing that separates us is a slim body of water known as the Long Island sound. If on Election Day the voters of Connecticut choose to re-elect, Joe Lieberman, we may as well be oceans apart.

As I was reading this article in the Hartford Courant: Focus Stays on War, I zeroed in on this statement coming from Lieberman “I’m running on my own, based on my record.” So, let us examine his record since Bush took office. By the way when most Republicans are running from Bush, Lieberman embraces his support and has done so throughout these past six years.

When it came to voting for both Patriot Acts, Lieberman voted yes. This was the start in demolishing the liberties given to all of us by our founding fathers. He may as well have stomped on the graves of our founding fathers as well as the soldiers that have died in past wars and continue to die in this present one. Our soldiers spill patriot blood to protect our liberties.

When it came to voting for the Iraq Resolution, Lieberman voted yes. By the way, to the voters of Connecticut, a resolution is merely a poll taken and is not a congressional authorization to go to war. So, when Bush invaded Iraq he over-stepped his authority to take us into that war. Interestingly enough, no one and that includes Lieberman really has called Bush on this one.

Joe Lieberman has voted for every single war appropriations bill in which one was passed costing the American tax payer $82 billion dollars in September of 2005. Contained within that appropriations bill and reported by me in a past article I wrote, “The Senate just recently passed an $82 billion dollar war appropriations package where a $600 million dollar American embassy will be built in Iraq.”

The Nation Magazine just recently reported of this embassy, “Among the many secrets the American government cannot keep, one of its biggest (104 acres) and most expensive ($592 million) is the American Embassy being built in Baghdad.”

To the voters in Connecticut, those are your tax dollars and Lieberman voted yes to this monstrosity that is being built in Iraq which is a country that wants us out of there. As civilians continue to suffer in Iraq, this is what you need to read “At a time when most Iraqis are enduring blackouts of up to 22 hours a day, the site is floodlighted by night so work can continue around the clock." Has, Joe told you about this? I can think of better uses for that $592 million dollars that this embassy is costing both you and me.

At this point 47 million people within this country go uninsured or under-insured and we are spending that obscene amount on an edifice that will be of no use to us as a nation, instead of taking care of our own? How much are you paying for your health care premiums and then remember that number.

If you really want to see how much we are paying for this war by the second then go to this link, which will also tell you how that money could be used in your state of Connecticut.

As Joe’s friend, George W. Bush elects to ‘stay the course’ in which he said a Democrat controlled congress would make us weaker, please pay attention to the opinion of two retired generals as reported in Salon.com.

"Two retired senior Army generals, who served in Iraq and previously voted Republican, are now openly endorsing a Democratic takeover of Congress.” They go onto say “they believe a Democratic victory will help reverse course from what they consider to be a disastrous Bush administration policy in Iraq.”

The generals who expressed this opinion are, Maj. Gen. John Batiste and Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton. General Eaton stated, "The best thing that can happen right now is for one or both of our houses to go Democratic so we can have some oversight," He then went onto say "It is time for a change."

At present our casualty rate stands at 2,818 according to the DOD (Department of Defense). Those who have been injured in this war presently stands at 20,687 also according to the DOD. But, what will blow you away is a figure of how many innocent Iraqis have died and that number according to Lancet has been reported as high as 655,000. While Bush has rejected these numbers citing General Tommy Franks, General Tommy Franks of US Central Command said: "We don’t do body counts."

In the month of October it has been the bloodiest month in Iraq recently and this is also Lieberman’s record. Hold him to it.

When the senate voted for the ‘The Military Commissions Act of 2006’, Lieberman voted yes to it. Do any of you who will go to the polls on Election Day know that this new law “legalizes U.S. war crimes committed before December 30, 2005” Would anyone consider the slaughter of 655,000 innocent Iraqis as being a war crime?

This new law also gives Bush the right to use whatever interrogation techniques to be used on enemy combatants. As a result of this, you will be astonished as you read this column in which a U.S. soldier committed suicide after objecting to interrogation techniques. Her name was, “Army specialist Alyssa Peterson, 27, a Flagstaff, Az., native serving with C Company, 311th Military Intelligence BN, 101st Airborne.” Again, that is Lieberman’s record by voting in favor of this bill.

Lastly, when, Lieberman stated in the Hartford Courant article, “As far as I’m concerned, what this campaign is about is between the people of Connecticut and me." I do reject that because how senators vote in congress affects us all. It sure did affect the life of Army specialist Alyssa Peterson, didn’t it? Joe Lieberman’s actions I would say brought about her death as it pertains to that one bill. By voting yes to that one bill, he was not supporting this one soldier.

http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2006/11/2/2467556.html

*Please go to the link above to read the important hyperlinks included within the piece.