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A Poll to Entertain and Inform You; A Poll to FAX to your Congress People and Share with Your Friends By Lonna Gooden VanHorn Feb. 20, 2005
Some time ago I was solicited to participate in a periodic national poll. Because the poll they sent me to take yesterday was probably (in my opinion) the dumbest and most irrelevant poll they have sent me yet, I thought I would help them out by creating a new poll for them. A survey of important questions. Timely questions. Questions that actually mean something. A survey that will inform its participants, even as they are supplying their answers. Print it out and share it with your friends, send it to your e-list, and especially, fax it to your Congress people.
Below please find only some of the questions the pollsters might better have asked. Circle the answer you choose.
I could come up with hundreds more questions, no problem, if anyone would like to hire me to do so.
1. “Does knowing that a $200 an hour male prostitute and procurer of gay military escorts, using a fake name and questionable credentials was able to obtain and use a White House Press pass for two years to ask the president and his press secretary softball questions, make you feel better or worse about the “vetting” capabilities of our $100 billion a year intelligence agencies?” Or, do you believe he was a deliberate plant by the White House – probably Karl Rove -- to help the president and his press secretary avoid having to answer tough questions?”
makes me feel better makes me feel worse he was a deliberate plant by the White House 2. “Does knowing that the man who earned a reputation for shoring up death squads and supporting other human rights abuses and campaigns of terror in Hondurus from 1981 to 1985, and who coordinated covert aid to the Contras in Nicaragua, will soon oversee and coordinate all of our $100 billion intelligence agencies, make you feel more confident and secure or less confident and secure about the future of your own right as an American to be able to express a dissenting opinion without fear of reprisal? more secure less secure 3. “Does knowing that our new Attorney General believes it is okay for the American government to torture people, and to hold them for years without trial, including people who are almost certainly innocent of any crime other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time make you feel more proud or less proud to be an American?”
more proud less proud
4. “Do you believe most members of Congress voted for Bush’s tax cuts because they actually thought taking in less revenue would help pay the country’s bills, or do you believe they voted for the tax cuts because most of them are rich, and most of them would save close to $100,000 a year, just like the president will save close to $100,000 a year because of the tax cuts he has enacted?”
They thought less money coming in would make it easier to pay the country’s bills.
They couldn’t wait to get their hands on an extra hundred grand for themselves, and to heck with the needs of the people in this country.
5. “Do you believe they are likely to make the tax cuts permanent because?”
They really believe doing so will help cut the deficit.
They want to keep on personally saving 50 to 100 thousand dollars a year or more.
6. "Do you believe it would take a competent leader less than two years to find out who in his administration leaked the name of a CIA agent to the press if he really wanted to know who that person was or if he really wanted to punish that person?"
yes no not sure
7. “Does the fact that the president has not been able to get his inner circle to come clean about who released Valerie Plame’s identity to the press give you more or less faith in his competence?”
more faith less faith he knew all along have never seen any indication he was competent in any capacity other than raising funds from the people he calls “the haves and have mores,” the people he calls his “base.”
8. "Were you (a) aware that Richard Clarke's Jan. 25th, 2001, thirteen page urgent memo to Condaleeza Rice saying they needed to have a meeting about “Al Qida” and the danger of terrorists and terrorism, and making suggestions about actions to take to prevent terrorist acts was declassified nearly five months ago, but the administration chose not to release that documentation of the administration’s negligence until after the election?” Do you (b) believe that memo should have been released before Rice’s confirmation hearings for her new position as Secretary of State?”
(a) yes no not sure
(b) yes, should have been released before the hearings no, would have made no difference not sure
9. "Do you believe that withholding that memo until after the election was ethical, moral, and honest?"
yes no not sure
10. "The administration sat on a report that the FAA had received at least 52 warnings leading up to 9/11 that Bin Laden and Al Qaeda were up to something. Do you think they sat on that report because it proved warnings, including warnings of airplanes being flown into buildings, had been ignored by the FAA and the White House, and that ignoring such warnings made them look negligent and/or stupid, and that because such incomprehensible negligence on so many fronts at the same time was unlikely, some people might even have come to suspect one or more of them was involved to some degree in the attacks? Do you think (a) that they did not release the report before the election because they were afraid people might vote for Kerry if they were made aware of the overwhelming evidence that Bush and his administration had received so many warnings that something was up, and yet took no actions to prevent a terrorist attack? And (b) Do you believe that Clinton or Gore would have been impeached long since if such negligence had taken place under either one of them?
(a) yes no not sure
(b) yes no not only impeached, but also drawn and quartered
11. "Do you believe to not release that report until after the election was ethical, moral, and honest?"
yes no not sure
12. “Were you aware that even the CIA now says the world is more dangerous, and terrorism has expanded and exploded and is now a much bigger problem than it was before the invasion of Iraq?”
yes no not sure
13. “Were you aware that the president ran for re-election bragging about the fact that he had increased spending for the VA, all the while knowing he already planned cuts in spending for that department as soon as the election was over? Ditto for programs concerning education, women's and children's health, the Environmental Protection Agency, etc.?"
yes no not sure
14. "Do you believe doing such was ethical, moral, and honest?"
yes no not sure
15. “Do you think you would have known these things if they had happened under Clinton?”
yes no not sure would have heard about them every day, all day long
16. "Did you know that in Germany, Hitler was touted as "the acme of German honor and purity; the Resurrector of the German family and home," and that he believed “Providence” wanted him to lead Germany and to establish a new social order for Europe?”
yes no not sure
17. "Does knowing Hitler, was the “family values” leader who believed he was destined by God to rule Germany just as Bush believed God wanted him to be president, and knowing that many of the German people believed Hitler was almost a Messiah and exhibited many “Christian qualities” make you more or less likely to believe that the fact that Bush says he is the "values" president and that he believes God wants him to be president, means anything at all other than the possibly, he is either delusional or, like Hitler, paranoid and a megalomaniac?"
more likely to believe Bush’s saying he is a Christian has some bearing on the value of his presidency
less likely to believe Bush’s saying he is a Christian has any bearing on the value of his presidency
has no effect on my opinion of Bush and his Christianity
18. “Do you believe a person who is consistently unethical, deceitful and dishonest is very often a good Christian?"
yes no not sure
19. “Do you believe that greed, love of money and power, materialism, manipulating people through fear, eagerness to go to war, and unwillingness to sacrifice are often markers of a good Christian?”
yes no not sure
20. “Would you, like John Kerry, be willing to “sacrifice” some of your tax cut to provide a soldier with needed body armor, or would you be like the president and think that only the soldiers and their families need to sacrifice, while you keep your tax cut, add the cost of that armor to the deficit, and make the NEXT generation pay for every soldier’s body armor and all the other costs of the war?”
Sacrifice Be like the president and Congress and keep my tax cut.
21. “Would you “sacrifice” some of your tax cut to help provide veterans, 500,000 of whom were homeless at least part of 2004 with shelter, or would you be like the president and Congress and keep your tax cut?”
Sacrifice Be like the president and Congress and keep my tax cut.
22. “Would you “sacrifice” some of your tax cut so that all people could have medical care, or would you be like the president and keep all of your tax cut?”
Sacrifice Be like the president and Congress and keep my tax cut.
23. “Knowing that many of our presidents have had affairs – Jefferson and Cleveland to name only two, had illegitimate children -- what do you think is worse; lying about an affair or lying us into a war that cost hundreds of billions of dollars and will be responsible for the deaths and maimings of hundreds of thousands of people including thousands of our own soldiers?
Lying about an affair Lying us into war
24. "Were you aware the rest of the world overwhelmingly wanted Kerry elected, and the majority believe Americans must be really stupid and/or ignorant to have elected a man with such a poor record in every area?"
aware not aware not sure
25. "Were you aware America has become the most hated nation in the world because of the policies of George W. Bush?"
aware not aware not sure
26. “Did it make you more proud to be an American when we were the most loved country in the world or are you more proud to be an American now that we are the most hated country in the world?”
more proud to be most loved nation
more proud to be most hated nation
27. "Did you know that NONE of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqis?"
yes no not sure
28. "Did you know that the Saudis – Saudi Arabia has a horrible human rights record and is where 15 of the 19 hijackers came from (none were Iraqis) have close ties with the Bush family and have given the Bush family and Cheney a minimum of 1.47 billion dollars over the years?"
yes no not sure
29. "Did you know the Bush/Bin Laden families had business connections, and it is easier to find significant ties between Bin Laden and Bush than between Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein?"
yes no not sure
30. "Do you believe the 28 pages of the Congressional report on 9/11 that were blacked out were blacked out because they concerned possible Saudi funding of terrorism, and that such funding by people with close ties to the Bush's would be embarrassing for the president, or do you believe they were blacked out because keeping what was in them secret was important to our national security?”
important to our national security
would be embarrassing to the president
31. "Did you know Republican President Eisenhower -- Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in WWII said ‘he did not believe there is such a thing as a preventive war, and he would not seriously listen to anyone who talked to him about it?’
yes no not sure
32. "Would knowing that such an important military figure did not believe in fighting “preventive wars” have made you more or less likely to believe war and combat dodger Bush, when he said we need to fight preventive wars?"
more likely less likely not sure
33. “Did you know that a Lt. Colonel and lifelong conservative who worked in the Pentagon in the run up to war said they took ‘bits and pieces of information to make it say things they knew were not true’ in their effort to try to make a case for war, and that she took early retirement rather than to be a part of such dishonesty?”
yes no not sure
34. “Do you think you should have known that was the case before you were asked to decide whether sending our sons and daughters to kill and die, and committing hundreds of billions of dollars that might have been better spent somewhere else than on killing people in Iraq?”
yes no not sure
35. "Do you believe it was okay for President Bush to tell Saudi Prince Bandar about our plan to attack Iraq before he told our own Secretary of State Colin Powell?"
yes no not sure
36. "Did you know that besides Dick Cheney, President Bush's father, uncle, and other members of his family have profited, are profiting, or will profit in the future from the Iraq War?"
yes no not sure
37. “Did you know that President Eisenhower warned about that very thing – that the interests of the military industrial complex would come to determine policy, such as the decision to go to war—in his farewell address?”
yes no not sure
38. "Would knowing these things have made you more or less likely to vote for Bush?"
more likely less likely not sure would have had no effect on my vote
39. "More or less likely to support going to war?"
more likely less likely not sure would have had no effect on my support
never supported the war in the first place
40. "Would you be "okay" with your child or grandchild being drafted to fight in a war in Iraq, Iran or against other enemies elsewhere even though they had not attacked the U.S.?”
yes no not sure
41. “Would knowing that retired Colonel Hackworth and Walter Cronkite both believe the Pentagon is lying when they say they are not considering reinstating the draft – Cronkite said it was “one of many lies of this administration” make you
more likely to believe their will be a draft
more likely to believe the president when he says there will not be a draft
or
do you believe because of the miserable economy many of our young people will be so desperately poor their only chance for medical care, housing, and enough food to eat will be in joining the military or committing a crime so they can receive those benefits in prison
42. Do you believe that if our president and our Congress vote for us to go to war, at least one of each of their children or grandchildren should be made to join the military in a position that would guarantee they see combat?
Yes no not sure
43. Do you believe at least one of the Bush twins should be made to join the military in a position that would guarantee she see combat”
Yes no not sure
44. Chelsea Clinton?
Yes no not sure
45. “Do you believe at least one of the children or grandchildren of each of the CEO’s and board members of all of the corporations who receive defense contracts from the U. S. government should be made to serve in combat?”
yes no not sure 46. “Do you agree with this statement written by WWII veteran, and writer Kurt Vonnegut that “ We are all addicts of fossil fuels…And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we’re hooked on.” Agree disagree 47. “Would you rather we would have spent money developing alternative energy sources and increasing fuel efficiency for our vehicles rather than spending that money killing people who had done nothing to us, and killing our own soldiers in the process, or would you rather we killed people so Halliburton (Cheney) Bechtel (George Schultz) the Carlyle Group (Bush, Sr. Baker, Majors) Chevron (Condi Rice) could ensure their old companies continue to amass record profits? I would rather we developed alternative energy sources I would rather we killed people so our MIC could profit 48. “Do you believe, since we were deliberately lied to so outrageously about the cost of the new prescription drug benefit for seniors – an official was threatened with being fired if he told the truth about it -- that Congress should spend time crafting ways to make pharmaceutical companies compete to provide drugs at a better price, or do you believe as Bush does, that his pharmaceutical campaign contributors should be able to charge Medicare whatever they want in order to pay them back for contributing so generously to his election campaign, and so that they have more money to contribute to Republican candidates in the future? They should have to negotiate They should charge whatever they want. The more the better. 49. & |
