I've really tried to ignore this one, but the more I read it, the more it
offends me...

So, my $0.02 worth is woven throughout...


"David Brooks" wrote in message
...
One thing - one of so very many things - I learned in my five years of
flying is that partisan politics does not fit into the cockpit.

Guess what David,

One of the things I've learned in 43 years of living is that politics don't
really fit anywhere. Whether because of family history, social
consciousness, personal success or failure, a love of donkeys or elephants
and a bazillion other possible reasons, one's political persuation is as
personal and deepley rooted as just about anything can possibly be. I'd bet
that if you asked 100 citizens of the USA why they belong to one political
party or another, almost none of them could give you calm, rational,
coherent answers that don't digress into a litany of what's wrong with this
country becuase of the "other guys."

Most of my flight instructors have, I know, been to the right of me
politically.

That's about as consequential as the fact that they were physically in the
right seat. How the heck would you "know" this anyway? Did they volunteer
this information, or are you the type who insists on digging and pushing
enough buttons until you get the response that officially confirms (in your
mind...) that they MUST be right-wing, reactionary, biggoted,
hate-mongering, gun-toting, neandertal, knuckle dragging, Bible Beaters who
want to bring back witch burning, public stonings and prohibition because
they don't see things quite the same way you do? Take your own lesson
learned to heart ... If you don't want to know someone's personal philosophy
on a subject ... don't ask.

I had a most enjoyable flight with CJ - although he has since earned my
undying
enmity by unapologetically using the term "Final Solution" in connection
with me and people like me, an astonishing thought coming from an avowedly
religious man, but telling and apt.

Don't know where this comes from...and don't care, either.

But now it seems the nation has, albeit by a slim margin, re-elected a
weak,
hypocritical, murderous coward. Three years ago, when some writers on the
left started talking about fascism, I thought that an absurd stretch. No
longer. The parallels are not precise - they never are - but the broad
sweep
and many of the components of a new fascist state are in place. The 48%
who
didn't vote for this disaster keep knocking on my consciousness, but they
are now feeble and impotent. The thugs are in charge.

Oooh, I feel like such a subversive, because on the Bush Administrations
watch:
A) I realized a lifelong dream this year in earning my PP-ASEL (due in no
small measure to point (B))
B) I'm self employed, but I've been able to secure plenty of work in my
chosen profession (Sports TV - averaging 40 to 45 weekends of work a
year...)
C) My wife landed her dream job which increased both her earnings and her
job-satistfaction quotient, signficantly
D) Between 2000 and now...we travelled to lots of fun places and met lots of
interesting people

And according to you, we were able to do all this in a neo-fascist,
jackboot-clad, burn 'em out of the ghettos and get 'em on the rail cars,
police state??!!??

I'll be go to hell... Who could ever have guessed that totalitarianism could
yield such personal, professional and financial rewards? I guess the UUSSA
(United Union of Soviet States of America) is a workers paradise after all!!

That being so, and despite what should be an apolitical setting, I can no
longer in good faith keep company with a group of which the majority, I
know, has elected to deliver the country I love, and chose as my home,
into
the hands of Bush and his repressive, regressive masters.

There is no such thing as an "apolitical setting." Simple math dictates
that once you have more than two people, the ability to form a majority
exsists. Right / Left ... Republican / Democrat ... High Wing / Low Wing
.... King Schools / Sportys ... National League / American League ... Boxers
/ Briefs ... Cessna / Piper. It's human nature to form opinions, take sides
and debate. Remebmer where you are...Usenet. If there is a more democratic
and egalitarian environment than Usenet, I sure don't know where that would
be.

Face it, the Democratic party ran a poorly focused, haphazard campaign that
just sounded more and more desperate as we got closer to election day.
While I do think that the US's position in the world obligates us to use our
political / military / financial resources if there is a situation where one
or all of our strengths could provide help or assistance to those in need, I
don't agree with our current policy on Iraq. I feel the first Gulf War
proved just what a sham and a paper tiger Saddam Hussein and his military
really are. We could have just kept him bottled up in Iraq ad-infinitum and
concentrated our efforts in Afghanistan, instead.

I considered voting for Mr. Kerry, but he stepped on the same land mine that
seems to blow up in the face of at least one politician every election: He
started to promise too much, to too many in too scatter-shot a fashion
without enough specifics and/or details to back up his claims. It's very
easy to stand on the sidelines and cry foul. Had he offered anything in the
way of alternatives that could be enacted in in a realistic manner he'd have
gotten my vote. But, increasingly, he just became a broken record and his
rants against the current administration just became an endless loop of the
same lines, over and over and over...Ok, Senator ... we get it ... Bush Bad
.... but, why would you be better? Insert Chirping Crickets Here

Finally, I reject and personally resent your assertion that Republicans are
cowards, murderers, hypocrites and thugs. My father is a Republican and
standing up for what he believes got him a trip to Italy and a Purple Heart.
His father was a Republican and was a decorated member of the Detroit Police
Department. And now, I'm a Republican who by luck and the grace of "God"
(yup, the same "God" mentioned on our money, in our pledge of allegience and
in no less than four specific places in the Declaration of Independence...)
was born in a time between major conflicts but in a society that still
rewards those who are willing to get off their ass and go work for what
makes them happy.

So long. Thanks for all the conversations. You guys have made me a better
pilot.
-- David Brooks

All I can say is I'm glad I'm not in the dark place you are.

Jay Beckman
Chandler, AZ
PP-ASEL