On June 28, 2005 you addressed the nation in prime time about the
> situation in Iraq. You called the casualties, destruction and
suffering in
> that country "horrifying and real." Then you declared: "I know
Americans
> ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it," you
asserted
> and went on to explain your position.
> My question to you is this: "Who is doing the sacrificing on the US
side
> besides our troops and their families and other Americans whose dire
> necessities and protections cannot be met due to the diversion of
huge
> spending for the Iraq war and occupation?"
>
> Let's start with the wealthy. In the midst of the ravages of war, you
gave
> them a double tax cut, pushing these enormous windfalls through
Congress
> at the same time as concentrations of wealth among the top one
percent
> richest were accelerating.
>
> You also cut taxes for the large corporations that benefit most from
> arcane, detailed tax legislation. Many of these corporations have
profited
> greatly from the tens of billions of dollars in contracts which you
have
> handed them.
>
> Companies like Halliburton, from which Vice President Dick Cheney
receives
> handsome retirement benefits, keep getting multi-billion contracts
even
> though the Pentagon auditors and investigations by Rep. Henry Waxman
have
> shown vast waste, non-performances, and not a little corruption. Not
much
> corporate sacrifice there.
>
> You and Mr. Cheney need to be reminded that your predecessors
pressed,
> during wartime, for surcharges on corporate profits of the largest
> corporations. As Rep. Major R. Owens pointed out recently in
introducing
> such legislation (H.R. 1804), the precedents for such an equitable
policy,
> at a time of growing federal deficits, occurred during World War I,
World
> II, the Korean and Vietnam wars. Ponder the difference. Past
Presidents
> increased taxes on the large companies as a way of spreading out the
> economic sacrifice a little. Instead, during record, even staggering
big
> corporate profits, you reduce their contributions to the US Treasury
and
> military expenditures.
>
> Where is the presence of the sons and daughters of the top political
and
> economic rulers in the Iraq theater, where they can see the suffering
of
> millions of innocent Iraqi people? You can count on the fingers of
one
> hand the number of family members serving over there among the 535
members
> of Congress, and the White House.  No specific data is available for
the
> families of the CEOs of the Fortune 500. But we can guess that very
few
> are stationed in and around the Sunni triangle these days. Can't get
much
> tennis, golf or sailing in, if that were the case. How often have you
> extolled the patriotic sacrifice of members of the armed forces, the
> Reserves and the National Guard? How often have you praised their
work as
> the highest form of service to their nation, its security and future.
> Well, what about your daughters' having this sublime opportunity to
be on
> the receiving end of their father's encomiums? Remember Major John
> Eisenhower, among others.
>
> In an earlier unanswered letter, I urged you and Mr. Cheney to
announce
> that you would reject the tens of thousands of dollars in personal
tax
> cuts that passage of your tax cut legislation for the wealthy would
have
> accorded both of your fortunes. Recusing yourselves would have
conveyed
> the message that it is unseemly to sign your own personal tax
reduction.
> It would also have furthered the principle of the moral authority to
> govern.
>
> Well, you did sign your own tax cut, while tens of thousands of
Americans
> had to leave their employment and small businesses and go to Iraq at
a
> reduced pay and worrying about inadequate protective equipment and
> insufficient training.
>
> Those rulers who send young men and women into undeclared wars on
> platforms of fabrications, deceptions, and cover-ups do not have
proper
> incentives for responsible and effective behavior and politics. Some
> degrees of shared sacrifice provide prudent restraint against the
> manipulations and recklessness of politicians and the supporting
avarice
> of their fellow oligarchs.
>
> Without some measure of sacrifice, programs are misdesigned to pursue
> stateless terrorists in ways and areas that actually produce
recruitment
> opportunities for more such terrorists. Note your own CIA Director
Porter
> Goss's testimony before the Senate earlier this year. But the
resulting
> warmongering, where the "intelligence and the facts" are fixed to the
> policy, became unsavory re-election strategies in 2004.
>
> You have often told us that you want to nominate federal judges who
> believe in a strict construction of the Constitution. How about a
> President who believes in the strict constitutional authority of
Article
> One, Section Eight which gives Congress and Congress alone the power
to
> declare war? Requiring a declaration of war, together with
legislation
> requiring, upon such a declaration, the conscription of all eligible
> members of Congressional and White House families would assure that
only
> "unavoidable and necessary wars" are declared and fought.
>
> Sincerely yours,
>
> Ralph Nader

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I guess getting sent this by my grandmother and father is pretty normal for me... I am an independent, whereas they are  democrats, who want me to be  involved more politically.  i.e. have an opinion.  SO they sent me this letter.  And I honestly am a lil conflicted by it.  Half of me is sitting in my head thinking yup yup yup that sounds about right.  And the other half is thinking this has got to be a set up. 

How so?  It seems to have been created quickly, it doesn't delve too deeply into concerns, and it was released tp simply "Stir the pot."

Which brings me to a few conclusions.  Both the democrats and the republicans like to stir the pot.  anotherwaords they like it when they have something to complain about.  I guess even the independents like to complain.

Alright here is my complaint.  I really think it is irresponsible to "release" letters of this sort of  content into the ethers of the internet to simply piss people off.  And I am sure it is working because my grandparents are ticked about it, as is my Mother... and they sent it to me hoping to tick me off as well?  odd present. It seems strange to tick folks off when they are powerless to do anything to prevent the continuating conflicts.

I guess ignorance is bliss.