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Date:         Sat, 14 Sep 2002 14:24:23 +0000
Reply-To:     Hermann the German <urlauber10@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Hermann the German <urlauber10@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Political eruption, LVC
Comments: To: gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM
Content-Type: text/html

<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV> <P>Well done, Bulley!</P> <P>I am a high school teacher in the Midwest. Every fall, almost as a rite of passage, former graduates stop by&nbsp;to say hello. Many of them wear uniforms&nbsp;because they&nbsp;want to show&nbsp; that they survived boot camp/hell week etc.. Some have newborn babies in their arms.&nbsp;My boys and girls&nbsp;look great, suntanned, and fit. I have had them in class for 4 years.&nbsp;They are like&nbsp;family. AND :&nbsp;these kids&nbsp;don't want to go to war and die. They don't want to cry for their mothers in some forgotten desert. You know why they joined up? Because some recruiter promised them a career, a job, college tuition and&nbsp;security they did not&nbsp;have at home. These kids want to earn money and start a family, not get killed or maimed. </P> <P>Have you ever asked yourselves why with all this patriotic hype&nbsp;the armed forces are still hurting for QUALIFIED recruits? That there are no waiting&nbsp;lines at recruiting stations? That the recruiters have to come to our schools every week and promise the kids a rose garden for their signature?</P> <P>NOW:&nbsp;&nbsp;If George W.'s, Cheney's, Rumsfeld's, and&nbsp;Rice's&nbsp;sons and daughters join the military and lead the first wave of infantry totally made up of family members of Congress into Bagdad, I will change my mind. But as long as we keep playing "rich men's war - poor men's fight" I will drive&nbsp;my two children&nbsp;in my Westy all the way to Newfoundland.</P> <P>BTW: I&nbsp;served in the miltary.</P> <P>Cheers,<BR>Hermann de Boer </P></DIV> <DIV></DIV>Kansas City,Missouri <DIV></DIV>87 Westy "Eurospec" <DIV></DIV>89 Syncro GL <DIV></DIV>"...even if you win the rat race, you are still a rat..." <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV>&gt;From: "G. Matthew Bulley" <GMBULLEY@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM> <DIV></DIV>&gt;Reply-To: "G. Matthew Bulley" <GMBULLEY@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM> <DIV></DIV>&gt;To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <DIV></DIV>&gt;Subject: Political eruption, Bulley Style; was Vanagons for Peace <DIV></DIV>&gt;Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 23:58:40 -0400 <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;In the final analysis, there is only one reason for the Administration's <DIV></DIV>&gt;fixation with Iraq. Insurance on the flow of cheap oil. <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;There would be no such thing as "terrorist attacks on the US" if we <DIV></DIV>&gt;weren't trying to force our beloved democracy down the throat of every <DIV></DIV>&gt;nation where there is a natural resource we want to keep cheap. <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;Middle Eastern terrorists aren't inflamed for "no particular reason"... <DIV></DIV>&gt;it is because the US is bound and determined to shape policy and <DIV></DIV>&gt;governance in the Middle East so we can keep our cheap oil. Wouldn't you <DIV></DIV>&gt;be peeved if, for example, Brazil was militarily forcing its political <DIV></DIV>&gt;will in the US? Wouldn't you be tempted to take some wacky action to <DIV></DIV>&gt;hurt Brazil? Duh. Why don't Americans get this? <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;If the US weren't addicted to cheap oil, if we could bear $8 gallon <DIV></DIV>&gt;gasoline because we had walkable towns, and fast trains, Saddam Hussein <DIV></DIV>&gt;would be just another corrupt, power-hungry dictator, preparing for war <DIV></DIV>&gt;on his neighbors, and we'd read about it in the papers. Other countries <DIV></DIV>&gt;with better land use and smarter transportation systems don't want to <DIV></DIV>&gt;get involved in Dubya's "war", because they don't rely as heavily on <DIV></DIV>&gt;cheap oil. They don't have a dog in the fight, and consequently they'd <DIV></DIV>&gt;rather read about it in the paper. <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;Since we Americans demand fresh salad greens in January from 3,000 miles <DIV></DIV>&gt;away, and we love Wal*Mart, whose scam on America is completely reliant <DIV></DIV>&gt;on cheap oil to get those cut-rate drills and chintzy sweaters from <DIV></DIV>&gt;China to the crappy grey box near you, our kids will die to keep our oil <DIV></DIV>&gt;cheap. And you thought that little yellow smiley was fueling the cheaper <DIV></DIV>&gt;prices. Watch what happens to Wal*Mart when fuel prices do spike, (and <DIV></DIV>&gt;they will eventually). <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;Bottom line: we're the one's with the addiction. We're the one's who <DIV></DIV>&gt;should have to pay the price, or should have to develop better land use <DIV></DIV>&gt;policies, and transportation options that cut our per capita oil <DIV></DIV>&gt;consumption 85%. That would put our oil consumption on par with most <DIV></DIV>&gt;other countries in the world. Or we can keep asking for plums in <DIV></DIV>&gt;February for $.89 a pound at Wal*Mart, and raise an extra kid or two to <DIV></DIV>&gt;send to Dubya's perpetual war for cheap oil. Reality. <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;Developing business and guiding change since 1996, <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;G. Matthew Bulley <DIV></DIV>&gt;Bulley-Hewlett <DIV></DIV>&gt;Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com <DIV></DIV>&gt;AIM = IExplain4u <DIV></DIV>&gt;Phone: +1.919.658.1278 <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;-----Original Message----- <DIV></DIV>&gt;From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf <DIV></DIV>&gt;Of Andy Mahler <DIV></DIV>&gt;Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2002 1:03 AM <DIV></DIV>&gt;To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <DIV></DIV>&gt;Subject: Vanagons for Peace <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;friends <DIV></DIV>&gt;this is the first item I have posted to this list <DIV></DIV>&gt;(other than a request for help from my Wolfy-driving cousin who was <DIV></DIV>&gt;passing <DIV></DIV>&gt;through) <DIV></DIV>&gt;My wife and I have three Vanagons, all Westys, two '84s and an '88 <DIV></DIV>&gt;We got our first Vanagon in 1991, the same year I helped organize <DIV></DIV>&gt;what has since grown into an eighteen state regional cooperative network <DIV></DIV>&gt;of local, grassroots forest protection organizations called Heartwood. <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;I mention this because my wife and I have spent a lot of time in our <DIV></DIV>&gt;vanagons <DIV></DIV>&gt;in every one of those states, hooking up with the good, caring, <DIV></DIV>&gt;hard-working local folks who <DIV></DIV>&gt;sometimes alone, and sometimes with a handful of friends, <DIV></DIV>&gt;organized among their neighbors <DIV></DIV>&gt;to stop the careless and wanton destruction of the remnant hardwood <DIV></DIV>&gt;forests <DIV></DIV>&gt;of the East, Midwest, and South (heartland + hardwood = Heartwood). <DIV></DIV>&gt;Our Vanagons have taken us down some windy-ass driveways in the Ozarks <DIV></DIV>&gt;and the Appalachians, from Mississippi to Minnesota, and from Missouri <DIV></DIV>&gt;to <DIV></DIV>&gt;Maryland, <DIV></DIV>&gt;from the mean streets of big cities to the most rugged and remote rural <DIV></DIV>&gt;areas, <DIV></DIV>&gt;the Vanagon has proven itself, time and again, the most useful beast in <DIV></DIV>&gt;the <DIV></DIV>&gt;barnyard. <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;We always had a place to sleep, even when broken down by the road in the <DIV></DIV>&gt;middle of nowhere--- <DIV></DIV>&gt;and when you're in this line of work, the great thing is you're never <DIV></DIV>&gt;more <DIV></DIV>&gt;than a couple of hours <DIV></DIV>&gt;from someone who will come get you, help get your vehicle back on the <DIV></DIV>&gt;road, <DIV></DIV>&gt;feed you a great meal, <DIV></DIV>&gt;and set you up in a beautiful place for the night-- and, the next day <DIV></DIV>&gt;they <DIV></DIV>&gt;take you to the most beautiful forest, or a wild free-flowing river, or <DIV></DIV>&gt;some other sweet precious spot that gives them solace and strength in a <DIV></DIV>&gt;crazy old world. <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;I am on a lot of lists, none of which get as much traffic as this one <DIV></DIV>&gt;I am beginning to recognize names and personalities <DIV></DIV>&gt;and wish to say <DIV></DIV>&gt;thank you for the generosity in sharing wisdom and experience and spare <DIV></DIV>&gt;parts <DIV></DIV>&gt;for good advice and good laughs <DIV></DIV>&gt;for your devotion to these contraptions and their many admirable <DIV></DIV>&gt;qualities <DIV></DIV>&gt;and of course their idiosyncrasies <DIV></DIV>&gt;long life to them all, and to you <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;I don't spend as much time on the road as i used to <DIV></DIV>&gt;spending more and more at this computer <DIV></DIV>&gt;in the woods here in southern Indiana <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;I'm going to go on digest mode for a while (too much to read as it is) <DIV></DIV>&gt;but I wanted to post this message before I do <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;and now, to the point <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;to me the Vanagon is not just a conveyance <DIV></DIV>&gt;it is a political tool <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;a remarkable utilitarian expression of personal transportation and <DIV></DIV>&gt;self-sufficiency <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;(those who do not wish to read a political opinion are advised to <DIV></DIV>&gt;discontinue reading now) <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;Times are getting tough and people are carrying a lot of stress <DIV></DIV>&gt;The political situation is getting ugly and the bill of rights is <DIV></DIV>&gt;getting <DIV></DIV>&gt;constricted and eroded <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;I may bring down coyote's wrath, but I just have to ask <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;Won't you all please take some action, small or large, soon, <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;TO STOP THIS INSANE WAR!!! <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;Thanks for listening <DIV></DIV>&gt;thanks for caring <DIV></DIV>&gt;thanks for whatever you choose to do <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;and thanks to TomC and Coyote for moderation <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt;peace <DIV></DIV>&gt; <DIV></DIV>&gt; @ <DIV></DIV>&gt;andy <DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: <a href='http://g.msn.com/1HM1ENUS/c152??PI=44364'>Click Here</a><br></html>


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