Kucinich is one of the very few elected officials who have the courage to tell it like it is on many issues. Unfortunately, given the nature of the US political system, the few voices alike Kucinich’s are drowned out in or omitted from “mainstream information” by groups with far greater political, public relations and media power. Fortunately, channels such as Truthdig are available to carry their message.
_________________________________________________

ZUNES, COLE, PITT, GREGORY, BACEVIC & ROBERTS REVIEW/PREVIEW PRESIDENT BUSH’S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS RELATING TO IRAQ, TERRORISM, IRAN, “DEMOCRACY”, ETC.

Excerpts below offer evaluations of some key claims made by President Bush.
_______

Prof. Stephen Zunes: A Mis-Statement of the Union Address

Bush: “On September 11th, 2001, we found that problems originating in a failed and oppressive state 7,000 miles away could bring murder and destruction to our country.”
Zunes: “Actually, the “problems” that led to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States did not originate in Afghanistan. Sixteen of the nineteen hijackers were from the oppressive, U.S.-backed dictatorship of Saudi Arabia and others were from the oppressive, U.S.-backed dictatorships in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Most of them had received more “training” in flight schools in the United States than they ever did in Afghanistan and the terrorist cells from which the 9/11 hijackers emerged did not coalesce in “failed and oppressive states,” but in Germany and the United States. Furthermore, the rise of the Taliban and the chaos that did take place in the “failed and oppressive state” of Afghanistan came about in part as a result of the $5 billion of aid the U.S. government sent to radical Islamic militias in that country during the 1980s.”
.
Bush: “Dictatorships shelter terrorists, feed resentment and radicalism, and seek weapons of mass destruction. Democracies replace resentment with hope, respect the rights of their citizens and their neighbors, and join the fight against terror.”
Zunes: “Again, this is an incredibly simplistic formulation: The United States is a democracy, but it has sheltered Cuban and Nicaraguan terrorists implicated in attacks that have killed scores of civilians. Similarly, the United States ¬along with such democracies as Great Britain, France, India, and Israel¬ have pursued and possess nuclear weapons. Furthermore, a number of democratic nations have failed to respect the rights of their citizens and their neighbors. For example, Israel has invaded and occupied its neighbors and India has engaged in serious human rights abuses against its citizens in Kashmir, the Punjab, and its eastern states. Conversely, there are scores of dictatorships that do not shelter terrorists or seek weapons of mass destruction.”

Bush: “If we were to leave these vicious attackers alone, they would not leave us alone. They would simply move the battlefield to our own shores.”
Zunes: “Despite similar claims during the Vietnam War that “if we don’t fight them over there we’ll have to fight them here,” the Vietnamese fighting U.S. forces did not move the battlefield to America once U.S. troops got out of their country. The Afghans fighting Soviet forces did not move the battlefield to Russia when the Soviets got out of their country. Similarly, the Iraqis fighting U.S. forces will not move the battlefield to America once we get out of their country. It is the ongoing occupation of Iraq by U.S. forces, the bombing and shelling of Iraqi cities, the torture of Iraqi detainees, and the chaos and destruction inflicted upon that ancient land as a result of the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation that is prompting the insurgency. The U.S. war in Iraq is creating terrorists faster than we can kill them.”

Bush: “There is no peace in retreat. And there is no honor in retreat.”
Zunes: “There is no peace or honor in violating the United Nations Charter, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and other international legal principles by invading a sovereign nation on the far side of the world and torturing and killing its people.”

Bush: “A sudden withdrawal of our forces from Iraq would abandon our Iraqi allies to death and prison … put men like bin Laden and Zarqawi in charge of a strategic country … and show that a pledge from America means little. Members of Congress, however we feel about the decisions and debates of the past, our Nation has only one option: We must keep our word, defeat our enemies, and stand behind the American military in its vital mission.”
Zunes: “First of all, Iraqis are already experiencing death and prison as the war and repression continue. Secondly, after fighting to rid American and British foreigners from their soil, it’s hard to imagine the highly nationalistic and predominantly Shiite Iraqis would tolerate being ruled by a Saudi or Jordanian Sunni extremist. Thirdly, the strength of such terrorists is growing as long as the United States continues to prosecute its bloody counter-insurgency war in the heart of the Islamic world. Most significantly, the United States has already broken perhaps its most solemn pledge: The United Nations Charter, which resulted from a global awareness that the tragic events of World War II would not be repeated and the writing of which was heavily influenced by Americans, mandates that no nation can engage in an aggressive war. The use of force is recognized as legitimate only if explicitly authorized by the UN Security Council as a last resort to ensure collective security or in self-defense against an armed attack. When the United States signed and ratified the UN Charter in 1945, it made a pledge to the world that it would never engage in anything like the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Similarly, according to Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, treaties signed and ratified by the United States are Supreme Law. When President Bush launched the invasion and when members of Congress authorized the invasion, they chose to pursue a policy in direct contravention of the treaty obligations of the United States, thereby violating their oath of office in which they pledged to uphold and defend the Constitution.”

Bush: “The Iranian government is defying the world with its nuclear ambitions ¬and the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons. America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats.”
Zunes: “It is significant that President Bush chooses to make an issue over Iran’s nuclear program, which is years away from producing nuclear weapons, while making no mention of Israel, which has refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, already possesses nuclear weapons, and continues to defy the world through its violation of UN Security Council resolution 487, which calls on that country to place its nuclear program under the trusteeship of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Nor does President Bush mention India and Pakistan, which have also refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, already possess nuclear weapons, and continue to defy UN Security Council resolution 1172, which calls on those countries to eliminate their nuclear programs altogether. Indeed, President Bush has sent billions of dollars worth of highly sophisticated weapons to Israel, has agreed to sell nuclear-capable jet fighters to Pakistan, and has signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with India.”

See link below for the rest of Zunes’ article.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0202-22.htm
_________________________________________________

Prof. Juan Cole: Arguing with Bush

“…the elections that Bush trumpets in all four countries, and in Palestine, which he did not mention in this regard, were rebukes to Bush, not affirmations of him. The Afghans elected warlords, the Iraqis put in the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and Muqtada al-Sadr’s people (the ones who killed Cindy Sheehan’s son) along with the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood and some Baathists. The Shiite parties of Hizbullah and Amal have new weight in Lebanon. The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt got 88 seats, an unprecedentedly large number. These elections were Middle Eastern referendums on Bush, and he lost every one hands down. Bush’s main accomplishment in the Middle East since 9/11 has been to strengthen Muslim fundamentalist parties everywhere in the region.”
http://www.juancole.com/2006/02/arguing-with-bush-midd le-east-portion.html
_________________________________________________

William Rivers Pitt: The State of the Union
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013106Y.shtml

Anthony Gregory: Translating the Emperor’s Speech
http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory107.html

Andrew Bacevich: What Isolationism?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206C.shtml

Paul Craig Roberts: The True State of the Union
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02012006.html

I wanted Dennis Kucinich to be president.  I am disgusted with both parties and dream of a third party with Dennis at the front.

Of course, I agree with everything he said.

I am editor of FlybyNews.com and will link to this article. Flyby News came out of the campaign to stop and/or expose the high risk Cassini-plutonium-flyby, whicht was launched into space in 1997. Destined for a Saturn orbit, Cassini was first directed in the opposite direction for two gravity-accelerated assists around Venus, and then came back for an Earth-flyby in 1999. According to the Environmental Impact Statement, it could have exposed five billion people to 99% or more of the radiation. Inspired by investigative reporter, author, filmmaker, Karl Grossman, we not only learned of the dangers of Cassini, but what was behind the development of nuclear technology for the US civilian space agency: the US military’s plan to dominate the planet.

So, the first campaign for Flyby News was to prevent the expansion of the arms race and the US domination of the planet by banning space-based weapons. This is the campaign that I first learned of the work of Congressman Dennis Kucinich. And when on February 17, 2002, when Dennis Kucinich presented the inspirational speech, A Prayer for America, we began to endorse his running for US President in 2004. Yet his late entry into the race, ineffective campaign, division (competition) with other anti-war candidates, Howard Dean and Wesley Clark, (Michael Moore), handed the Democratic Party’s nomination to a supporter for the Congressional Authorization for the Bush-US war on Iraq, John Kerry.

For the 2008 election, the first possible No-War-Vote choice surfaced recently in Senator Russ Feingold, who declared his intentions to run for US President during an interview on ABC TV with George Stephanopoulos on November 27, 2005. Feingold said that he was simply not fooled by the administration’s propaganda on what it was to be patriotic, and saw no evidence that Saddam’s Iraq was in alliance with those of al-Qaida that attacked the US on 9/11/01. The evidence did reveal that attacking Iraq was a diversion that would lead to greater terrorism. Senator Feingold also declared his position for a US universal health care system, and energy independence. The real war is within US; Feingold’s leadership, now, and for a 2008 Presidential campaign can be helpful, if people are united with a candidate of substance, record, and vision, and not so easily divided and conquered this next election cycle.

We must strategicly and effectively - EXPOSE THE DECEIT - I hope we can get all the progressive candidates working together for reclaiming a lost USA democracy, before all HELL is released.

until this country stops being uninvolved and removes our collective head from the sand, we will continue to be kicked in the butt by those we allow to keep the power. we deserve what we get for being complacent about those who rule (it can’t be called anything else because it surely is not democracy). historically we must feel the pain before we rise up and revolt. too bad they have managed to raise the levels of suffering just slow enough to allow us to adjust to it and so not notice it so much. they take a constitutional right here and a freedom there. since when did it become illegal to wear a t-shirt to a state of the union address...an act that got cindy sheehan arrested. they apologized after the fact...it was all a mistake. the entire political system as it has become is a big mistake and it is our own doing.
i supported mr. kucinich in the primary, i wrote him in in the general election. i knew it was futile but any other vote was against my conscience. never again will i vote to prevent. it is wasted in the end. keep talking sir, i for one agree wholeheartedly and will support you and those who can still think, like you to the bitter end.

I think Dennis would do a GREAT job as president, but let’s be realistic, he could never get elected.  Why?  First off, he is too short and skinny (like me).  Second, he doesn’t have a strong “masculine” voice.  Third, he gives honest answers - the American people can’t handle the truth and are not willing to make any sacrifices. Only about 15% of the population has a coherent political philosophy and votes on a truly rational basis.  What you look and sound like has much more to do with how people judge you. It sucks but that isn’t going to change anytime soon.  We need to find someone with Dennis’ intellect and character who looks like… The Marlboro Man!  Let the search begin.

If I may offer a view from Canada, we are really confused as to why your President maintains such kids glove treatment from the media and the Democratic party. 

How can the largest news item of the day be his STOU speech, while nobody focuses on the fact that in the past year, it has been revealed that he lied twice:  1) When he stated in April 2003 tat all wiretaps were done after attaining a warrant; and 2) when he said he did not know Jack Abramoff?  It appears to an outsider that airtime is given to your President to relay tired talking points which have been handed to him, yet more disappointing was the Democratic response. 

I don’t want to offer any advice, as I know how touchy you Americans get when it comes from outsiders, but since you can’t seem to win elections from candidates who, in all but words, agree to things are going well, but they could be better ("there is a better way” seemed to be the sharpest response the Democrats could muster in the STOU response); why not run with a candidate who has a voice, an opinion, and a backbone?  I realize you tried in the last primary race with Kucinich, and the DLC sideswiped you.  However, if all you ever offer the electorate is a weaker version of Bush, why should anyone vote for anyone else? 

Bush is very lucky that he governs within a system that insulates him from the press and opposition debates.  He would last 5 minutes in our (or Britain’s) Parliamentary Question Period.  This site, and recent remarks from people like Al Gore and Kucinich provide some hope.  However, I fear the American people have been led to believe that the “bully pulpit” is real, and thus will never hold their leaders to account. 

BR

RE WILLYMACH #26

I would join the ‘Progressive Party’ in a wink. But, to overcome the hegemony of the Republicrats and actually elect candidates to offices, we need instant runoff elections. This is how it works for the county of San Francisco, and for any third parties:

Say your heavily Democratic congressional district is ‘safe’ for an incumbent Democrat who no one likes. They are stuck with him/her because to vote Republican might further strengthen a party in Washington they despise. What to do?

Currently, the Dems probably stay home and stew. But in San Francisco, you can select a Progressive as your first choice, and the Democrat as second choice. On election day, the Progressive Party gets 35% first choice votes, and the unloved Dem 40%. But since no one receives a plurality of the votes cast, the third choice, the Republican who only gets 25%, is eliminated. The second choice on his ballots (all but 5% picked Progressive, since Republican voters cannot bring themselves to vote Democrat) are applied automatically, by the computer program, to the two remaining candidates, the Democrat and the Progressive. The Progressive on the ticket wins with 55%.

How, you ask, could a third party such as Progressive get such a high (35%) first choice vote? Because the fear factor the Democratic party uses so frequently and cynically (‘If you don’t vote for me, you are wasting your vote and the boogey man Bush will get you.’) is GONE. WE ARE FREE, free at last.

Note: Instant Runoff is constitutional, AND it can be installed at the local county level by a simple ballot measure. This means we can run Progressive candidates in Congressional races.

And when Congress is in Progressive hands at last, it can pass a law making Election Day a paid holiday, like most civilized countries. Then sit back and watch real democracy spring alive. Thank you, San Francisco for IR, the best chance for us Progressives.

I agree with comment by Diliberto: Kucinich has the moral compass, something we desperately need and seldom see in our leaders.

As to Shea’s comment and Clawson’s response, I too get physically sick at the sight or sound of Bush (and I’m male). I can hear the same words from Scott McClellan, say, and despise the message, but he doesn’t make me feel sick. Bush does.

DENNIS KUCINICH IS STILL THE MAN.  WE NEED HIM. HE IS THE VOICE AND FORCE THAT WILL SAVE US FROM OURSELVES.  HE HAS THE MORAL COMPASS TO NAVIGATE AMERICA’S COURSE TO PEACE WITH ACCOUNTABLILITY. LET’S REREAD HIS “A PRAYER FOR AMERICA” AND JOIN HIM IN HIS CRUSADE TO RESTORE OUR LIBERTY AND INTEGRITY AND PROSPERITY.

When the resident of the White House says he can import oil from South American, I believe he isn’t thinking clearly.  Well is that a surprise?

South America, having seen the capitalist writings on the wall is rapidly turning social democratic and very well could cut us off completely from any imports.  Unless we invade that continent too, of course.

I foresee a third term for bush et al.  Just watch: we will still be “at war” and a “regime” change would be bad under those “circumstances”.  I can see the rich dems already standing and clapping!

Mr. Kucinich, DO SOMETHING!!  Form a third party, there basically is no difference between the two we are stuck with now.

The real problem with the democratic response is that Bush’s Orwellian code words, like “war-on-terror” continue to go unchallenged.  Terror is a tactic, not a target.  What we generally refer to as “terrorism” is guerilla warfare, the tactic of the weak.  We focus on the horrific civilian loss of 9/11 but seldom stop to think of the level of terror inflicted upon the innocent civilians of Iraq by the unleashing of a vast array of powerful weapons.  Because terror is a tactic and not a target, “war-on-terror” provides a never-ending excuse for asserting a plenary executive power that has seen this president claim the right to indefinitely detain citizen and non-citizen alike on nothing more than a “claim” of enemy combatant status, to order the kidnapping of “suspected” terrorists from any location on the planet, rendering them to secret detentiion facilities and torture, to order the surveillance of peaceful dissidents like the Quakers, and to order warrantless NSA domestic surveillance in direct violation of an Act of Congress.

All of us, especially those who occupy positions of power in Congress, should come to the realization that the cabal that seized control of the White House in 2000 through fraudulent manipulations of Florida’s computerized voter rolls, and which has since solidified control over the Congress and, with the Alito elevation, is well on its way to securing control over the third branch of government, the judiciary.  The Democratic party and the public must wake up, and soon, to the fact that Bush et al constitute a threat to the very survival of constitutional democracy. 

Sincerely,

Ernest A. Canning

It’s time for a new political party to emerge, made up of REAL Democrats and moderate Republicans, and headed up by Kucinich, with help from Dean, Clark, Conyers, Wyden, and others. The name of the new party? How about the Progressive Party. Any ideas out there?

Rep. Dennis Kucinich speaks louder and clearer than the present democratic party leaders. What will it take for this man of conviction and honesty to be put in the forefront of this mute and headless political party?

WE NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE MR. KUCINICH AND DR. DEAN TO TELL IT LIKE IT IS HOPEFULLY MANY OF THE AMERICANS WHO VOTED FOR PRESIDENT BUSH WILL REALIZE THEY MADE A MISTAKE SINCE HE HAS BEEN IN OFFICE FOR FIVE YEARS AND HAS FAILED MISERABLY

He could add that from 1977 to 1979 we didn’t import any larger percent of oil because Congress raised mileage requirements in cars but the Republicans then stopped.
Repugs who denegrated Carter for suggesting the samed things stood and clapped for Bush.
Bush was honest when he said in the future taxes will have to be raised, he somehow took no responsiblity for the problem which is caused by his stealing SS money to fund his follies.

I heard Dennis Kucinich speak in 2004 in Santa Barbara and was so enthused about his campaign.

As usual, he is on target in rebutting the nonsense lying our President offers. 

I just hope the American voters see through Bush’s doublespeak.

“I didn’t watch the STOU address because I get physically ill when I see the president.”

I hear this from women so frequently, Nancy.
What is it?  I squirm a bit at his smugness, and I shout, “liar,” when he lies, but I always watch to see if I can further understand him. 

In this speech he said, “We’ve entered a great idological conflict we did nothing to invite.” I try to understand if that’s just propaganda someone gave him to read or if he believes it.  And, if he believes it, he’s woefully ignorant of our role in the Middle East for more than half a century.  Hard to believe that this country twice elected such an ignorant, harmful man.

Hard to believe that, as you, a majority of us aren’t repelled by him.

My hard earned $$ will continue to go to Dennis...to the max…

As per #6
Bush is in a bubble and only listens to his advisers.
Answer; According to Bush - he says he listens to Yaweh-God-Jehovah, who talks to him and tells him to fight the Arabs, because they are against Iarael.
America has become a religious Theocracy (instead of a Democracy) George W Bush has the US Army fighting/dieing in Iraq, in a religious War, to defend Israel. (as per the religious statutes, of the USA’s fanatical, Evangelical, voting society.
America gives Israel 5 billion dollars a year, in aid and guaranteed loans. (our IRS tax money)
I believe Bush has “near lost his mind.”
The US Congress is fully aware, of where, Bush is taking the United States of America.
He should be removed and/or replaced as soon as possible.
John M Sandoval

Considering only the medical care scheme,two things are at once obvious:  The reason for high costs is NOT bureaucy, it is greedy health care providers.  It cannot be remedied at lower than the states level, because any attempt to put a lid on healthy care limits in one state would simply drive the bandits elsewhere. Good health care systems exist already in other countries; why re-invent the wheel?  We should study and copy other systems, first, by seeking asking about them from embassies and then follow it up with some scholarly research from graduate graduates, hired to study the systems that exist elsewhere. Then, carefully analyze what is there already and which would be best for us---NOT the doctors (who will, in any case, be well enriched even if their wings Are clipped a bit) but the users.  IN ANY SUCH STUDY IT IS VITAL TO LEAVE THE DOCTORS OUT OF THE STUDY BECAUSE OF THEIR SELF INTEREST. That would be hiring the dog to guard the meat market. As a BA in economics and retired attorney who practiced for decades, and saw first hand what is wrong with is wrong with our care delivery system, I could head up this effort. So could any number of other peoples who are NOT involved in the current medical care fiasco.

Kucinich tells it like it is:  Bush’s war is Perma-War.  If We the People don’t do something drastic - like packing Congress with strong anti-war citizens like Cindy Sheehan and Kucinich - we should get used to endless American wars abroad.

only people such as Rep Kucinich who are willing to tell the truth can lead us out of the mess we are in. if we had proceeded in the direction jimmy carter had set for us in his energy plan we would have been sooooo far ahead now.  thanks to dennis kucinich for calling recycled bad ideas what they are.

My wife and I are properly chastised. In the primary race of the 2004 election, we were totally taken in by Howard Dean and his slick slogans. Too late, we found out that he gave his campaign manager a sweetheart deal, a cost-plus contract, and a massivly interest-conflicting management agreement which drained the campaign dry. Such errors in judgement and ethical lapses contrasted sharply with our cross-town liberal rival Kucinich. I wish we had put our thousands of dollars of contributions, hundreds of man-hours of letter writing, house parties, etc. behind Kucinich instead of Dean. To the many Kucinich supporters of that campaign who we met and like and respected, we are both late and sorry.

The assertions of both Kucinich and Governor Kaine are well taken and to the point.  Each focused on the issues, not the man.

Governor Kaine’s conclusion, “We can do better,” should be the rallying cry of all Democrats.

Dennis Kucinich is a great American.  I supported him in 2004 and will again in 2008 if he is the candidate.  Thanks, Dennis, for all you do to keep the public informed.

It’s too bad that Mr Kucinich wasn’t chosen to give the Democratic response to Bush’s speech.  I was less than excited by the “Official” Democratic response and was really discouraged by those two drones doing the analysis on McNeil/Lehrer. 

My own observations were how completely void of an original thought George Bush is and how thoroughly he has managed to hurt America and trash our image abroad in these last five years.  Add to this the surreal circus atmosphere of those yo-yo puppets on the right side jumping up every five seconds although obviously void of enthusiasm, and the Kerrys and the Clintons and Feinsteins getting up every fifteen seconds to lethargically clap was, if not so bizarre, downright pitiful.

Also, haven’t they all started to look very, very old?  I’m leaving for New Delhi and the Punjab early Sunday Morning for a couple of weeks and I already dread what I’m going to hear from my friends and colleagues over there about our beloved country.

I am glad to see that there are still politicians with integrity like Dennis Kucinich.

Hi,

When alternative sources of energy are discussed it is never mentioned how much fossil fuel is needed to produce it.  In other words, the use of ethanol from corn is only helpful if it does not take more fossil fuel to grow the corn and make the ethanol than the ethanol displaces as a fuel.  This is a point that needs to be addressed.

If the Bush had not been permitted to invade Iraq:

Thousands of persons now dead would be living.

Thousands of persons now maimed with missing limbs would be normal.

A hundred billion dollars would be available to rebuild the damage of the Gulf Coast hurricane.

The public would not be paying interest on a staggering national debt-over a thousand dollars a year on interest alone per family.

Kudos for Rep. Kucinich!!  I wholeheartedly agree that nothing Bush said in his SOTU address was realistic or truthful.

Thank God there are still men like Dennis Kucinich who see reality!

I think Dennis is much closer to what the people want, Bush is in a bubble and hears only his advisors

Bush emphasized our “addiction” to oil but offered no immediate cures-such as changing the CAFE standards to mandate the manufacturing of more fuel efficient automobiles. His solution was somewhere vaguely in the future. Most of our oil imports come from Canada and South America. His advocacy of nuclear, ethanol and coal energy sources was just another Bush shell game.

You’d think that his continuing call for “victory” in Iraq, considering the widespread unpopularity of our occupation there, would be a bit too audacious even for Bush. But the inability of the loyal opposition to hammer him on this topic just enables him. Cindy’s anti-war t-shirt was about the only real opposition to Bush’s mad mission in Babylon.

I hope that Mr. Kucinich is able to draw a more broad and diverse base of voters. He is bold and “his own man”. Thank you for your efforts.

D Kucinich is right 95% of the tine about how to deal with the future of America. Since this makes him an enemy of the rich, oil lobbists, etc. We can only hope the bright/common sense folk see the writing on the wall. Compared to the effects of global warming politics better do something or who and what they are will become transparent, not all of course only the people who are devoting their lives to dealing with it. Fred

Leave it to Dennis to speak for the rest of us. He’s not loud and flashy so is basically ignored but should take the forefront in the party. The Bidens, Clintons, Feinsteins, etc are too wishy-washy and never take a clear stand on any issue so their arguments on all subjects are moot and beaten down.

Dennis Kucinich stands for Mr. and Mrs. Joe America and needs to be heard more clearly.

I didn’t watch the STOU address because I get physically ill when I see the president. Representative Kucinich has voiced my opinion as well as anyone could: I’m for a pull out from Iraq; I’m for working for better health care for Americans and taking away the tax cuts for the more affluent communities.