Bush wanted war from the start

I am writing in response to Michael Huston’s Wednesday column, “”When Bush speaks, people listen.”” According to Huston, “”the majority of the people just refuse to believe that the president lied in order to take the country to war or that a war in Iraq was the goal of the administration from the beginning.”” I invite the majority of the people at the UA to read the New York Times article, “”Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says.””

The New York Times recently obtained a memo leaked from the British government, which details a meeting between George Bush and Tony Blair on Jan. 31, 2003. The memo describes Bush having made up his mind that he would invade Iraq, regardless of whether inspectors found any weapons of mass destruction. According to the Times, Bush “”made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second (UN) resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons.”” A date was even set for the war in Iraq to begin. “”‘The start date for the military campaign was now penciled in for 10 March,’ Mr. Manning wrote, paraphrasing the president. ‘This was when the bombing would begin.'”” The war in Iraq started only nine days after the date Bush had scheduled.

What is especially telling is that Bush had considered ways to trigger a war. The Times article states, “”The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein.””

Anyone who still believes Bush acted in good faith when he led us into war is immune to reality.

Poker, Ultimate Frisbee legitimate endeavors

In response to Adam Gaub’s Wednesday column, “”Poker is not a sport,”” and his opinion on what other things can compare to poker, joking or not, I must say that as a poker player, I’m offended. It is quite obvious that Gaub has either never played a good game of poker or participated in Ultimate Frisbee. Both of these events require much skill and intelligence. Anyone who has played poker knows that in order to be good, you must be intelligent and have stamina and good instincts. It’s usually pretty obvious who the good poker players are versus the bad ones. As far as Ultimate Frisbee goes, I have a few friends who play it, and they train just as hard as any other athletes to prepare for their sport. Next time someone throws out an article mocking a legitimate, nationwide accepted game or sport, he should rethink his argument and at least provide decent facts.

UA should increase e-mail storage space

I am writing to thank the UA for the 100 megabytes of storage provided for our e-mail accounts and to ask if this amount could not be increased significantly. This is my second semester at the UA and I exceeded my account’s 50 MB some time ago. I have already deleted some of my larger files, which led to thoughts that it would be much more convenient for students, staff and faculty to be able to retain all e-mail correspondence in their accounts. I know that I personally like to be able to search older e-mails for important information. I understand those who own computers could download e-mails to their hard drives, but not everyone has a computer. I also understand that I could use my personal Gmail account for more storage, but when I am writing e-mail correspondence as a student and an employee of the UA I would like to be able to use my UA e-mail account and address. I again express my appreciation for the current storage capacity and e-mail account. I respectfully ask that you increase the storage capacity considerably.

Immigration reform will sink Republican Party

In the past week we have seen a Republican Party divided over the controversial issue of illegal immigration. On one side, John McCain and Lindsey Graham say we should allow more immigrants into America under the conditions that they get a job and register as legal immigrants.

Then, Tom Tancredo, Jon Kyl and the majority of the Republican Party say we should build a wall and outlaw humanitarian aid to illegal immigrants. They continue by saying we should limit the number of legal immigrants who come to this country. President Bush has taken a mix of both sides on this issue.

Meanwhile, what Republicans forget is that by 2050 (maybe even earlier) Hispanic Americans will make up the plurality – if not majority – of America. This is important because in 2004, President Bush garnered 42 percent of their vote. Not bad for a Republican candidate.

However, they should enjoy it while it lasts. With this new racist immigration policy being pushed by Jon Kyl, the Republican Party can kiss its ass goodbye.

In the coming years, Hispanics will make up a larger part of the voting block and many of them will remember what is happening now. They will remember how they were screwed over just as blacks were during the civil rights movement. Unlike blacks, however, Hispanics will have much larger numbers and make up a larger percentage of the voting block. Therefore, Republicans will be in trouble when they need to win elections and over time we will see the fall of their party, just like the Whigs in the 1800s.

Just recently I was told that non-Hispanic white males (like myself) will only make up one in nine Americans by the time we reach our 70s. The Jon Kyl/Tom Tancredo branch of the Republican Party probably believes that the white man will rule America forever, and that this will never lead to any political implications on them. Once again it proves just how out of touch this party is with average voters. While illegal immigration is an issue that needs settling, there is an intelligent/humane way to handle it and a fascist way to handle it.