Subject:  Do you do anything for the original inhabitants?
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 19:22:32 +0200
From:  notbugsbunny <notbugsbunny@notbugsbunny.com>
To:  tedmorris@zianet.com
Hi!
     I recently read an article by John Pilgar in which he mentioned Diego Garcia and what happened there in the late 60's when the british evicted the inhabitants off the island. It made me curious and i started to look for more information on the internet. Most of what i found was military stuff and ex-servicemen having made homepages about their time on the island. That's when i found your page about "Welcome to the Provisional Peoples' Democratic Republic of DiegoGarcia!". But i also found what i was looking for, the story about thecost for turning the island into a military facility. It's not about money but about human tragedy and since you say you care so much about the life on Diego Garcia i'm curious about: Do you care about the people whooriginally lived there and who were kicked out of their homes so that you can have your "fun-stories" to tell each other about your military service there?
     Maybe you don't know about the history of Diego Garcia, but maybe you should stop and think about it for a while. One interesting article about the history and what happened you can find here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_835000/835963.stm .
Regards
Peter Menzel
P.S I live in Sweden in case you wonder. D.S
 

Subject:  Re: Do you do anything for the original inhabitants?
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 17:12:44 -0700
From:  President for Life <tedmorris@zianet.com>
To:  notbugsbunny <notbugsbunny@notbugsbunny.com>
References: 1
     You may not be bugs bunny, but you do remind me of cartoons.  You certainly have an odd sense of timing, writing to an old US Air Force trained killer like me, criticizing our armed forces, given the events of this week.
     So, you think the Chagossians were kicked off the islands so we could have a gay old time on a tropical island?  If you can't figure out why we occupy Diego Garcia, and what we will be using it for in the next couple years, then it must be true what the Norwegians say about Swedes.
     Its also pretty clear you didn't spend much time looking through my website to find out what I do have to say about the Ilois.  There's a lot of it, and it is sympathetic.  You can read it at:
http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/bbcnewsdg.html
http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/bbcnewsdg2.html
     But I'm sure you have other people to piss off this week.  My advice is for you and the rest of your green and red buddies to go find some quite backwater and fuck yourselves.  And stay out of our way.
Kill them all.
Ted.

Subject:  Re: diego Garcia
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 20:05:26 -0700
From:  President for Life <tedmorris@zianet.com>
To:  KEVIN SEEBALUCK <kevinsee@deakin.edu.au>
References:  1
Fuck You.

Subject:  Re: diego Garcia
Date:  Thu, 20 Sep 2001 20:11:44 +1000 (EST)
From:  KEVIN SEEBALUCK <kevinsee@deakin.edu.au>
To:   tedmorris@zianet.com
fuck you too

[editor's note:  Then Kevin sent me a long diatribe by Peter Newell (available at Che Guevara Book Stores, everywhere), and I sent him this]:
 

Subject:  Re: diego Garcia
Date:  Tue, 25 Sep 2001 21:10:17 -0700
From:  President for Life <tedmorris@zianet.com>
To:  KEVIN SEEBALUCK <kevinsee@deakin.edu.au>
     Look, Kevin, you're probably just some middle class college kid who's been fed a diet of pap by a bunch of left over Vietnam war protestors turned college professors that say there's some big American-led conspiracy to enslave the world to work for Ford and Boeing and Microsoft.
     That America, the secular culmination of Western Philosophy, is somehow scheming to take away freedom from the all people of the world - that this conspiracy has cleverly allowed liberty to hundreds of millions of people for hundreds of years, that it callously fought a Civil War to buy the liberty of its own slaves with rivers of blood, that it greedily liberated Europe and Asia from tyranny first 85, then again 55 years ago (and then turned over Germany, Italy and Japan over to their own people, to ensure their puppet status no doubt!), and in a thousand other sneaky ways has sought world domination in a 226-year secret plot to take over the world.  And of course, let's not forget the Ilois - how we purposely made sure the honchos in the government of Mauritius absconded with the $4 million pounds and 5,000 acres of land provided for the integration of Ilois into Mauritian life, and then had our special agents make sure the Ilois were forced into prostitution and drug addition over education and the work-a-day world.
     Well, guess what?  Its true!  EVERY BIT OF IT!  Everything you read that's put out by the Green Party, the CPUSA, the Taliban, the Sendero Luminoso, Earth First!, democracynow.com, and the Village Voice is absolutely true!  We are out for WORLD DOMINATION!
     Yes, and one day, we'll come down and enslave you there in Australia!  Our big plan is for your country to live in peace with its neighbors, and, though an interesting pyramid scam, assist your economy to be robust and provide jobs for millions.  And to top it off, we'll trick you into getting a good education, but then coerce you to work for a multi-national corporation, say, Starbucks.  Or IBM.  Better yet, we'll make you earn a bunch of money with your degree, and then force you to buy a McDonald's franchise.  So!  Beware... you'd better start resisting us now, if you know what's good for you!  But even if you only drink coffee grown in Queensland that you pick, dry, and grind yourself, ditch your computer, and stop eating hamburgers made with real kangaroo meat, we'll still hunt you down and force you to live a healthy, productive life.  We'll even force you to choose whether or not to vote in your next election...
     Ted "Just a Cog in the Great Conspiracy Wheel - ohmmmmmmm" Morris
KEVIN SEEBALUCK wrote:
> more info
> Dirty work in the Indian Ocean
> A small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean was of such strategic importance
> that its whole population was expelled to make way for a military base....
By the way, that whole sentence is true, too.

Subject:  Re: Incivility to our Allies
Date:  Mon, 24 Sep 2001 20:25:48 -0700
From:  President for Life <tedmorris@zianet.com>
To:  Ray Duray <rduray@bendcable.com>
References:  1
     Anyone who "cannot help smiling because the same injustice that these islanders suffered 30 years back is happening to America." is no ally.
     Anyone who describes the terrorists who killed over 6,000 innocent civilians as martyrs is certainly not my fellow American.
So, fuck you too.

(he obviously didn't even take the time to look at the bottom of this page to see what I think of TaleNazis)

Anyway, I spasmodically responded, knees jerking:

 
Subject:  Re: Message
Date:  Fri, 12 Oct 2001 20:27:21 -0700
From:   President for Life <tedmorris@zianet.com>
To:   Graeme Orr <g.orr@mailbox.gu.edu.au>
References:   1
fuck yourself

But then, after a moment of reflection, and another beer (pounded down in just 8 minutes, you'll notice by checking the date-time groups), I decided to reply thusly:

Subject:  Re: Message
Date:   Fri, 12 Oct 2001 20:35:52 -0700
From:   President for Life <tedmorris@zianet.com>
To:  Graeme Orr <g.orr@mailbox.gu.edu.au>
References:  1
     Sorry, I spoke too soon... You clearly have gotten your NPR email about the interview, but haven't heard it yet.  Blame NPR for the spin on their web site.
     As for me, anybody - Taliban, Bible Thumpers, or Tree Huggers - who decide they know better than the electorate how to run my country and my life, well then, to them I say fuck yourselves.
     If the shoe fits, wear it.

Ted.

P.S. What exactly do you know about top guns and "air supremacy"?  Do YOU have 5,000 hours of flying time in your Air Force defending your right to vote?  You wannbes make me puke.

And thank you, Rich.  Good luck getting out to DG!

Subject:         Brits & Yankees
Date:             Fri, 3 Jan 2003 15:21:57 EST
From:            Herbersx4@aol.com
To:                tedmorris@zianet.com

You forgot to mention, on your DG site, that the Brits and the Yankees stole the island, without compensation, from the people who live
and were born there!!
That could be considered important, don't ya think??

To which I rudely responded:
 

Subject:           Re: Brits & Yankees
Date:               Fri, 03 Jan 2003 14:20:41 -0700
From:              tedmorris@zianet.com
To:                  Herbersx4@aol.com
References:     1

Clearly, you have not read the whole web site, and you are completely ignorant of the history of the island.
Educate yourself a little better, it will do you good in the long run.   Political hacks get so old so fast.

To which Herbersx4 replied:

Subject:         Re: Brits & Yankees
Date:             Fri, 3 Jan 2003 16:56:02 EST
From:            Herbersx4@aol.com
To:                tedmorris@zianet.com

As I said you don't get it.

[Of course, this goof didn't even bother to read his/her original message, because he/she didn't say that at all]

By this point, I foolishly continued the message exchanges, thusly:
 

Subject:          Re: Brits & Yankees
Date:              Fri, 03 Jan 2003 16:43:30 -0700
From:             tedmorris@zianet.com
To:                 Herbersx4@aol.com

Oh, I get it all right.  You don't know what you are talking about, but have decided to lash out at some convenient target with oh-so-trite attempts at witty reparte.  I'll bet you're still a teenager.  Smoke in front of your parents yet?

And now, the New Zealand Delegation Chimes in.

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:52:18 +1300
From:  "C&PBonner" <cbonner@xtra.co.nz>
     You ought  to be bloody well ashamed of yourself. Delve into the history of Diego Garcia and see if you can dredge up a little sympathy for the people who have been illegally displaced from those islands so that the so-called land of the free can operate a military base in the region.  Here's my challenge to you.  Instead of wasting your time creating websites insulting to the rightful owners of Diego, have a real close look at that country of yours.  Here's a couple of questions you might address, just to be going on with. Rumsfeld,  who elected him? Can your press be truly free when 80% of it is owned and controlled by one family.  Why is it that the majority of the people of your country still believe that the former leadership of Iraq had some responsibility for the attacks on the Twin Towers.
 

hmmmmm... well, Mr or Ms C&P Boner:  I'm not ashamed.  I'm happy killing terrorists and anybody who shelters or supports them.  And until you take comparative government in high school, don't attempt to lecture me on how the US government works.  I'll be sure to call Rupert and tell him to divest himself of some of his 80% holdings, although I hope he keeps FOX, because I like their news and their comedies.  Did I mention that Murdoch is an Australian?  Better watch out!  He might come over to your little island nation and take over there too.  As for who is responsible for the attacks, well, my experience for the last 3 years in this war is that there's plenty of blame to go around this part of the world.  I recommend you come up here to Asia and take a look for yourself, and quit sniveling down there.

From:  Acunningham4@aol.com
To:  easy501@zianet.com
Date:  16 Dec 2005, 07:37:04 PM
Subject:  an american nightmare
Ted,
     You are just about the most ignorant and stupid American braindead idiot that we in the UK have heard about.  It is types like you that reinforce our belief and most of europe what an extremely dangerous bunch of cowboys you are.
 

To which I did not reply, becoming bored with this whole page.

My reply:

Hello Gilbert,

Thanks for the info, I've incorporated it into the site.  Good for them.  BTW, if you should read my pages about the Chagossians, you'll discover that this sort of thing is fine with me.  It is the Mauritian Government's environmental excesses and desire for hegemony over what was never their's in any real sense that I oppose.

Rgds, Ted.

P.S.  Since I don't know you, and suspect we share different political opinions, I'm surprised you consider me your friend!

From: Simone Meggiato [mailto:simone.meggiato@meggiato.org]
Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2006 6:23 PM
To: easy501@zianet.com
Subject: Diego Garcia

Hi,

On you "Diego Garcia" page you wrote:

"but someday, the Americans and Brits will leave, and a swarm of 3rd worlders will come in, cut down the jungle to build their shanties, catch and eat all the fish and sea turtles, drain the freshwater lenses dry, and whine for foreign aid."

Perhaps you forget that british first and the americans after kicked those people away from their own ile, their OWN paradise... just to make a dirty, closed, military base. And that many of the descendants of the original inhabitants of Diego Garcia are not those stupid and savage "3rd worlders" as you paint them.

Simone Meggiato
simone.meggiato@meggiato.org
 

My reply:

Hello Simone,

Perhaps you should read the whole web site, and consider the environmental issues as well, before making your points.  And EVERYONE who has ever dealt with or observed or studied the population dynamics of 'repatriation' on closed ecosystems knows that what I predict will happen, will.

I have never said anything like the words you try to put into my mouth ("stupid and savage 3rd worlders").  They may not be educated, and they have certainly been cheated and oppressed by the Mauritian government into poverty and crime, and but this does not make them anything other than desparate for relief, which as I repeatedly say they should get throughout the web site.  But not by being sent back to isolation on deserted islands, just so Mauritius can exploit their presence and rape the fishery, and leave them in poverty once again.

Regards from the real world,
Ted.

His reply:

Hi Ted,

 Ø       Perhaps you should read the whole web site, and consider the environmental issues as well, before making your points.

I don’t think this is a point. Even americans are the first to pollute in any way their own country (and the world), the first not to accept limits to CO2 emissions (the first, I would add, to pay for the climate changes). But no one think that they have not the right to live were are their roots. Surely would be a nice thing if those “3rd worlders”, as you call them, would be helped to keep their isle the paradise that has been till now. But nobody has the right to keep them from returning back. And nobody has the right to keep them from returning back just because wants to keep that island a nice place for U.S.A. military’s vacations!

Ø       But not by being sent back to isolation on deserted islands,

But this is what they WANT [at aleast some of them]. And this should be respected. The choice is not yours.

Ø       just so Mauritius can exploit their presence and rape the fishery, and leave them in poverty once again

Diego Garcia is (and will be) still an english protectorate, don’t forget it. A jury in England stated that the original inhabitants of Diego Garcia and their descendants have the right to be considered english citizens.

And… "3rd worlders" is clearly a disparaging term. Perhaps you didn’t write “stupid and savage” but I was not so far from what you really meant:

"but someday, the Americans and Brits will leave, and a swarm of 3rd worlders will come in, cut down the jungle to build their shanties, catch and eat all the fish and sea turtles, drain the freshwater lenses dry, and whine for foreign aid."

Ø       Regards from the real world

Think what you want of your sick world but don’t ask others to trust it.
Regards,
 

AND MORE FROM SIMONE:

Return-Receipt-To: "Simone Meggiato" <simone.meggiato@meggiato.org>
Subject: Green, Anti-Global, Red, Communist?
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 00:33:33 +0200
Hi Ted,
     I'm happy you included all my e-mails sent to you in your website.
     Anyhow, I know that simply minded people tend to subdivide people in categories but this time you are wrong.
     In fact I'm not a Green/Red/Communist/Anti-Globalist at all. I can't even say to be a pacifist and I'm a trained defense and IPSC shooter and
modern firearms enthusiast.
     I'm a business man who believe that to obtain respect you must respect others.
     My feelings about original inhabitants of Diego Garcia have nothing to do with the attacks on 9/11/01, Al-Quaeda, Iraq, red green or whatever
color you want. I don't hide in the bushes but you, instead, put yourself behind a patriotic-victimist shield because you, as a single man, without the moral help being given by your belongings to the american army or american nation, are not able to respond to the critics you receive.
Best regards,
Simone Meggiato
SyBI - Synthetic Business Intelligence
consulenza e Sistemi per l'informatica aziendale
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From: richard barber [mailto:rsbaloha@yahoo.co.uk]
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 6:07 AM
To: easy501@zianet.com
Subject: Diego Garcia.
Hey Ted,
interesting page.
Just a shame that you guys do not seem to show any recognition or compassion towards the indiginous population of the islands who were so cruelly treated by the British and U.S governments back in the 70's, and who for the record managed the islands ecology in a perfectly fine manner.
I would recommend that you read an article by John Pilger entitled paradise cleansed which appeared in the Guardian newspaper in the U.K. and was the subject of a BBC documentary.
These islands have a people and do not need another muscling in.
Aloha.
Richie.
 

My reply:

 
Greetings Richie,

Well, first, I personally had nothing to do with events so long ago.  Nor their development today.

2nd, you might like to read my webpages about the Chagossians, starting at http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/bbcnewsdg.html, before you criticize "you guys" for lack of compassion, recognition, etc.  I'd appreciate it if you and your guys would read my web site before writing to me.

Hasta,
Ted.

From:  "Philip Culibrk" <philipculibrk_4@hotmail.com>
To:  tedmorris@zianet.com
Date:  24 Sep 2006, 08:51:55 AM
Subject:  Diego Garcia

Hi! I discovered your homepage for one week ago. It´s great, but I have som questions for you. I can see that Diego Garcia is a military base. But I have also read the history about Diego Garcia. It says that Diego Garcia had a native population until 1971, known as the Ilios. The islanders was The islanders were transferred off Diego Garcia to Seychelles and then Mauritius amid allegations of starvation and intimidation tactics by the U.S. and UK governments, including the alleged killing of island dogs by American soldiers! How could the U.S do this??!

This is some text from John Pilger:

Diego Garcia was first settled in the late 18th century. At least 2,000 people lived there: a gentle Creole nation with thriving villages, a school, a hospital, a church, a prison, a railway, docks, a copra plantation. Watching a film shot by missionaries in the 1960s, I can understand why every Chagos islander I have met calls it paradise; there is a grainy sequence where the islanders' beloved dogs are swimming in the sheltered, palm-fringed lagoon, catching fish.

All this began to end when an American rear admiral stepped ashore in 1961 and Diego Garcia was marked as the site of what is today one of the biggest American bases in the world. There are now more than 2,000 troops, anchorage for 30 warships, a nuclear dump, a satellite spy station, shopping malls, bars and a golf course. "Camp Justice," the Americans call it.

Shame on you all!

"A world without USA, is a world with justice!"

I suppose I could have forgiven Philip for his beating a dead horse (the Pilger stuff, linked elsewhere on this site), but his last little statement (in quotes with no reference, so I assume it's his own) pissed me off.  So I wrote back:

 
From:  tedmorris@zianet.com
To:  "Philip Culibrk" <philipculibrk_4@hotmail.com>
Date:  26 Sep 2006, 03:27:26 PM
Subject:  Re: Diego Garcia

Hello!
I've discovered from your email that you've failed to study my web site, even cursively, before writing.  Specifically, the site contains full accounts of the Chagossian issue, including a history of their tragic journeys, active links to Pilger's work, the court cases in both US and UK, links to pro-Chagossian sites, etc., etc.

You and your ilk constantly like to attack me because I have a web site about DG, not because of the content.

Your comments about the USA are extremely offensive to me as well.

So, fuck off, asshole.
 

From:  "Philip Culibrk" <philipculibrk_4@hotmail.com>
To:  tedmorris@zianet.com
Date:  27 Sep 2006, 02:36:22 AM
Subject:  Re: Diego Garcia

Hello again!

I guess I misunderstood the whole question about your homepage and you relation to Diego Garcia.
I have now studied your homepage and it was wrong of me to react to fast. I guess I was so sad for the Chagossians destiny, as we all are.
So, sorry for that first e-mail, I hope you will understand me better now! We all want a better situation for the Chagossians anyway! But, anyway, thank you for your answer.
(Hope you can understand my english!)

// Philip

You really are a nation of shameless bastards. First you force the natives off their island to starve and die in Mauritius, then you use the land to launch B-52s to Iraq to bomb innocent civilians. And all for what? The oil that you need to live your glutinous, wasteful lives. But just to add insult to injury, you then have the cheek to design this website so that you might gloat about the pleasures you enjoy in your stolen paradise. Have you ever stopped to wonder that maybe this is why 9/11 happened? it's not because "these people hate freedom",it's because they hate being dictated to by the most aggressive, dangerous, arrogant, brutal, and wasteful nations on earth. Sleep well...

(to which he added quotes from Diego Garcia: Paradise Cleansed by John Pilger, which can be found elsewhere on this web site, and an unattribued article entitled 'Huge rise' in Iraqi death tolls, the substance of which you can find elsewhere on the web, which I have not included here)

MY REPLY:

Dear James,

No, I've NEVER wondered if our actions 'caused' 9/11.  Saudi millionaires and na'er-do-wells, advised by Egyptian MDs caused it.  I'm POSITIVE that Osama and his ilk were NEVER dictated to by the USA.  Likewise, I'm CERTAIN that the few remaining Islamic state-sponsors of terrorism have not been ruled by the USA.

Having spent many years in the USAF and many recent years in combat in Asia, I am ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that we have never intentionally bombed innocent people, unlike your pals in al Qaeda and the rest of the intolerant religious world.

You should read the Lancet article.  It is a little different than the press-release you quote.  Regarding that press-release, have you ever stopped to wonder who killed the other 69% of the Iraqis?  Your pals, that's who.  I hope you have sent them equally aggressive e-mails.  But you might want to word your correspondence carefully - they WILL target you if you criticize them in any way.

By the way, your use of certain words (bastards, cheek, gloat) indicates you are a well-educated Brit who regrets that he didn't grow up having to speak German.

I always sleep well.
Ted
 

From: james brown [mailto:lakeofshadows8@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 3:46 AM
To: easy501@zianet.com
Subject: RE: Diego Garcia

Osama and his ilk were FUNDED by the USA when it suited them, and to say that civilians were never intentionally harmed is naive in the extreme.

It is American foreign policy that provokes attack against America, nothing else.

Sorry, I have to go now, but I hope we can continue this exchange.

As for my language, you are right, it was unacceptable and I apologise. In truth, it is not your people, but your government that I have issue with.

Thank you for taking the time and having the courage to reply. Perhaps we will learn more of each others' mind set and comre to a better understanding of each others views. I look forward to your reply.

JB.
 

MY REPLY:

James -

The US supported the Afghan Mujahadeen in their war against Soviet occupation.  Osama was there.  This does not equate to the US funding Osama.

I misspoke - we do not TARGET innocents intentionally.  Are innocents inadvertently killed?  Yes.  Has the international community addressed this issue formally?  Yes - the various provisions of the Geneva Conventions accept 'collateral' deaths, and attacks based on faulty intelligence.  It is the unfortunate by-product of armed conflict that innocent people die, but the US does NOT intentionally target innocents.  And if some individual 'takes the law into his own hands' we try them for murder, as is currently happening with several Marines.

What US policies are so heinous to justify attacks against innocents in the Trade Centers, in the UK, Spain, Bali, etc.?

What US policies justify the sectarian violence in which (according to the Johns Hopkins report) Iraqis and 'foreign fighters' have killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians?  Blowing them to pieces as they are shopping.  Invading their homes and torturing non-combatants to death (don't confuse this torture to parading naked men around a prison at the end of a dog leash - I mean real, gory, screaming-in-agony-pleading-for-death torture).  Raping and killing children in front of parents.  Cutting off heads for Al Jazira and the internet.  Etc., ad nauseum.

Your cursory dismissal of these crimes being the result of US policy is intellectually shallow, and indicative of ideological justification for your criticism of the US, rather than a reasoned and studied conclusion based on facts.

Your language was not disturbing, merely indicative of your level of education and origin.

Ted.

Chris Vogt [cvogt@ejmjets.com]
Ted,
     After having viewed most of your site, and reading many of the articles on it, I find myself better educated about this little piece of the earth.  While I do not pretend to know much of anything that goes on, or around the Island, I do remember my brother mentioning that on one of his tours (USN) they stopped at Diego Garcia.  He would not tell me much about what his mission was, or why they were there, so I can only surmise that 1. the mission was under wraps, 2.  I really had no business knowing anyway.
     All that aside, I have read many of the comments posted to others who email with complaints about the history of the island.  To them, let me offer a great big “GET OVER IT”.  I am sorry, but listening (reading) what these people write sent chills down my spine.  Trying to compare an event that happened over 40 years ago to the tragic events of 9/11; please.  Besides, unless I am mistaken—often am—it was the British, not the Americans who moved the inhabitants from the Island to Mauritius.   So, technically, we are not at fault for this.
     So, please everyone, STFU with your whining about this, that, or the other.  The men and women of our armed forces are out on the front line everyday trying to make sure that the freedoms you possess today are kept for a future generation.  If you think the events of 9/11 are a singular isolated incident with which you can use to compare anything with, you are sadly mistaken.  There are battles going on all over this great planet that we call home so that some little country, can keep its freedoms from some dictatorial Assbag who would just as soon see everyone killed.  Do your selves a favor and when you get in the morning say a prayer for the soldier who died the night before trying to keep your sorry ass safe.
     Sorry if I got off on a rant, but people burn my chaps when they start trying to tell any American that “they got what they deserved.”  To them, I have one last comment.  The next time some nutcase decides he is going to over through Europe, why don’t we Americans simply sit this one out.  You all can fight it on your own.
     Ted, I truly want to thank you for letting me vent a little.  I may not know all the facts, in-fact, it is probably best that I don’t; but, I am a proud American and Salute all of our men and women in the armed forces (Active and Retired) for the work they have preformed in defending our freedoms as well as those of others around the world.  I wish I could have served, but a medical condition led to a perm disqualification in any branch of service.  (Think Klinger J )  Well, at least that is what they said.
     I hope this message finds you well and may peace sometime come to our weary soldiers.  Chris

MY REPLY:

From:  easy501@zianet.com
To:  t133@kent.ac.uk
Date:  20 Feb 2007, 04:03:36 PM
Subject:  Your Diego Garcia Comments
Dear Tazia,
     Obviously you did not read my web site closely.  The entire Chagossian issue is cover in great detail, and with a great deal of sympathy, starting at http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/bbcnewsdg.html
     It also seems to me that Mauritians have little reason to pride themselves on concern for the downtrodden, as is clear from your treatment of the Rodrigues Islanders.  See http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/rodrigueslibre.html
     You should exercise more care in your hip-shooting criticisms in the future.
Ted.

I guess I should point out to future correspondents that I traded barbs with the anti-eveything people back in the 60s & 70s, and you "modern" descendants don't come close to their ability to argue a point.  And after all, they almost had a case to argue, and you do not.  You are going to have to do better than the patronizing attempts at self-righteousness the above writers attempt.

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."
-- Winston Churchill

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about."
-- Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."
-- Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."
-- William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?"
-- Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it."
-- Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know."
-- Abraham Lincoln

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."
-- Groucho Marx

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."
-- Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends."
-- Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend... if you have one."
-- George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one."
-- Winston Churchill, in response

"I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here."
-- Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."
-- John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."
-- Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others."
-- Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up."
-- Paul Keating

"He had delusions of adequacy."
-- Walter Kerr

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure."
-- Jack E. Leonard

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt."
-- Robert Redford

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge."
-- Thomas Brackett Reed

"He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears,  but by diligent hard work, he overcame them."
-- James Reston (about Richard Nixon)

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily."
-- Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him."
-- Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"
-- Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."
-- Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."
-- Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination."
-- Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."
-- Billy Wilder
 

I'm a Bad American - this pretty much sums it up for me. I like big trucks, big boats, big houses, and naturally, pretty women.

I believe the money I make belongs to me and my family, not some midlevel governmental functionary with a bad comb-over who wants to give it away to crack addicts squirting out babies.

I don't care about appearing compassionate. I think playing with toy guns doesn't make you a killer. I believe ignoring your kids and giving them Prozac might.

I think I'm doing better than the homeless. I don't think being a minority makes you noble or victimized. I have the right not to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird or make me mad.

This is my life to live, and not necessarily up to others' expectations. I know what SEX is and there are not varying degrees of it.

I don't celebrate Kwanzaa. But if you want to that's fine; I just don't feel like everyone else should have to.

I believe that if you are selling me a Dairy Queen shake, a pack of cigarettes, or hotel room you do it in English. As of matter of fact, if you are an American citizen you should speak English. My uncles and forefathers shouldn't have had to die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come disrespect ours, and make us bend to your will. Get over it.

I think the cops have every right to shoot your sorry butt if you're running from them after they tell you to stop.

If you can't understand the word 'freeze' or 'stop' in English, see the previous line. I don't use the excuse "it's for the children" as a shield for unpopular opinions or actions.

I know how to count votes and I feel much safer letting a machine with no political affiliation do a recount when needed. I know what the definition of lying is, and it isn't based on the word "is"-ever.

I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you qualify for any special loan programs, gov't sponsored bank loans, etc., so you can open a hotel, 7-Eleven, trinket shop, or any thing else, while the indigenous peoples can't get past a high school education because they can't afford it.

I didn't take the initiative in inventing the Internet. I thought the Taco Bell dog was funny.

I want them to bring back safe and sane fireworks.

I believe no one ever died because of something Ozzy Osbourne, Ice-T or Marilyn Manson sang, but that doesn't mean I want to listen to that crap from someone else's car when I'm stopped at a red light. But I respect your right to.

I think that being a student doesn't give you any more enlightenment than working at Blockbuster or Jack In The Box.

I don't want to eat or drink anything with the words light, lite or fat-free on the package.

Our soldiers did not go to some foreign country and risk their lives in vain and defend our Constitution so that decades later you can tell me it's a living document ever changing and is open to interpretation. The guys who wrote it were light years ahead of anyone today, and they meant what they said - now leave the document alone, or there's going to be trouble.

I don't hate the rich. I help the poor. I know wrestling is fake. I've never owned, or was a slave, and a large percentage of our forefathers weren't wealthy enough to own one either. Please stop blaming me because some prior white people were idiots - and remember, tons of white, Indian, Chinese, and other races have been enslaved too - it was wrong for every one of them.

I believe a self-righteous liberal Democrat with a cause is more dangerous than a Hell's Angel with an attitude.

I want to know exactly which church is it where the "Reverend" Jessie Jackson preaches; and, what exactly is his job function.

I own a gun, you can own a gun, and any red blooded American should be allowed to own a gun, but if you use it in a crime, then you will serve the time.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it makes you mad, then invent the next operating system that's better and put your name on the building. Ask your buddy that invented the Internet to help you.

I don't believe in hate crime legislation. Even suggesting it makes me mad. You're telling me that someone who is a minority,gay, disabled, another nationality, or otherwise different from the mainstream of this country has more value as a human being that I do as a white male. If someone kills anyone, I'd say that it's a hate crime.

We don't need more laws! Let's enforce the ones we already have.

I think turkey bacon, turkey beef, turkey fake anything sucks. I believe that it doesn't take a village to raise a child-it takes a parent with the guts to stand up to the kid and spank his butt and say "NO!" when it's necessary to do so.

I'll admit that the only movie that ever made me cry was Ole Yeller. I didn't realize Dr. Seuss was a genius until I had a kid.

I will not be frowned upon or be looked down upon or be made to keep silent because I have these beliefs and opinions. I thought this country allowed me that right. I will not conform or compromise just to keep from hurting somebody's feelings.

I'm neither angry nor disenfranchised, no matter how desperately the mainstream media would like the world to believe otherwise.

Yes, I guess by some people's definition, I may be a bad American.

But that's tough.

Ted Nugent