Politics – Fair Warning

I recently received an email from a friend, which has got me on the bandwagon for politics.  I’ve been in a few debates/conversations with some friends about the issues, and have problems understanding some of their viewpoints.  The exact reasons they use for one candidate, are the same reasons I say we need to go for the other candidate.  That being said, I do not want to alienate any of my friends by saying something that may irritate you, so if you really don’t want to hear my reasons for speaking out for one candidate over the other, please do not scroll down to read the rest of this entry.  I do not want any “hate notes”on my diary.  I’ve had those before, and really don’t want to deal with them.  This is my diary, and I will post what I want in here.  Now, that being said, if you don’t want to see what I say regarding my own opinions and political leanings, please do not scroll down. 

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If anyone is still here, this is an email I wrote this afternoon, to a friend whose husband is in the military, stationed overseas, and will be away from his family for a year.  She stated that she is hoping that Bush will be reelected.  I can’t understand how she can feel this way, but I respect her opinion, and allow it.   She asked my why I favored John Kerry over Bush, so I wrote this email giving her the reasons.  I have since begun a conversation with another friend (also from the military) who is campaigning in our area for Kerry.  I have made plans to attend a Kerry campaign meeting with her on this coming Tuesday night.  I’m really looking forward to this meeting, to see what goes on “on the inside”.  LOL 

Without further ado, here is the email I wrote to her:

Regarding Kerry, and I don’t know this for sure, but I am willing to bet that the “flip flopping” everyone says he does, is mostly in part, when he is voting, to riders.  Whenever there is a new “law” going up for vote, there are always other little “stipulations” added onto the law.  These are known as “riders”.  If he votes no on a rider, he is voting no on the entire bill.  This does not mean that he does not want the main portion of the bill passed, but that he is adamant about not wanting the “rider” put into effect.  Like I said, I don’t know this for certain, but that is the main reason I can come up with for anyone “flip flopping”.  What I have heard him say, on certain issues, has never changed.  Of course, I don’t follow his every step, or listen to his every word, but I have never heard him change his stance on anything. 

 

Regarding his Vietnam era actions, the media wants you to believe that Kerry “joined leagues” with Jane Fonda.  That is not true.  If you think it through, he was over in Vietnam, fighting for his life, yet at the same time, if you remember correctly, we (the US military) were not allowed to “go full force”.  We were basically there fighting a war, but we were only allowed to do so much.  That is why the war lasted so long.  We could have kicked butt many times over, if allowed to go full force.  When he came back, he was protesting not being allowed to go full force.  However, unlike most people think, his “peace speeches” or whatever you want to call them, were a year apart from Jane Fonda’s.  Plus, Kerry never did anything to betray his fellow military members.  He was saying, “This is wrong.  We shouldn’t be there, unless we can finish the conflict as quickly as we can, with however much might is necessary to do so.”  He did not turn over the names and serial numbers of the prisoners, to their captives.  He was not calling his fellow military members “baby killers” and murderers.  He was arguing the fact that they were not able to finish the war to the best of their abilities. 

On a side note, when (your husband) and I would go to Turkey, we saw that when the Turks wanted to bomb the Kurds, whom we were there to protect, they would call for a “no fly day”.  That meant that the US could not fly.  They did not want us flying on that day, because then we would see exactly what they were doing.  Yet, their planes took off from the same runway we used, and slept a quarter mile away from.  So we knew what was going on.  But, the US government never did anything about it, because we didn’t want to be “kicked off” of their base.  So, basically, we were protecting the Kurds from Iraqis, yet letting the Turks bomb them, anytime they wanted to.  I found this to be very disturbing as well.  If it was anything as “big” as Vietnam, and there was as big of a peace movement, I would not be surprised if I wouldn’t have spoke up about that, too.  That is not to say that I am “betraying” my fellow military members.  It is to say that we are not doing the best job that we possibly can, in the task we are there to perform in the first place.  After all, why protect the Kurds from one group of people, just to let another group have free reign on them?   

This is what I believe happened with Kerry back in the early 70’s.  I believe he was speaking out against the government’s lack of willingness to use whatever means possible to win that war.  Throwing down his Purple Heart medals was symbolic of his disdain for the government’s decisions, not of his disdain for the military itself, or any of its members. 

As far as “liking” Kerry, I don’t think that he is the best man for the job.  But I believe that he is the only one at this point who has a chance of getting Bush out of office, which is my main objective. 

I don’t like Bush, because of many reasons.  One would be because of the position he has put the American people in.  He has absolutely no regard for anyone below the level of posterity that he has been privileged to live in.  He has no regard for military members.  He reduced, and continues to fight to reduce the benefits of the military members.  He has lowered the amount of hazardous duty pay that the military members receive for going to his war in Iraq, and Afghanistan.  Yet he grants a multi billion dollar contract to Cheney’s buddies at Halliburton, and allows them to continue receiving that huge amount of money, even after finding proof that the food Halliburton was feeding the military members was deemed inedible!  Anyone with common sense knows that if a company is not fulfilling its contract, the contract is yanked out from under them.  But not Halliburton!  I have never seen the US as viewed as so poorly from other nations, either.  When Clinton was in office, and had his liaison with Monica, the rest of the world laughed at us, because the American people act so puritan.  I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t partaken in a (sexual dalliance of that nature)!  (Speaking of adults, that is) 😉  Just because he got caught, the American people gasped, and pointed fingers at him.  Who cares if he gets a (sexual dalliance of that nature)!  Certainly not me!  Nobody was hurt by his receiving a (sexual dalliance of that nature), except his wife and daughter, who stood by him the entire time.  The rest of the world was not hurt, and did not lose any respect for the US because the President got a (sexual dalliance of that nature).  However, now, when Bush is in office, because of his lying reasons to go to war in Iraq, we have lost the respect of lots of our allies, and most of the world, including the UN!  I don’t know Bush’s REAL reason for wanting to go to war in Iraq, but it certainly wasn’t because of WMD.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I believe that we SHOULD have gone in to get Hussein out of power.  But we needed to go in under the umbrella of “humanitarian reasons”, to save the Iraqi people from his sadistic ways.  NOT because of some hyped up lies about WMD.  Nor about some hyped up “connection” with terrorists.  Sure, Saddam Hussein may have been in contact with some members of Al Quaida or the Taliban.  However, so is King Faud, from Saudi Arabia.  Osama Bin Laden is FROM Saudi Arabia.  But we haven’t gone to war with them, have we?  Most of the “insurgents” in Iraq now are pouring into the country from Syria.  But we haven’t gone to war with THEM, have we?  We haven’t even closed off that border!  My roommate’s uncle just came back from Iraq, and he even says that most of the Iraqi people WANT us there, till they can get back on their feet, and THEN they want us out.  But the people who are fighting with us are not even Iraqis!  So we aren’t even FIGHTING with Iraqis anymore.  We are just fighting other countries’ “terrorists” who just want to undermine America, because they don’t believe in our way of life. 

John Kerry is not going to take office and say, “Okay, bring all the troops home right now, and let Iraq deal with their own problems.”  He wants to go in, finish what needs to be done, and THEN get our people out of there.  This is what the UN wants, this is what the Iraqi people want, and this is what the Democrats want.  We all want an exit plan.  Bush does not seem to HAVE an exit plan!  He won’t even close off the border(s) so that “foreign” terrorists can’t make our job more difficult for us, which makes life for the Iraqi people better, sooner.  My younger brother was over there for a year.  He also said that the Iraqi people were grateful for us getting Saddam out of power.  With all this coming from people who were right there, in the midst of it, I am wont to believe it. 

It’s kind of ironic, though, because both my younger brother and my roommate’s uncle are staunch Republicans, and are backing Bush.  Yet the things they say are reasons to get him OUT of office.  What I have seen and heard, regarding Bush’s policies, prove to me that we need to get him out of office, and give someone else a chance.  Bush’s plan (or lack thereof) is NOT working.  I believe it is time to give someone else a chance to do better. 

Damn, this has gone on forever!  LOL Sorry.  I haven’t even TOUCHED on the whole part of the plight of the American people!  Interest rates continue to be lower than they have in decades, because of the high unemployment rate and troubles in the economy.  I’ve been out of work for almost 2 years now.  I’m not the only one, either.  The unemployment rate is still very high, yet Bush claims that everything is peachy.  The economy is great, unemployment is down, and the American people are thriving.  I haven’t seen this anywhere.  I have friends who’s jobs have been outsourced overseas, so they have had to change careers, move across the country for new jobs, live off of unemployment, until that runs out, then what?  I have no idea where I would be if it weren’t for my good friend, (dionisia), who lets me live here for free.  She feeds me, pays for all utilities, everything!  I’ve done all I can do to keep up on payments for the car, and regular bills.  I haven’t had medical insurance in almost two years.  It’ll be two years on Halloween since I had a regular full time job. 

I have always said that the Republicans have their merits, because they believe in a strong military.  But from what I’ve heard, the morale of the military isn’t all that great, either, because he has been chipping away at their benefits, too.  It’s been so bad; there have been rumors of bringing back the draft!  My roommate’s uncle was involuntarily pulled out of retirement to go to Iraq!  G, my younger brother, while over in Iraq, was considering getting out when he got home, because it was so difficult for him to be away from his family for so long.  G has 18 years in the military.  Does that sound like morale is great?  It sure doesn’t to me.  (your husband) is in Korea, away from his family.  His morale isn’t that great!  He hates being over there, away from you and the boys.  Yes, that probably would have happened whether Bush was in office or not, but my point is, the morale of the military is NOT up, as Bush would have everyone believe.  The guy has blinders on and won’t look at anything he doesn’t want to see!  He believes if he says it, it’s true, and American people will believe him, whether they see the proof otherwise or not. 

 

Anyway, there is my little (condensed?) version of what I feel about the election today.  LOL

 

Sorry to get so emotional about it, but I do feel very strongly about getting Bush out of office. 

 

 

 

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