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["Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>]

OK - start thinking about next summer :

http://www.harrisand.org/guinness_world_records.htm<http://www.harrisand.org/guinness_world_records.htm>
>From lflier AT mindspring.com  Tue Nov  2 11:00:31 2004
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From: Lee Flier <lflier AT mindspring.com>
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Subject: Re: [Homestead] Kerry was: ...'political attack' on girlfriend
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DSanner106 AT aol.com wrote:

>I don't deny that portions of his speech would seem that way, but his
>statements
>about the crimes he had supposedly witnessed (he now claims this was second
>hand info and he did not witness any of it), were horrible, and the focus of
>Viet cong attention.
>
>
Kerry was far from the only veteran making such statements and it is the
truth that war crimes were committed.  However Kerry didn't blame the
soldiers for this, he blamed the leadership.  He was outraged that
soldiers joined the service in good faith and then were asked to commit
atrocities for a cause that was not clear.  Most of his address was not
concerned with war crimes but the uselessness of the war itself and the
lack of good leadership, and a good deal of it is spent in talking about
the returning veterans and how they can't get the services they need in
hospitals, they have addiction problems and need help that they aren't
getting, they can't find jobs, they're being spit up and chewed out by
our government and by the public for having served their country.
Hardly a Jane Fonda.  His position has been twisted around from the
get-go by anyone who wished to downplay his pretty much inarguable
points about the war and the errors in judgement that were made by U.S.
leadership.  Now, of course, the Bush campaign is twisting his position
AGAIN in order to make him look like a traitor and discredit his service.

As for the Viet Cong... Kerry put his money where his mouth is and
actually did something about that situation.  Once elected to the Senate
he joined the very Foreign Relations Committee that he had addressed,
and he and John McCain went to Vietnam personally five times.  They
conducted an exhaustive investigation there aimed at proving or
disproving claims by families of veterans that American MIA and POW were
still being held there.  That investigation did much to pave the way for
normalizing relations betwen the U.S. and Vietnam.  This is hardly a guy
who doesn't care about America or its soldiers.

My original intent was to vote for Kerry simply because I'd do anything
to get Bush out, it was a "lesser of evils" choice and I figured a
Republican House would keep Kerry from doing anything too outlandish.
However I started to do some more careful research on him in order to
see just what I was getting into and, unlike with most politicians, the
more I dug for dirt the more I found reasons to actually support him.
What I see is a guy who has for the most part quietly served the public
interest, even if the issues he pursues are not well publicized and even
in many cases if it got him into hot water amongst his fellow
politicians.  I like the fact that he's willing to go where the action
is - if he doesn't know what's going on with a particular situation he
will go there and see for himself, not rely on minions to do it.  He's
*extremely* astute in foreign policy and I think has the kind of
knowledge and qualifications we desperately need right now in order to
set the country back on track.

Sorry but I'm tired of all the rhetoric and character assassination.
I'm going right now to cast my vote, and no matter who you are voting
for I hope this time we have a peaceful and dignified election worthy of
the ideals of this country.

Lee