Vote Responsibly

Many people are faced with a very difficult decision in this year's presidential election. Three years after 9/11 they have regressed easily into the comfort zone of daily life in the USA. Any notion of a pre-emptive action to prevent additional terrorist attacks in our homeland has been eroded by the massive flooding of second-guessing. Additionally, there is a general acceptance by many that we probably deserved the attacks and that terror is something that we can more easily live with than confront.

Like their initial revulsion at the 9/11 attacks, their support for George W. Bush too has waned. Neither are they experiencing any excitement over the John Kerry candidacy.

While the current political system extremely limits the options of the American voter, it is important for these people to remember that our system also does not allow for a vote against a candidate. Your only option is to vote for one of them or to make your statement by not voting at all.

If you are one of these undecided people then you still have time to read, research and educate yourself on the issues and records of the candidates. You already know what issues are important to you and your family. It is now of great importance to know what you are voting for, rather than what you think you may be voting against. Your vote is valuable and you should not cast it lightly.

Our Two Party Political System

The current two-party political system we have in this country is ineffective and bears the responsibility for our populations increasing disfranchisement with the whole political electoral process.

By allowing the people such a limited choice in voting the party leaders and politicians retain greater control over the process and can select which type of campaign strategy they wish to employ: positive or negative. Candidates and parties can determine whether it is more beneficial (to their own interests, not those of the voting public) to promote themselves, their records, ideas and plans positively or to simply spend all their focus and monies on telling us why we should not vote for the other guy. With this limited field, citizens often feel that there is no real difference between the candidates, no true choice available, that their vote won't really matter, and simply decide to tune out and not participate at all. Others will be led (or coerced) into voting against a candidate or issue simply because they feel there is not a candidate that actually represents their individual interests or way of thinking.

The American people should have greater options. This two-party system frequently creates an undesirable outcome. The most popular method of voting against a candidate is to vote for his or her opponent. This results in your ballot not being cast for someone you support, but ultimately being cast for a "lesser of two evils" thereby still selecting a candidate that you do not really want.

The other option that exists is to write in a candidate. You can write in the name of any other person not listed on the ballot. Likewise, you can simply elect to write in "neither" or "not this guy." If enough of you take the initiative to vote your true conscience rather than simply settling, then your collective voices will be heard.

Confused or Simply Forgetful?

Many of the same people complaining that President Bush didn't do enough to prevent the terrorist attacks of September 11th also now chastise him for our nation's pre-emptive strike on Iraq. But are they pretending to be unaware of the treaty signed by Saddam Hussein in 1991? And the numerous resolutions on Iraq initiated by the United Nations, and the twelve years that Saddam Hussein limited, blocked and hampered the efforts of international weapons inspectors? Saddam thwarted the United Nation's efforts to enforce and ensure Iraq's mandated destruction of weapons of mass destruction (illegal chemical and biological weapons), and effectively ignoring the demands and desires of the united international community.

While there has been no proof that any great amount of weapons of mass destruction actually remained in Iraq at the time of our invasion, there is no shortage of sources that were certain we would find them. We all know that he had them, that he used them previously, that he failed to provide documentation of their destruction and that he repeatedly refused to allow weapons inspectors unfettered access to suspect facilities. Now we are finding multiple sources showing that Saddam Hussein had every intention of reconstituting his biological and chemical weapons programs as soon as the heat was off of him. Yes our intelligence was wrong, as was the intelligence of agencies and governments around the globe. Of this embarrassment there is no excuse. The United States should have had the most extensive network in the world providing the most comprehensive data possible.

How about Saddam's chemical attacks on Kurds and Americans? In 1993 Hussein attempted to assassinate one of our US Presidents. For years Saddam paid $10,000 to every Palestinian family that sent a son or daughter to be a suicide bomber and attack innocent civilians; CIVILIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN going quietly about their lives, heading to the market, work or school. How about the repeated threats against US interests as well as the planned attacks uncovered by Russian intelligence?

What about the secret deals between Saddam and France, Russia and China in which illegal trading in defiance of UN sanctions were conducted for the financial benefit of the French and the detriment of the Iraqi people? And France's under-the-table deal with Hussein that they would veto any additional resolutions or actions against Iraq which were initiated by the United States. Even more disgusting was the involvement of several UN officials in the plot to subvert the oil for food program to illegally get around UN imposed trade restrictions for the benefit of cheap oil and to line their own greedy pockets.

By Saddam's own admissions, repeated threats and years of boldly defying the UN weapons inspectors he too thought he had them. Whether Hussein was actually duped by his scientists, very extremely mistaken in his assertions, or just very successful in his attempts to bluff the world; his failure to comply with treaties, sanctions and numerous resolutions ultimately led to his downfall.

How much longer that those twelve years should we have waited for the UN to act? Saddam Hussein single-handedly proved the irrelevance of the United Nations as an organization incapable or unwilling to enforce the multiple demands and resolutions. Every time Hussein flexed, the United Nations would take another step back effectively giving him even greater leeway. Saddam knew the United Nations was content with words and would perform no enforcing actions.

At one point they complained that the US government did nothing to prevent the 9/11 attacks? Why did they condone preventive action in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack, but later completely changed your opinion a full 180 degrees? Would they have reacted differently if we had been attacked a second or third time? Did their attitude simply change with the passage of time or was it some particular event that caused them to forget what happened on that early Tuesday morning? What would it take to make them flip-flop again? At what point might they decide that pre-emptive action is the only way to deter terrorism and to ensure a safer country for our kids? We cannot allow uncontrolled emotions to lead us. That is why we so desperately need to continue to follow the strong, steady, principled leadership that President George W. Bush has provided.

We have to face the threat. This is not a war against a particular country or an organized force. These terrorists hide until they find their preferred moment to attack a selected easy target such as innocent civilians or children in a classroom. This hate is an evil weed in the garden of peace. If we ignore it now and fail to strike at the source, the roots will sink deeper and it will continue to grow stronger; spreading further and becoming an even more difficult foe that we will inevitably have to face in the future.

Continuity is Key

Continuity is the key to America's brighter future through these challenging times. We have seen some incredibly tough times here in the United States over the past three years. We were all caught off-guard by the September 11, 2001 surprise attacks. Our government was not at all prepared for such an event, but in these past three years since we have made incredible progress. Our nation's economy has recovered at a very amazing. In the past year alone we've experienced an economic growth spurt of over 4.5%; that's as high as any year since the 1980s! This economy has created over 1.5 million new jobs in the past year alone. Home ownership is at a historical level of almost 70% of all US families and a new record high of over 50% of minority families nationwide. Every single one of these statistics is incredible when you recall the devastation our country has suffered so recently from the burst of the dotcom bubble, the recession beginning in the late 1990s, the despicable attacks on our innocents on 9/11/01, and our continuing global war on terrorism.

Our homeland is more secure than it has ever been due to increased attention, funding and overall awareness by citizens. We have developed new, stronger allies abroad and even received cooperation from old foes. Working with allied governments we have taken the fight to the terrorists, across multiple borders where they lurk and hide, employing both our unmatched military power and our continually improving intelligence operations. Many of those whom we identified as terrorist leaders and coordinators have been captured or were killed in our attempts to detain them. And by the grace of God we have not suffered another terrorist attack on American soil.

President George W. Bush has had to face obstacles and events unlike anything encountered by any American president before him ever. I believe that he has responded valiantly and has led us with integrity and fearlessness in the face of extreme adversity. His path has been a lonely one for the most part, but he has stayed the course nonetheless. Some might call it stubbornness, but I define it as decisiveness. President Bush's faith in doing what must be done to ensure the future of America is truly inspirational. His decisions are obviously formulated to enhance the long-term future of our nation rather than simply to cover his time in office. He focuses more on the preservation our country's freedoms rather than only having the shortsighted and selfish goal of seeing himself reelected for another term. Isn't this the type of man we desperately need to retain in the Oval Office? I believe that we must reelect President Bush to maintain the continuity of our current progresses. George W. Bush's steady leadership is imperative in these times of dramatic change.

US Communist Party Supports John Kerry!!

Guess who else is endorsing John Kerry? The Communist Party of The United States of America, CPUSA, is publicly supporting the election of John Kerry.

No, this is not a typo...you read it correctly. The CPUSA has made available on its Web site an advertisement entitled "Top Ten Reasons To Defeat Bush." This advertisement can be downloaded and is available in English and Spanish. The communist party urges readers to place this ad in local newspapers throughout the country to defeat President Bush. Remarkably, the "Top Ten Reasons" of the Communist party are identical to those of the Democratic party; out-sourcing, homosexual rights, abortion and the like.

At first, it was thought "this was only a coincidence." The Democratic party of the United States couldn't be in lock step with the Marxists! So, the originator of this email wrote to a spokesman of the CPUSA in Georgia and here is part of the spokesman's letter:
"The CPUSA supports the John Kerry campaign with donations and volunteer effort. We believe that defeating George Bush is the single most important issue this November." Next, it was discovered that one of Kerry's campaign themes is "Let America be America Again." This slogan was borrowed from a Communist poet, Langston Hughes. This is not common knowledge to the average American. "Let America be America Again" sounds good but is a rambling, gloomy poem. Interestingly, another poem by Langston goes as follows; "Goodbye, Christ Jesus, Lord, God, Jehovah, Beat it on away from here now. Make way for a new guy with no religion at all -- A real guy named Marx, communist, Lenin, Peasant, Stalin, Worker, ME -- I said, ME!"

Then, if this was not convincing enough that the Democratic party has lost it, a third even more disturbing discovery! A Vietnam vet group took a trip to Communist Hanoi to investigate a report that John Kerry was in the "Hanoi! Hall of Fame." Yes, there is a museum in Hanoi with a section dedicated to foreign activists who help defeat the United States Military in Vietnam. Of course, you would expect Jane Fonda's picture to be there. But, alas, there is John Kerry's picture shaking the hand of a communist official.

Never has there been such a tragedy! Never has there been such a threat to America! Has the Democratic Party has been taken over by the far, far left?

It's not only the communists, but the homosexual activists who are appalled that George W. Bush is married to a woman! They are enraged that the President wants a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage between a man and woman.

Then we have the ACLU running to a federal activist judge with every piece of legislation that doesn't fit into their leftist agenda. They support every Democratic socialist whim. The removal of the Ten Commandments is their top priority!

Want to read it for yourself? Visit the US Communist Party website read the propaganda, articles, mission statements and then decide for yourself.

What Does John Kerry Stand For?

Does John Kerry know what the average American wants? Does he feel our concern regarding the evil people who threaten to destroy our liberty and way of life? Can he understand our concern about the future of our economy and the importance of making the recent tax cuts permanent? How about his comprehension of our desire to ensure a strong, safe, proud America for our children and grandchildren as well? What about our need to be making the difficult decisions now and sacrificing during these challenging times for the benefit of our great nation's prosperous and promising future?

I am afraid that John Kerry doesn't even seem to know himself. I do believe that he sincerely desires to be our president, but I do not know what he believes he can do for America. You don't get this most important job in the world by wanting it alone. Neither do you get it by pandering to every person and group or zigzagging down the highway of our nations political highway attempting to stay in the middle of the road on every issue. He needs to interview for the job, explain his vision and long-term plans for our country. What does he aim to overhaul, fix, improve and how will he go about doing it?

Flitting like a humming bird from each newly blossoming issue to the next shows no dedication. No willingness to question, study, learn, and ultimately inspires no faith in the voting population. The voter wants to feel some emotion and trust that his or her vote is important and can actually make a difference. The behavior thus far displayed by candidate John Kerry actually shows the people that he does not truly care about anything other that adding US President to his resume.

Democrats Exposed!

Continually misunderestimated, our President George W. Bush has done it again! The Republican National Committee is holding its national convention in downtown Liberalville New York City. The Left has repeatedly questioned the wisdom of holding the Republican Convention in such a liberally biased location, yet once again they never failed to follow through with the thought and actually figure out what its all about. The Libs have planned all sorts of massive protests, marches, nude dances, as well as called for entertainment and transportation strikes, service personnel walk-outs, and even gone so far as to actually advocate civil disobedience! Why, they've even coordinated a cadre of attorneys offering pro-bono representation for anyone who will actually go far enough across the line of decency to have themselves arrested.

Wow! Can you just imagine where we might be if all of this inexplicable hate was focused into creative energy and applied to the positive improvement of our nation?? Tell you what...if these hate-mongers could possibly organize themselves, become truly informed of facts, introduce a candidate that excites the people rather than just someone who is "not Bush", then I might actually worry that they would present such a formidable opponent that doom would surely befall our great nation.

Democrats Hood-Winked and Exposed!!

Continually misunderestimated, our President George W. Bush has done it again! The Republican National Committee is holding its national convention in downtown Liberalville New York City. The Left has repeatedly questioned the wisdom of holding the Republican Convention in such a liberally biased location, yet once again they never failed to follow through with the thought and actually figure out what its all about. The Libs have planned all sorts of massive protests, marches, nude dances, as well as called for entertainment and transportation strikes, service personnel walk-outs, and even gone so far as to actually advocate civil disobedience! Why, they've even coordinated a cadre of attorneys offering pro-bono representation for anyone who will actually go far enough across the line of decency to have themselves arrested.

Wow! Can you just imagine where we might be if all of this inexplicable hate was focused into creative energy and applied to the positive improvement of our nation?? Tell you what...if these hate-mongers could possibly organize themselves, become truly informed of facts, introduce a candidate that excites the people rather than just someone who is "not Bush", then I might actually worry that they would present such a formidable opponent that doom would surely befall our great nation.

The Liberal Threat?

As long as their principle spokesmen are harvested from the field of entertainers I expect no serious competition. Although I can see one true threat. There are an enormous amount of Americans that look upon our entertainers as royalty. If you can bounce a ball or repeat someone else's words then your every move, whether on the stage, court, field or anywhere else will unquestionably be worshiped by very many confused Americans. Let me back up and clarify that my problem is not with entertainers. What really bugs me are the incredible number of people that spend hours and hours of their own lives reading and learning about the off-stage lives and activities of entertainers. There are so many magazines, newspapers, and television shows dedicated to the discussion and exploration of the lives, thoughts and interests of entertainers. I just cannot understand the infatuation.

And when these people, already accustomed to the spotlights, are placed upon pedestals even when the theater is closed, its not so unexpected that their responses would be to "put on a show". The more outlandish they appear the more attention they get. And who among that crowd wouldn't want that? I mean, that's how they make their living, by putting on a show and getting your attention.

So if you are wondering about what the liberal threat could be, I would have to say that it is principally misinforming the gullible Americans. But these are the folks that ask for it, so can we truly blame the entertainers? Nah, they are simply responding to the repeated cries of "encore". And of course, what follows are their demands for even more ridiculously higher salaries reflecting more expensive ticket prices for the drooling, enthralled, masses. But its okay because y'all truly love 'em.

Can You Understand the Hate?

I've been to multiple chat rooms (some political and others not) and my pro-Bush screen name regularly attracts both attention and attack. The many dozens of people I have talked with have unanimously proven themselves completely incapable of participating in a civilized discussion. They are all quite prolific in their repetition of curse words, anti-Bush slogans, name calling, and their employment of tactical evasion of relevance when involved in discussion. They often begin by attempting to bait me with questions such as "do you really support Bush", "what do you think of the situation in Iraq"' or "how come you Americans are so barbaric and can support a president who alienates the entire world"? "Even Christians around the world think the war is wrong and that their belief in peace is the answer."

My answers are usually brief and to the point because it doesn't take much to tell you why I support President Bush George W. Bush and our war on terrorism. Our current president has been faced with incredible challenges that no other American president has ever had to deal with. I support President Bush because he has made these decisions in the face of incredible challenges and taken decisive action that he thought would preserve this great nation and protect my children's future. On top of that, he made those difficult decisions without regard to his own political future but with the patriotic desire to do his presidential duties and defend our nation, constitution and way of life.

Concerning Iraq, we did what we had to do faced with the information we had. I support preemptive action to protect and preserve my nation and family. I was devastated by the horribly evil attacks we suffered on September 11, 2001. In no way at all can I believe that we "deserved it," and I have no desire to ever see anything like that again in our homeland. The poor quality of the worldwide intelligence community was an atrocious failure. As the richest and most powerful nation on Earth, we should have led the way rather than fall embarrassingly on our faces in our gathering of information.

I support peace as well. I share in the Christian belief of peace. And I know that our goal is always peace. But peace only works in a society that respects it. Unfortunately a belief alone provides no protection. Peace is a cooperative effort. The USA has always followed a procedure of preemptive peace. But once it is violated, what do you do next? Peace can only be done proactively but really serves no useful purpose reactively. I mean, explain to me how you react peacefully to unwarranted aggression: to surprise attacks on non-combatants; to the killing of little children and innocent men and women in their homes and offices? Exactly how is self-defense barbaric? The United States has always been the home of the most humane warriors in history. We capture rather than kill, disarm rather than fight, negotiate rather than attack, send billions in aid to hundreds of less fortunate nations and people worldwide, and always invest billions of dollars and years of work into rebuilding what was damaged or destroyed by us or others. What other nation in history has even come close to doing what we have done and continue to do in response to worldwide needs and requests for aid?

Their responses are usually long, weak, invoke fictional data, incorporate extremely foul language and are shouted loudly or typed in bold capital letters. But the content is void of any actual facts, no relevant rebuttal is included and they usually try to alter the original subject as a distraction. I am not sure whether this tactic is an intentional distraction or simply the unconscious attempt to avoid the possibility of truth or facts.

I do not understand the hate, though I have patiently tried.

Oh, and one other thing these angry people never mention in their George W. Bush, anti-American rants......John Kerry.

Maintain Resolve in War on Terrorism

Our country faces a difficult time presently and we should all know that we should expect continued challenging times ahead. The war on terrorism will most likely carry-on for many years, possibly even decades. We as a people cannot forget why we must pursue this course. This is not President George W. Bush's war; this is our war. This conflict (or series of conflicts) will span several years and multiple generations. Our focus cannot be broken by partisan politics.

Remember the confusion, fear, dazed feelings immediately following the attacks on September 11th? Remember the fear of additional attacks, the ones we all believed were coming at any moment? The horrible resurgence of those feelings when American flight 587 went down in New York? How about all those public warnings, and the new color-coded threat advisories? Our scramble to coordinate response and relief units in expectation of imminent attacks. The gas masks, rations, and duct tape? How many of us could have imagined that more than two-and-a-half years later additional attacks have not occurred on our soil? I believe that we can attribute this success to the strong proactive position taken by President Bush, increased action by our government agencies, cooperation with allied governments around the world, as well as the heightened vigilance of many average Americans.

Al Qaeda declared war on us more than ten years ago. Initial targets were U.S. citizens, interests and symbols overseas. Our mainland was largely safe and although these attacks were serious, they actually affected few Americans. That is to say that our perceived safety in the homeland afforded us a false sense of comfort and security. Only in the past three years have we overtly responded and become very largely involved in this war.

No, this temporary lull in the homeland does not indicate that we have won the war. Yes, I do still think they are coming after us, and they will seek our most innocent and complacent. None of us wish to live and raise our families in fear, but we cannot let down our guard. Freedom has never been free, but it has always been worth the price. Please join with me in showing our unity and patriotism daily and especially on the 228th anniversary of our nation’s independence on July 4th.

Patriotism & National Unity

Observing the overwhelming recognition afforded to our recently passed President Reagan by tens of thousands of American citizens has impressed me immensely. This occurred only a week after the highly publicized dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, and my having attending a small but very smartly organized and well-attended Memorial Day Service in Sunrise with my daughters.

In recent months, I have been disappointed at our overall lack of unity and even rarer overt displays of patriotism. The combination of these recent events, of peoples giving of their time and electing to attend these memorial services rather than simply taking the days off has freshly reaffirmed to me our ability to come together as a single people: one nation under God.

We live in a large, technologically advanced, very rich country offering a plethora of opportunities and an almost endless number of diversions and activities competing for our time and attention. We quickly become engrossed in the multiple levels of our own individual lives. On a daily basis we are usually a mass of individuals competing for attention, parking spaces, and that inexplainable urge to pass "just one more car".

Despite the hurried lives which cause us to take little time for reflection and even less to extend common courtesies, I believe that we are capable of uniting when we feel the patriotic tug on our heartstrings. I have very often wished that we could continually feel that unity, share that compassion and extend those communal courtesies that we gladly offer when the feelings are right and we briefly turn away from our individualistic culture. Of course, I cannot completely knock individualism either; especially since men seeking the liberty to make choices in their lives founded this great nation. Our government and society was designed to allow us our individualism.

We do have another such unifying opportunity fast approaching: our 228th anniversary of independence is less than one month away. Once again I intend to share this time with family. And yes, I'll deliver yet another impromptu speech to my young daughters about the proud history of our nation, the significance of the U.S. flag, the perils currently facing our country, the honorable troops defending us, and the reasons why we must persist in the conquest of indescribable evil. I will also clearly explain to them that although we are physically celebrating at home with a few family members we are actually celebrating in a shared spirit with our nearly 300 million fellow Americans around the world.