I want to apologize for any inconveniences do to the length of this post, but I have not written in awhile, and as such, I tend to take up my word space.

Over the past year or so, I have not been posting as much as I would like for one reason or another. However, over the past several months, I have read quite a lot of messages going around these boards. Many of them fun and light-hearted and many serious on current issues. Generally, I try to make it a rule for myself not to get sucked into political discussions. I've seen what they can do to people and the simple truth is that politics is a dirty business. On off-year elections alone, we are bombarded with television advertisements that are solely directing at demeaning the other candidate. Political issues have torn good friends and family members apart and most of the time you have got to ask how can this be worth it? Most of the time. I've come across many boards where the discussion of politics and religion is outright prohibited. For this board to allow such conversation to a reasonable extent where members have, for the most part, expressed their opinions in civil ways, and that there is an allowance that posts such as the one I am writing now can exist, the administrators have my gratitude.

Well, something has come about where I feel an obligation to do what any human being living in the United States can do, which is to stress what he or she feels. Personally, I don't feel that the real heart of this has to do with politics, but in order to prove something I am going to have to bring up a political issue before I write what I feel needs to be stressed. I need to prove that this thing isn't about being in support of President George W. Bush, but being solely against Senator John F. Kerry.

Last winter, President Bush issued a request that the states of this nation pass a congressional law that outlaws same-sex marriage. It over all appeared that his wishes were to, in fact, have a Constitutional amendment, along with the ones our four fathers fought so hard for, banning the ceremonial practice. Now, perhaps someone could clarify this for me because I think I might be a little confused as last time I checked, our country was engaged in a war against terrorism, containing aspects that you may or may not agree with, and our commander in chief is talking about the definition of marriage? What's more is that he wold impugn our sacred document with something that, quite frankly, would probably be an embarrassment for our citizens to look upon many years from now. I do not believe that our president possesses a kind of bigotry or discrimination, but this is surely not what I would consider to be an encouraging mark on his record.

That being said, I will go onto to what this post really is. A plea. Film has had a great influence on my life, that's no secret around where I live. So it was that film would eventually open up my eyes to how vital the American veteran was. Thus I would soon learn that the very fabric of our existence came from these soldiers. In the mid-1960s, one the worst presidents to ever sit in office came to power and forced over hundreds of thousand of young men to abandon their lives to fight in what would be a futile conflict. There's a great chance that many of these men do they were fighting some useless conflict for a careless government and a country that would soon be generating hate toward them. They fought anyway. Both volunteers and draftees went to Vietnam to die, watch their friends die, and be tortured both physically and psychologically for their country and for each other. The punishment for those who took part in the Me Lei Massacre was probably not suitable for the crime, as is what will probably the case for those who abused the Iraqi prisoners, but the simple truth is that they were not soldiers. They were a minority of people in U.S. uniform who took their problems out in unspeakably brutal ways towards the most innocent of civilians. The key work there is minority. The Swift Boat Veterans For Truth have come out with stories of how phony John Kerry's stories of self-heroism are and I most definitely believe them. Moreso, I admire them for doing what their doing. Some may believe that what they say is disputable, but one thing that's not disputable is that after serving his four-month tour, Kerry sat in front of Congress in 1971 and said that his fellow comrades had committed the worst of atrocities and that he had seen them committed first-hand. He also gave the impression that this was a common happening among the soldiers in Vietnam. You can also hear a direct audio clip where he states "Like many soldiers, I committed war crimes." If he committed atrocious acts (and I've come across places that claim he did) that is a horrible thing for him, but even if he is lying, there are those first three horrible words "Like many soldiers." Many of Kerry's comrades spent quite a bit more time than four months in that Hell-zone and they landed in prison camps where they were tortured in ways that aren't that hard to imagine Mihn and the Vietcong to get them to make false confessions that Kerry was giving freely in the states.

Now, I do not believe I have an closely related relative who served in the Vietnam War, but I know, or at least have a glimmer of what these men sacrificed. The truth is, none of us can really know what they were forced to endure and quite frankly, I don't even feel as though I'm someone who would qualify as worthy to be walking the same ground as people such as the Swift Vets and others who were fortunate enough to return from that awful war. I know that the election is less than two weeks away and I had meant to make this post a long time ago, but by either fear or just mere lazy procrastination, I didn't get to it, but this is a place where I feel I can give somewhat of a voice, whether it is effective or not. I never in my wildest dreams thought that we could get a presidential candidate as horrible as this. If John Kerry is elected, the truth is I don't know how I'm going to be able to look my fellow neighbor in the eye again. So, my conclusion is this. I by no means want to get involved in any political conflict, getting into that war-zone of dirt. I just simply want to say this with the bearing in mind that there are actually quite a bit of other choices besides our current president out there is please. Please don't do this to our fathers. I am actually begging that you keep the honor of this country and those who served it alive. Don't cast a vote for this man.

Thank you. If you took the time to read this, you have probably spent a substantial portion of your time doing so. I felt this was something I had to write and all replies are most certainly welcome, both the bitter and the respectful, but I just want to stress one last time that I'm not looking to get into any brutal political argument. I'm just doing what I feel needs to be done on this one occasion.

I ust want to say first off: I respect your post, but there are obviously some things that you don't know about Vietnam and the Swift Boat Ads. There's not one man in the Swift Boat Ads who was on John Kerry's boat while in Vietnam after he saved the lives of some of his men. Not one of the people against him was on his boat. Not one.

Second, Kerry came back and was as brave as they come. He was the only one with the bravery to come up to people and tell them that Vietnam was hell and that him and his fellow soldiers committed atrocities. The fact is this, Don Sauno: There's no way you can say that people didn't know what they were fighting for in Vietnam, but at the same time want to vote for Bush. Iraq is the sequel to Vietnam. There's no reason to be there. 1000 lives, 90 % of coalition casualties, and 90 % of the coalition cost is the US. Just like Vietnam had the VC fight our men, those beheaders we see on tv are the "VC of Iraq." To come home and tell people what actually happened over there shows bravey in my eyes. -Pat

I for one can not wait for this event to get over. Bring on the holidays!

Cheers to that.

Don't get me wrong; I love politics, I really do. So much so, that I'm partly majoring in political science. I'd say it's kind of an art as well as a science, though... it's so beautiful, yet so structured.

But I'm sick and tired of this year's election. Maybe because politicians in general are not as beautiful and structured as politics itself. There have and will always be scumbags, not just every four years, but in between, too. But it seems worse this year.

You're right, Don Sauno. Like I said, politicians are getting more and more disgusting. Nobody is perfect, and even less so among this pack of wolves; there will never be a perfect politician. So it has more to do with picking the lesser of two evils, not necessarily picking the "Good" over the "Bad." It's not about "Bush has made so many mistakes, we should vote for Kerry." First of all, that's stupid, because Kerry hasn't been in those situations. You don't know how he would have handled them, no matter WHAT he says now in the debates about "I would have done this such-and-such way." It's different under pressure. But anyway, it's about whose mistakes (or potential thereof) are worse; whose standards are lower; and who can or can't handle this much power.

A lot of people don't approve of what George W. Bush has done in office, but they disapprove of John Kerry even more. So like you said, it's not that it's a complete support for Bush, it's that they support him because the alternative is worse. How sad, isn't it?

My only thoughts on your argument is this: gay marriage is an important issue to many people. The President of the United States is not afforded the luxury of examining one problem at a time. So yes, we are at war. Yes, our economy is in recovery from the ICU. Yes, we are rather dependant on OPEC oil. But I guess what I'm trying to say is this...

...why should it matter what else is going on? Mr. President has the right to bring up an issue he feels impacts the American people, and it would be rather foolish for any president to be unilateral in their approach towards the issues, choosing one at a time and ignoring the others, only to have them fester and grow as time passes.

My only thoughts on your argument is this: gay marriage is an important issue to many people. [/b][/quote]Then those people need to find better things to complain about. I think JG said it best to me in a debate about gay marriage a few months ago: "How are 2 men getting married in Alabama going to effect you?" I really thought about that and came to the conclusion that while I do oppose gay marriage, I don't think their should be any (ANY) ban on gay marriages whatsoever. -Pat

No, people need to realize that there are special interests in the United States.

I disapprove of gay marriage. There are more important issues, like national security. But since life does go on, and people need to continue their daily lives, even in wartime, it is not unusual that domestic issues come up. Nor do I think people shouldn't care. Otherwise, the economy, taxes, abortion, stem cells, and the plethora of other issues would not be even a topic of concern at this point and time.