Saturday, July 31, 2004

DNC Roundup and a Revelation

My wife and I have been watching the Democratic National Convention quite closely. Mostly, because of the same reasons most of America has watched a little closer. Simply, hope. Hope that the way of life we should be able to work to achieve can be restored. It has been lifted right out from under our noses. We have been pulled through the ringer with blinders on. Mislead down a path that benefits about 2% of our nation's population. The only people who have benefited, from the Bush administration, are the rich and affluent. Bill Clinton had this country back on the right track. Blow job or not, he was working for a better America. An America for the people, the real people. People who have to go to work at 8am or 9am in the morning, get off at 5pm, and then go to a second job to try and help their family get ahead. Not just the people who get up and go to the spa, have their servants bring them food, and go shopping for a new Porsche in the afternoon. What my wife and I saw, was hope. That hope was John Kerry and John Edwards.
John Edwards, the son of a mill worker, knows what it is like to have to work for a better future. He knows what it is like to look at the future and wonder if it is going to get better. From personal experience, John Edwards brings us what Dick Cheney can not, hope.
John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam Vet, knows what it is like to stare conflict in the face. He has shared his personal experiences with all of us. He brought his fellow swift boat soldiers with him to tell their accounts of John Kerry's heroism. From his personal experience, John Kerry brings us what George Bush can not, hope.
From watching the convention on C-SPAN this week I can see the Democratic Party is strong and determined. Some of the speakers moved me and some did not. Ron Reagan Jr's speech about stem cell research, Teresa Heinz Kerry's speech about women's rights, John Edwards speech about his ideals and values, Al Sharpton's speech about African-American voters and John Kerry's speech about the state of the union and what he is going to do to fix it. They showed the unity and the strength in a party that we all have been looking for. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton's speech were also moving. An unselfish Bill Clinton grouped himself in with part of the problem and John Kerry's ways to fix it. Hillary Rodham Clinton showed why she will be a good candidate, in the future, for President. Let me also add, CNN's Chis Matthews on Hardball is an idiot. He cut off Al Sharpton's speech and cut in with how the African-American voters were being made to look bad by him. Funny, how Rev. Sharpton got applause after applause from the African-American delegates that were at The Fleet Center in Boston. I am sure that African-American's across the country liked what he had to say also.
"We are all in the same boat.", John Kerry said, during his speech on Thursday evening. I believe we are. A large percent of this country lost healthcare during the last four years and Bush let it happen. Not to get particular to my current situation, but until I contacted John Edwards back in April, my wife, our child,and I, could not get health coverage in our state of NC, of any kind. I am certain that he did something to help and now we can get the help we need to allow my family to have a chance to better our lives. I thank him and hope to get the chance to tell him in person some day.
John Kerry and John Edwards give us hope. They give us wisdom, strength and a direction this country needs to be on. My wife and I joked once, that if Bush gets re-elected that we would move to Canada. We are no longer joking.
This is the election that will decide the fate of the American people. I have said in the past that we are no different then the Greek and Roman Empires. They have fallen to ruin and so can we. I would like to believe that is not a possibility, but it is all too evident when your Commander in Chief does not read a CIA intelligence report. A report entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside America", because it was "to vague" (according to Condeleeza Rice), we have a problem. I would like to stay on top, as do many Americans. That would require change. In four short years, President Bush has destroyed all hope for our people and erased all respect from the international community.
We need hope and we can not do this alone. There is a definite danger with terrorism. I think though, this could have all been avoided. I feel strongly about 9/11, because I was just across the Hudson River, in New Jersey, while it happened. I was on the phone with my roommate, Eric, when the second plane flew directly over his head and into the second tower. I heard it happen. I watched it on TV. I looked out my window and saw the smoke billowing from the lower east side of Manhattan.
How could this have happened, you ask? Bush let it. An Uncle of mine in NJ asked me this simple question, "What would happen if a commercial airliner flew off course into Chinese air space"? The simple answer is that China would scramble Mig's to intercept the airliner and it would have to identify itself, get back on course, or it would be shot down. I am not saying we should have shot down the 9/11 airliners, but we never even scrambled planes until it was far too late. Let me also tell you this, China would not have waited over 30 minutes to get it's Mig's airborne. Bush let this happen. He had many opportunities to avert this event and he was to concerned with his vacations and his Saudi oil buddies. I think that there should be further investigations into what Bush and Cheney knew. If they knew, they should be brought to trial as conspirators and traitors. That is my view and my opinion.
Sorry for the rant, but 9/11 gets me emotional. People say they all felt the blow of 9/11 all across the country, but no one felt it more then the people who lived in NY/NJ and Washington, DC.
I ask you all to think before you vote, for it is a powerful tool. It can bring on change or it can stagnate this country even further. If you want to support the rich getting richer, blood for oil and corporate scandal (Just to name a few), vote for Bush and Cheney. If you want your lives to go in the right direction, if you want healthcare, and American unity like we saw after 9/11, then vote for John Kerry and John Edwards. I know my wife and I are, and I hope you do too.
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