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Politics : Hanoi john Should Be Court Martialed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (239)	3/7/2004 11:45:25 AM
From: PROLIFE	Respond to of 681

who cares about snap polls, armpit. What we want to know is: WHY DID KERRY MEET WITH THE VIET CONG IN PARIS IN 1971????

To: American Spirit who wrote (239)	3/7/2004 12:08:02 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 681

are we in economic democrap depression ? Rather than making people line up outside trailers, "most builders are choosing to make it a little more comfortable for their buyers," said Steven B. Alloy, president of home builder Stanley Martin Cos. in Reston and head of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association. "Most builders have gone to a different strategy for handling the housing crisis -- holding preview events, generally at hotels, which are the only places big enough to hold the crowds." His company, for example, drew names out of a bin to create a list of bidders for 43 townhouses near the Vienna Metro station. Robert Youngentob, president of Eakin/Youngentob Associates, developer of the Old Town townhouses and a number of other projects that have drawn tents for days, said the company does not want to inconvenience bidders and doesn't "encourage" overnight camping. He said he shuns lotteries because customers complain that they are unfair. Offering the homes on a first-come, first-served basis, Youngentob said, "seemed the fairest, simplest way of letting people have some control over their destiny." The firm's reputation as a trendy builder has preceded it at each successive opening, other builders say. Sales prices often have jumped by more than $50,000 from when the first units were sold until the next phase was offered. Such jumps can give a buyer a big profit even before a construction shovel hits dirt, which in turn intensifies the drive to be one of the first in line. "We tried to keep lists based on when people contacted us. . . . But because there's so many different channels by which people come to us -- by the Web site, phone calls and from our signage -- we've never been able to keep an accurate list," Youngentob said. "All the ways we've tried have resulted in some people being unhappy." Nina Goldstein, marketing manager for Winchester Homes, said her company first saw a camp-out 2 1/2 years ago outside a Burtonsville development. She said Winchester has been unable to find a solution that will not inconvenience customers. "We were doing the e-mails on Wednesdays and telling people it was first come, first served on Saturdays. But people started coming on Wednesdays," she said. "Then people tried to guess when the e-mail would come out and started coming earlier. Now we send the e-mails out on Fridays to see that not so many are camping out for so many days." The lines are not made up of people who would otherwise be homeless. In the Old Town line, nearly all were middle-class professionals, real estate investors or professional line sitters. The group spontaneously organized itself by drafting an agreement, with binding signatures, at an informal "town hall meeting." One rule, for instance, allowed people to take a break for "two-hour periods nonconsecutively a maximum of four times per 24 hour period." Another gave permission to sit in cars instead of waiting outside as long as the vehicle was within sight of the line. By the third day, people looked a bit haggard. Beards lengthened. "It was amazing," said architect Michael Amin, who held the No. 9 spot. "If you didn't know what was going on, you would have thought, 'Who are these people?' They didn't look like people who are qualified to buy a million-dollar house." Jamie Langlie, a federal employee who lived in a pup tent for two days in May outside an Eakin/Youngentob sales trailer at a $399,000-and-up townhouse project in Wheaton, said the line there also developed spontaneously. Langlie and her husband and adult children had been eyeing the townhouses for a while. They expected to start standing in line early on the Saturday that contracts would be accepted. But she drove by the development at 4 p.m. on Thursday and there were already people waiting. She phoned her family and asked, "'Well, how much effort are we willing to go to for it?' And since I had time off from work already, I said, 'Why don't we . . . get a chair and I'll settle in.' " Langlie said she did not see any indication that people in the line might have been paid by the developer. To the contrary, she knew some families who owned nearby restaurants in Wheaton. And she said the experience of chatting with "such a diverse group" of potential neighbors proved positive: "It left a lot of us feeling like we would like to live here." She did not consider her two-day stay inconvenient. The weather was fine and the atmosphere around the trailer was jovial. The fact that she ended up with a $427,000 three-bedroom unit makes the memory sweet now. Similar units are now priced at $590,000. Camping Out for the Chance to Buy an Upscale Home By David Cho and Sandra Fleishman Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, March 7, 2004; Page A01

To: American Spirit who wrote (239)	3/7/2004 12:11:41 PM
From: PROLIFE	Respond to of 681

nojohnkerry.org

To: American Spirit who wrote (239)	3/7/2004 12:17:16 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 681

NYTIMES labeled kerryboy as flipflopper -- Today washingtonpost: Kerry's decision-making has drawn both criticism and praise. Republicans and Democratic detractors have portrayed him as a chronic wobbler. In a recent speech, President Bush described a would-be Kerry administration as "uncertain in the face of danger," in contrast to the current administration's "strength and confidence." Kerry, then 25, captained a patrol boat on the Mekong Delta. One day, after taking fire from the Vietcong and after the boat's windows had been blown out by a rocket, Kerry spotted a guerrilla along the shore aiming a B-40 rocket launcher at his boat. Navy training prescribed an immediate retreat. But in a rush of adrenaline, Kerry made a snap decision. Impulsively, he beached the boat, jumped off and shot the guerrilla. It makes a great story. Except that's not quite how it happened. "It was completely planned," said Del Sandusky, Kerry's second-in-command. "He had a number of different scenarios. This was all in his head." His Vietnam crewmates agree, especially those who watched him charge the guerrilla with the rocket launcher. Kerry had discussed strategy with Sandusky days before, citing his motto in hockey and chess: "Offense is the best defense." So when Kerry, his jaw tight, signaled a sharp turn to port, the helmsman immediately understood. "I said, 'Oh, [expletive],' 20 times, 'here we go, he's going to do it,' " said Sandusky. "The bow was going to the beach." "No time to pray," Kerry said, recalling the moment. "I had to make an instantaneous decision. But it was not rash. In the back of my mind, I thought the element of surprise would work in our favor." Kerry was quiet on the boat afterward, Sandusky said, introspective in his berth that night. "He was sad. He had killed a guy." That day, and others like it, led to what Kerry described as the most difficult decision in his life: to demonstrate against the war he had just fought in. "It was difficult because of my feelings about the service and my friends who had died," Kerry said. He paused, searching: "But I thought it would save lives."

To: American Spirit who wrote (239)	3/7/2004 12:18:09 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 681

At campaign stops, voters expressed confusion: Kerry had voted for the resolution, but then criticized the prewar diplomacy. Was he for the war or against it? It gave his opponents an opening. Last month, a Democratic rival, retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark, slammed Kerry: "The American people . . . don't want a follower who makes decisions by licking his finger and sticking it up in the wind." Republicans also have seized on it. Kerry's Iraq vote, said Christine Iverson of the Republican National Committee, was just one in a string of reversals. Iverson said that Kerry voted for the USA Patriot Act, but now says it is an assault on civil liberties; voted against the Persian Gulf War, but later said he supported it; voted against the $87 billion for troop support and Iraqi reconstruction, while maintaining that he supports the troops and Iraqi reconstruction; and voted for the No Child Left Behind Act, which he now criticizes. "John Kerry's decisions are guided by political expedience rather than a core set of values," she said.

To: American Spirit who wrote (239)	3/7/2004 12:52:55 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 681

forums.nytimes.com

To: American Spirit who wrote (239)	3/7/2004 12:53:51 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 681

Open Letter for Senator Kerry Part One I received this open letter to Senator Kerry and post it for review. kittyhawkexpres - 6:28 AM ET March 7, 2004 (#2654 of 2681) Dear Senator Kerry: Since it has become clear that you will probably be the Democratic nominee for President, I have spent a great deal of time researching your war record and your record as a professional politician. The reason is simple, you aspire to be the Commander in Chief who would lead my sons and their fellow soldiers in time of war. I simply wanted to know if you possess the necessary qualifications to be trusted in that respect. You see I belong to a family of proud U.S. veterans. I was a Captain in the Army Reserve, my father was a decorated Lieutenant in World War II and I have four sons who have either served, or are currently serving in the military. The oldest is an Army Lieutenant still on active duty in Afghanistan after already being honored for his service in Iraq. The youngest is an E-4 with the military police. His National Guard unit just finished their second tour of active duty, including six months in Guantanamo Bay. My two other sons have served in the national guard and the navy. In looking at your record I found myself comparing it not only to that of my father and my sons, but to the people they served with. My father served with the 87th Chemical Mortar Battalion in Europe. They landed on Utah Beach and fought for 317 straight days including the Cherbourg Peninsula, Aachen, the Hurtgen Forest, and the Battle of the Bulge. You earned a Silver Star in Vietnam for chasing down and finishing off a wounded and retreating enemy soldier. My father won a Bronze Star for single handedly charging and knocking out a German machine gun nest that had his men pinned down. You received three purple hearts for what appears to be three minor scratches. In fact you only missed a combined total of two days of duty for these wounds. The men of my father's unit, the 87th, had to be admonished by there commanding officer because: It has been brought to our attention that some men are covering up wounds and refusing medical attention for fear of being evacuated and permanently separated from this organization... It was also a common problem for seriously wounded soldiers to go AWOL from hospitals in order to rejoin their units. You used your three purple hearts to leave Vietnam early. My oldest boy came home from Iraq with numerous commendations and then proceeded to volunteer to go to Afghanistan and from there back to Iraq again. My sons and father have never had anything but the highest regard and respect for their fellow soldiers. Yet, you came home to publicly charge your fellow fighting men with being war criminals and to urge their defeat by the enemy. You even wrote a book that had a cover which mocked the heroism of the US Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. kittyhawkexpres - 6:30 AM ET March 7, 2004 (#2655 of 2681) Open Letter for Senator Kerry Part Two: Open Letter for Senator Kerry Part Two: Our current crop of soldiers has a philosophy that no one gets left behind and they have practiced that from Somalia to the battlefields of the Middle East. Yet as chairman of a Senate committee looking into allegations that many of your fellow servicemen had been left behind as prisoners in Vietnam, you chose to defend the brutal Vietnamese regime. You even went so far as to refer to the families of the POWs and MIAs as Professional malcontents, conspiracy mongers, con artists, and dime-store Rambos. As a Senator you voted against the 1991 Gulf War, and have repeatedly voted against funds to supply our troops with the best equipment, and against money to improve our intelligence capability. I find this particularly ironic since as a Presidential candidate you are highly critical of our prewar intelligence in Iraq. However, you did vote to authorize the President to go to war, but have since proceeded to do everything you can to undermine the efforts of our government and our troops to win. Is this what our fighting men and women can expect of you if you are their Commander in Chief? Will you gladly send them to war, only to then aid the enemy by undermining the morale of our troops and cutting off the weapons they need to win? Our country is at war Senator, and as has been the case in every war since the American Revolution, a member of my family is serving their country during the war. Now you want me to trust you to lead my sons in this fight. Sorry Senator, but when I compare your record to those who have fought and died for this nation, and are currently fighting and dying, the answer is not just no, but Hell No! Sincerely, Michael Connelly February 14, 2004 Dallas, Texas