LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Kerry's testimony hurt all vets

A recent letter asked, "Who is backing the Swift boat ads?" Well, I'm 81 years old and I can't back them with money, but they do have my full support and my thanks.

To me, John Kerry is a real pair of ducks. He is a divorced Catholic who believes that life begins at conception, yet that abortion on request should be allowed at any time during a pregnancy. He feels he should be allowed to be our commander in chief because he served on a small river boat for a bit more than four months. When he returned stateside, he accused every person who served in Vietnam of unspeakable crimes. He has admitted that he himself committed atrocities.

I know that when he testified before Congress in 1971, he wounded every serviceman - and he wounded every serviceman's wife, parent, sibling and entire family. My son was in Vietnam at that time, and he served his full tour of duty. I know he did not participate in war crimes, but when I read what Kerry testified under oath I became ill. I am sure that I spent more time with doctors than Kerry spent with corpsmen for all three of his purple "owies."

Kerry should not even be a senator. He is certainly unfit to be president.

W. L. BARKER

Blue River

Keillor's commentary hit home

I appreciated Garrison Keillor's piece headlined "The GOP's platform of tragedy" (Commentary, Sept. 5). For those of us who can understand what we read, it was pure poetry.

MARVEL MEYER KUNKLE

Eugene

Bush remark distorted by Moore

President Bush's "the haves and the have-mores" comment has been quoted in at least three letters to the editor now. So, it is past time to put the comment in context.

According to online information dated Oct. 20, 2000, from CBS News and PBS's Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Bush's comment was made at the Alfred E. Smith memorial dinner held in New York City on Oct. 19, 2000. The dinner is an annual fund-raiser for Catholic charities and is a traditional forum for presidential candidates, according to CBS. The dinner is named after Al Smith, former Democratic governor of New York and the first Roman Catholic nominated for president.

Both Bush and Al Gore spoke at the dinner and, quoting CBS, they both "came well-armed with jokes, often poking fun at themselves." According to Free Republic's online transcript of the event, other politicians in attendance were Hillary Clinton, George Pataki, Charles Schumer and Rudy Guiliani, a mixture of New York Democrats and Republicans.

Bush's introductory remarks were: "This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite. I call you my base." Put in context, it is apparent that these remarks were a joke by Bush at his own expense.

However, in "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore chose to cut the film to make it appear that Bush was speaking in seriousness before a group of wealthy campaign donors. This is but one scene of many from "Fahrenheit 9/11'' where Moore intentionally deceives the audience.

JoELLEN SANDERSON

Eugene

Bush wrong on terrorism war

Current polls show that terrorism is of paramount concern to the American people. A small majority of respondents feel that President Bush would be a more effective commander-in-chief in the war against terrorism. But do his actions support this conclusion?

Our friends in Afghanistan have been abandoned, and the country has destabilized because our ground troops were sent to fight an unnecessary war in Iraq. Top al-Qaeda leaders have still not been captured. Our American troops are overextended, crippling our ability to respond to other worldwide threats. While the president insists we are not fighting a war against Islam, he continues to reaffirm his belief in Christianity in a public way, which only reinforces the popular prejudice of impressionable young Muslims that we are indeed fighting a holy war.

In fact, in the Aug. 2 issue of The New Yorker, an article by Lawrence Wright quotes a group claiming affiliation with al-Qaeda as writing to a London newspaper, "We are very keen that Bush does not lose the upcoming elections ... [his] idiocy and fanaticism" are useful for stirring the Islamic word to action.

I believe that Sen. John Kerry would not have made these mistakes. We need a leader who has the critical thinking skills and world view to dig us out of this quagmire. As a soldier, prosecutor and lawmaker, Senator Kerry has demonstrated these skills. To those who say we shouldn't change horses in midstream, I say we must, for the horse we're riding now shows no evidence of being able to make it to the other side.

JACK COCHRUN

Eugene

'Insensitive' war keeps killing

Since when has the word "sensitive" become synonymous with weakness? Does Vice President Dick Cheney consider himself a tough guy because he has no guilty feelings about an unnecessary war that has by now killed 1,000 young Americans and wounded upward of 3,600, many of whom suffered amputations? I guess it is easy not to be sensitive when the dying is done by other people's sons, husbands and daughters.

How do the president and vice president sleep at night knowing that this was a war of choice? Say what you will about John Kerry, he fought, he suffered and he knows what being in a war means. For Cheney to mock Kerry's sensitivity or reserve or prudence about it is offensive, considering that Cheney never served.

SILVIA KEENAN

Coos Bay

Global warming evidence spotty

Proof of global warming is not a matter of plenty of evidence, but of decades of certified data such as those recorded daily by U.S. Weather Bureau stations, available to everybody for the asking and a nominal fee. Unfortunately, only about 20 percent of U.S. territory is covered by the existing network, including islands, but few mountains. For higher elevations, data from the Federal Aviation Administration Weather Service can be useful, but are rarely cited by global warming proponents.

Support of claims to the existence of a worldwide phenomenon need daily data from a sufficiently dense, worldwide network of monitoring stations, over decades, including oceans which cover almost three three quarters of the Earth's surface. That's a very tall order. Shortcuts such as observations of arctic sea ice coverages cannot make up for the paucity of data required for scientifically acceptable proof. To date, the evidence is rather spotty, and therefore insufficient.

FRED WALTER

Cottage Grove

U.S. can't install democracies

Out of many competitors, perhaps the greatest reason to relieve the president from his command come November is the grave and growing danger we face consequential to his incomplete understanding of democracy.

In spite of the irrefutable errors of fact that were used to support the threatened weapons of mass destruction and the Saddam Hussein-al-Qaeda link, President Bush continues to defend his premeditated, unprovoked war on Iraq in the name of having brought democracy to its people.

Yet true democracy cannot be imposed from without. History shows that it must be grown from within, slowly and over generations. Democracy is not some gift, packaged and perfect, simply given by America to the yearning and ignorant throughout the world.

One especially cannot simply install secular democratic political systems in a region where centuries of religious and tribal traditions have held rule. Believing one can only confirms the willful ignorance that many of the 95 percent of humanity beyond our water's edge accuse us of having towards them.

Assertions of "mission accomplished" notwithstanding, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are still young. In Iraq, an insurgency grows. In Afghanistan, the Taliban is regrouping.

The president's folly in Iraq was waged at the expense of completing the job in Afghanistan and has left Americans more vulnerable to attack. In both nations, we now face the awful choice of getting out or increasing troops. Good thing our choice in November is not so difficult.

TODD HUFFMAN

Eugene

Ministers free to preach politics

Russ DesAulnier (letters, Sept. 2) accused church leaders of ignoring the separation of church and state, accused the Bush administration of committing "scores of injustices" and accused Bush's Christian allies of being disinterested in moral issues.

DesAulnier stated that Christian church leaders intentionally ignore the separation of church and state by urging their congregations to vote for Bush. First of all, there is nothing unconstitutional about a minister preaching to his congregation about politics. If that were not allowed, freedom of speech would be infringed upon. Politicians have always made appearances at churches and religious rallies. It is only when these events turn into fund raisers that a problem arises.

Was Al Gore trying to create a theocracy at a Buddhist temple in Los Angeles on Jan. 2, 1996? DesAulnier states that the Bush administration has committed "scores of injustices here and abroad" but offers not a single example. He then goes on to say that Bush's Christian allies don't give a hoot about those moral issues, but only focus on their agenda on stem cell research, abortion and gays. Last time I checked, those are all moral issues.

DesAulnier concludes by saying that Christian leaders have narrow vision and that Bush's wealthy constituency has plundered the people. Again, he provides not a single example. DesAulnier should read the First Amendment to see what it says about church and state. Until he does, he should really keep his pen idle.

MATTHEW SHEPARD

Eugene