EXCERPT FROM NYT OF OCTOBER 27:
ON JOHN KERRY:
In 1991, his arguments were passionate, personal, rooted in his Vietnam service. He began his speech by asking, "Are we ready for another generation of amputees, paraplegics, burn victims, and whatever the new desert war term will be for combat fatigue?" and ended it by reading from the antiwar novel "Johnny Got His Gun."
Published on the eve of World War II, the book, by Dalton Trumbo, tells the story of a World War I soldier, who has lost all his limbs, much of his face, his eyesight, hearing and speech. Alone in a veterans' hospital, he finally figures out how to tap his head in Morse code. His one demand: to be put on exhibit in a glass case in the world's parliaments as a barely living argument against war.
Mr. Kerry read the soldier's words: "I want to be there when they talk about honor and justice and making 'the world safe for democracy' and Fourteen Points and the self-determination of peoples. I want to be there to remind them I haven't got a tongue to stick into the cheek I haven't got either. But the statesmen have tongues. The statesmen have cheek. Put my glass case upon the speaker's desk and every time the gavel descends, let me feel its vibration through my little jewel case."
ABOUT A SOLDIER IN ANOTHER WAR WHO LOST ALL HIS LIMBS,HIS SIGHT,HEARING,SPEECH AND MOST OF HIS FACE. HE COMMUNICATED BY TAPPING HIS HEAD IN A MORSE CODE.
SENATOR KERRY, PLEASE SPEND ONE OF THE FINAL DAYS OF THIS CAMPAIGN AT THE WALTER READE HOSPITAL,VISIT WITH THE AMPUTEES (WHICH BUSH HAS NEVER DONE) SPEND ANOTHER OF THE FINAL DAYS ATTTENDING A FUNERAL OF ONE OF THE RETURNING G.I.S WHO DIED THIS PAST WEEK (SOMETHING THIS PRESIDENT HAS NEVER DONE}
PROPOSE THAT A POLL BE TAKEN OF ALL THE AMPUTEES OF THE IRAQ WAR. GIVE VETS WHO HAVE LOST 4 LIMBS 4 VOTES/ GIVE VETS WHO HAVE LOST 3 LIMBS 3 VOTES,
GIVE VETS WHO HAVE LOST 2 LIMBS 2 VOTES AND GIVE THOSE WHO HAVE LOST A SINGLE LIMB OR THEIR EYESIGHT OR THEIR SPEECH,ONE VOTER EACH. GIVE EACH OF THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS,MOM,DAD,SISTER OR BROTHER ONE VOTE EACH.
JUST ASK EACH OF THESE SUFFERING SOULS ONE QUESTION:
DO YOU THINK THE WAR IN IRAQ HAS BEEN HANDLED PROPERLY??
MAKE A SPEECH IN WHICH YOU GIVE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT HAVING VISITED THESE AMPUTEES AND HOW YOU FELT AT THE FUNERAL YOU ATTENDED.
PLEASE DO THIS SENATOR AND YOU WILL BE OUR NEW PRESIDENT NEXT WEDNESDAY MORNING
THANK YOU,