John F. Youmans is a retired USAF major and a well decorated disabled Vietnam Veteran who served at Bien Hoa AB from 1966-1967. Mr. Youmans served 30 years in the USAF. Since his military retirement in 1993, Mr. Youmans has become a well published journalist and a reporter for the Daily Record in Dunn, N.C. for several years when forced to resign due to his health and disability stemming from Hodgkin’s Disease and Agent Orange. Mr. Youmans continues, however, to write articles for newspapers across the nation from home. In addition, he is a featured columnist for Military.Com and staff writer for several other Internet web sites including www.supportthevets.com, www.usdr.org and several others. Mr. Youmans has taken the task of advocating improvements for veterans’ benefits as a personal goal.
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I am convinced electing Sen. John Kerry as our next president is not only a right as a citizen of this great country; I think it may be our last opportunity to do so. We must elect a candidate that can beat President George W. Bush, and John Kerry is that person. In Vietnam I had no fears, but I am very afraid of the direction our country is now going.
Not only is John Kerry a strong advocate for veterans, he is a strong advocate for every American citizen interested in upholding our civil liberties and constitutional rights. He is the man to give America back its soul and to protect Middle-Class America. Corporate power and rich elite individuals are stealing our country.
Like Navy Lieutenant John Kerry, I volunteered to fight a war in Vietnam. I was a brave young man of 20 then, and not afraid of anything. I was told I was fighting for my country and I was very patriotic and proud, even if it meant making the ultimate sacrifice for my country. I was never afraid. I was nervous with mortars, artillery and napalm exploding almost constantly and I knew I could be the next target.
I am now 58, and I am afraid...for my country. Like John Kerry, I am fighting for America now stronger than ever. I am still very patriotic, and I see all the values of this great country I fought for in Vietnam disappearing here at home.
We have to win this battle before all of our rights and values as American citizens like privacy, free speech and honest voting are gone.
It has been 38 years since I was in Vietnam (1966-67) and I have learned a lot. I no longer take my rights for granted. I no longer believe everything I see on television, especially FOX channel and the likes of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, and I don’t believe what I read in newspapers. Most importantly, I can no longer automatically believe what I am told by my president and the Bush administration. And that is a shame. No, it is a crime.
The 9/11 attacks on our country were devastating and thousands of
lives were lost. At the time, however, it was boasted by the Bush
administration that the tragedy did spur patriotism to this country
to new heights. It did. And it was heart-warming to see all Americans
become united. So what happened?
This strong patriotism could have been used to make America stronger
than ever before, to new heights as a nation and as a powerful compassionate
world power solving world problems. Through a combined effort throughout
the world, working together, terrorism could be defeated. Trying to
do it alone without ruining the country would be impossible.
This great out-pouring of America’s patriotism was wickedly devised to reshape the very core of our country, to undermine the very values we hold near and dear and to chip away at our constitutional rights. It is being used to redistribute our economic gains to further enrich the wealthy and the corporate structure and impoverish the middle-class. We need to elect John Kerry to give America back to the people…to give America back its soul.
There are many conspiracy theories that have been spread around the world, but have not been proven. It is prudent to not believe them. But it is prudent to believe the truth. For example, a little research of the truth about the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), would be very enlightening. We need to elect John Kerry to put an end to it.
Mr. Bush and some select members of the Bush administration -- Vice
President Cheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary
Wolfowitz, Cheney's Chief of Staff, I Lewis Libby, Elliot Abrams who
is in charge of Middle East policy at the National Security Council
and many others -- believe in Middle East domination by force of arms,
controlling resources around the globe and maintaining a permanent-war
strategy. PNAC's chairman, Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard
is on this panel as well. These folks have had a lock on military
policy-creation in the Bush Administration. They are ruining the country.
ABCNews.com on March 10 wrote, "Were Neo-Conservatives’ 1998 Memos
a Blueprint for Iraq War?" The PNAC, was founded in 1997. Among
its supporters were three Republican former officials who were sitting
out the Democratic presidency of Bill Clinton: Donald Rumsfeld, Dick
Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz.
"And in a report just before the 2000 election that would bring Bush
to power, the group predicted that the shift would come about slowly,
unless there were 'some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a
new Pearl Harbor,'" the ABC article said. (Click
here to read the full article.)
Presidential candidate John Kerry
Another article states, "Years before George W. Bush entered the White House, and years before the Sept. 11 attacks set the direction of his presidency, a group of influential neo-conservatives hatched a plan to get Saddam Hussein out of power."
I am not making this up. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is
all being talked about openly by the neo-conservatives of the PNAC
-- who now are in charge of America's military and foreign policy
-- and published as official U.S. doctrine in the National Security
Strategy of the United States of America. All you have to do is type
PNAC into your browser to read about it. Do the research.
As written above, the Iraq war is an example of what is happening.
The Iraq War and the Middle East domination was being planned by these
neo-cons ever since the end of the Cold War. PNAC’s goal was to prepare
for the day when the Republicans regained control of the White House,
and hopefully, the other two branches of government as well, so that
their vision would be in place and ready to go, straight off-the-shelf
into official policy.
Within hours of the 9/11 terrorist attack, PNACer Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld directed his aides to begin planning for an attack on Iraq, even though his intelligence officials told him it was an al-Qaida operation and there was no connection between Iraq and the attacks. According to a CBS News article, "CBS News has learned that barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq — even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks. (Click here to read the full article.)
"That's according to notes taken by aides who were with Rumsfeld in the National Military Command Center on Sept. 11 – notes that show exactly where the road toward war with Iraq began," reported CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin.
"Go massive…sweep it all up. Things related and not," Rumsfeld said.
According to the Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2003, "Last February, the Defense Policy Board, a group of outside advisors to the Pentagon, received a classified presentation from the super-secret Defense Intelligence Agency on the crises in North Korea and Iraq.
Three weeks later, the then-chairman of the board, Richard N. Perle, offered a briefing of his own at an investment seminar on ways to profit from possible conflicts with both countries.
"Perle has a broad range of business interests. He serves on the board of several defense contractors and is a lead player in Trireme Partners, a venture capital fund seeking investments in the defense and homeland security industries." (Click here to view the full article.)
Voters need to be aware of why all our social programs are being rolled
back. Why they are intentionally going bankrupt or being eliminated.
Why we can’t afford a proper drug program for the elderly, why Social
Security is going broke ... The money of this country has to be directed
to fight more and more wars, and because income to the federal accounts
are being siphoned off in costly tax-cuts to the wealthiest sectors
of society. Middle-class America is paying for it as the rich get
rich and the poor get poorer. We need to elect John Kerry for president
to put an end to it.
We won’t have to worry about a shortage of volunteer soldiers though. Jobs will be so competitive and wages so low, a military career will look very good to many when compared to not being able to feed and clothe their families.
Our school programs are being short-changed, our state and city services are being chopped, our bridges and parks and roadways and libraries and public hospitals are being neglected, our IRAs and pensions are losing value, and our jobs are disappearing.
With the 2004 elections coming, it is imperative to get this information out to those able to hear it and understand the results of this foreign /military policy on our economy, on our young military men and women, on our moral position as a nation, on our constitutional freedoms, and on our treaty obligations. John Kerry has the experience and the determination to make the demanding changes.
Yes, I am now afraid. I am afraid of waking up some day, writing an
article like this, and being arrested because I am voicing my dissatisfaction
with Bush policy. I am afraid when I attempt to obtain a lawyer, I
will not be allowed one if I could afford it. I am afraid that there
is a little chip in my computer relaying every word I write directly
to John Ashcroft, the Minister of Fear in the Justice Department.
Almost every question asked about the Bush administration policies
are answered in terms of 9/11 and Saddam Hussein. Karl Rove continues
to utilize fear and hyped-up patriotism and a war against terrorism
as a basis for Bush policies and agenda. Ever notice Sean Hannity
of Hannity & Colmes answering almost all complaints about Iraq policy
by saying, "You mean the world isn’t a better place without Saddam
Hussein?" Or how Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter ridicule questioning
of Bush's policies and label them all as Liberal left Bush bashing?
At the top of the neo-con agenda is getting George Bush reelected
in 2004. This is needed to continue the roll back or eliminate all
the social programs the far right despise. John Kerry has to be elected
to put a stop to this before it is too late.
Our established social programs like Medicare and Social Security
are popular among most Republicans and Democrats in the middle-class
population. Why are those Republicans blind as to what is going on?
If the neo-cons are successful, all our tax money will be tied up
in wars, reconstruction and tax cuts. In the near future they will
be telling us, "We would love to fund Social Security, Head Start,
environmental programs, drugs for the elderly through Medicare, but
there simply is no money left after we continue to fight to get rid
of the bad guys. It’s not our fault."
But the rich will still be getting richer and the poor will be getting poorer. Just look at the looting of the Social Security, Medicare, Military Retirement Trust Fund, and all the other trust funds. They are bare. Is there a plan to replace these funds? No. Is the money looted honestly being added to our national debt? No. Why not?
According to John Fritz Hollings, the funds have already been looted. The site says, "Trust Funds Looted To Balance The Budget." It continues by noting, "The federal government manages its accounting books differently than any other business or institution. By borrowing from trust funds such as Medicare, Social Security, Military Retirement and Civilian Retirement, the federal government taps into those funds as if they were for operating expenses. In a private business, if you use the pension fund to pay for operating expenses, you go to jail, but that is precisely what the government is doing."
But it is acceptable to tell disabled retired veterans there is no money in the Military Retirement Trust Fund to pay them their full earned retirement pay if they are disabled.(Click here to read the full article.)
Yes, as a veteran I am supporting John Kerry. We have never had such a champion for the veteran cause in the White House. He was the first to boldly stand up for us this summer. He has, and will continue to bring about positive change in the VA. He can provide an opportunity for change we may never see again. The slight against America’s veterans must be ended and veterans must not be forgotten, especially by those who have never served. John Kerry pledged to be a, "Veteran’s Veteran as President, keeping vital promises to America’s veterans and military families."
More importantly, as an American citizen, I support John Kerry for President of the United States. As the campaign heats up and we hear the Republican rhetoric, more lies, and very little about the Bush failures, we must concentrate on what matters most to American citizens, our democracy and our futures. John Kerry will give America back its future and its soul.
"Join me in fighting for an America where the people are in charge," John Kerry said following the Iowa caucus. "I’m running so you will have a president who’s on your side and who will take on the powerful special interest that stand in your way."
Add up the deficit and the indifference of this administration. Count the cost that working families are paying while the privileged ride high and reap the rewards," John Kerry said. "Seniors have had their retirements stolen by Enron and Worldcom. We’ve seen a workplace where this president licenses a creed of greed."
John Kerry understands when he says, "Now George Bush has run the most arrogant, inept, reckless and ideological foreign policy in the modern history of our country."
I predicted months ago that Bin Laden would be miraculously located
and captured just prior to the 2004 election. Another Karl Rove idea?
Now the Bush media is advertising the same thing. Perhaps more Karl
Rove strategy to raise the level of patriotism in the country before
elections? Imagine what another national disaster would do?
Remember every vote counts, and count every vote?
Yes. I am scared. Not just for myself, but for every honest patriotic
citizen in this great country. It is imperative to the welfare of
this great country to stand up and fight to get our country back.
We have to put a president in the White House that knows what real
patriotism really means…a president who was willing to fight and die
for this country -- a president that can bring back integrity, morality
and honesty to the White House -- a president that remembers "Of the
people, For the people and By the people" ...John Kerry.
