Going Upriver - A must-see movie!

We just watched "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry". Anyone who at all doubts the veracity of John Kerry's service to his country, or the sincerity of his activism on his return from Vietnam, needs to see this film. The showings are at scattered theaters around the country, but you can download the full movie, and it is also available on DVD starting tomorrow (Tuesday, October 19). The download is about 650MB, so it will take a while, even with a high-speed connection...and it's worth the wait. I don't know if the download version is offered with the permission of the filmmakers, so we have ordered the DVD. Please do the honorable thing and support the filmmakers.

I've read John F. Kerry - The Complete Biography (along with other books and articles by folks pro- and anti-Kerry), so much of the material was not new to me. But seeing and hearing interviews with so many who were there with Kerry and seeing the news footage from Vietnam and from the activities after Kerry's return, made this much more powerful than just reading a book. Here is an excerpt of the movie synopsis from the official Going Upriver site:

The film traces Kerry’s early life as a young man who chooses to enlist in the Navy and to go to Vietnam. The film reveals intimate, first person accounts of Kerry’s war service through his own private letters, his eloquent journal, and the vivid memories of the men who served at his side. When Kerry came home disillusioned by the war, he and his fellow Vietnam Veterans challenged Congress and the Nixon administration. As Kerry became a nationally known anti-war activist, the Nixon White House plotted to discredit his leadership, but significantly could find “nothing on him,” as Colson reveals via Watergate tapes. Despite Nixon’s attempt to undermine John Kerry’s political career during his 1972 unsuccessful run for US Congress, Kerry persevered, eventually winning election to the Senate in 1984 and receiving the Democratic nomination for president in 2004.

The music was also quite stirring - at least to any of us who are old enough to remember Vietnam. I was among the lucky ones - I had a very low lottery number (I believe it was 19 - the draft was done by "lottery" based on birthday, and the lower your number, the sooner you would be drafted), but that was the first year that no one was drafted. My wife's brother was a few years older, however, and did serve in Vietnam. His experience there scarred him deeply and he took his life after returning from the war. 58,169 US military personnel died in Vietnam. My wife's brother was one of the uncounted casualties. And this is not counting the approximately 3 MILLION Vietnamese who died in the war, at least half of whom were civilians. Now that we've watched this film, my wife is planning to email her sisters and suggest that they also view the film, to better understand what their brother went through.

War is serious. War is tragic. War is a horrible affront to any respect for life. We need a president who understands this at the core of his being. We need John Kerry.

Jon Stewart on Crossfire

This is a great little video clip from CNNs' Crossfire on Friday night. Jon Stewart appears on Crossfire

Great editorial from NY Times

The New York Times today has an editorial endorsing John Kerry for President. Well worth a read.

Why I am voting for John Kerry

A couple of weeks ago, one of my fellow Tampa bloggers, Chris, objected to one of my anti-Bush posts. He suggested that we each list why we are voting for our preferred candidate. I agreed that this is a great idea. Chris has not emailed me his list, and I have not emailed him mine. I'm a geek, and I work a lot, and study a lot - which is required to survive as a geek. We make less than doctors, but just like physicians we have to study constantly to stay current in our field. Not wanting to blast out a list of one-line reasons with no explanation, I have neglected to post or email.

So I am taking time this evening to post a few of my reasons for voting for Kerry, instead of using the time to prepare some geek presentations for the upcoming months, work on my next magazine article, do some work that I need to have ready for Monday, and study for my next industry certification. Here's a start at the list. I hope to get more reasons listed with the supporting documentation - because I know that many others also have a tough time making the time to do the research. But all the needed information is available on sites like Vote-Smart, FactCheck, JohnKerry.com, GeorgeWBush.com, and many, many others.

No, Chris, I have not forgotten; I look forward to seeing your posted list.

Fiscal responsibility

Bush bad: The deficit this fiscal year, ending September 30, was projected by the White House to hit $455 billion. Next year's deficit is estimated at $475 billion. This is after having a record surplus of $236 billion in 2000. No other president has been so blatantly blind to basic fiscal common sense as to offer tax cuts in time of war. But Bush not only cut taxes, he cut taxes where it benefits the wealthiest people the most. Under Bush's plan, the average tax cut for families making over $1 million is $136,000 in 2004. I don't know about you, but that tax cut is a lot more than my family's total annual gross income, let alone what's left after taxes. And then there's the estate tax - which Bush likes to call the 'death tax' because it sounds more evil. What's evil is Bush pushing to make the estate tax repeal permanent, yet 100% of the benefit of the repeal is for the wealthiest 2% of the population.

Kerry good: Kerry has rightly criticized Bush's careless tax cuts and wasteful spending. Kerry believes that we can exercise much more sensible stewardship over our nation's finances. Kerry voted for Clinton's 1993 deficit reduction plan and the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Kerry has already pared back some of his plans to adjust to the increasing deficit as Bush takes us further into debt.

Healthcare - an easy segue from talk of fiscal policy.

In my family, we do not have employer-supplied health insurance. We pay for our own. My wife is on COBRA coverage from a place I used to work. She was on a few medications and had had some surgery, so BlueCross BlueShield wouldn't let us buy coverage for her on the policy that we have for my son and me - or on any policy. I don't know what we'll do when COBRA eligibility expires. Fortunately, I have a decent job and we can at least afford the medical coverage we have at present. But with healthcare expenses up over 50%, many families can't afford any coverage and yet don't qualify for the existing government programs. The Kerry plan would rescind the Bush tax cut to the wealthiest Americans and use that money to fund health insurance to cover all children and many of the adults that are not covered today (the estimate is that 27 MILLION Americans that do not have coverage today, will be able to have coverage under the Kerry plan). Additionally (I think this is especially sensible and a brilliant idea), Kerry plans to have the Federal government pay for catastrophic claims. This lowers the risk to insurers by removing these expensive claims. When you buy insurance, you are rated - assigned your premium - based in part on the risk pool in which you are placed. If the claims usage of that pool - the experience of the insured in that pool - costs the insurance company less, then you should have a lower premium. In fact, if your insurance is through BlueCross and BlueShield, they are typically required to pay a high percentage of the premium dollars (around 90%) back to the insured and the providers of healthcare, to maintain their not-for-profit status. This ensures that premiums are kept down to a rate that reflects the cost to the insurance company. By eliminating the high-cost claims, your premiums will go down. Bush won't allow folks to buy prescriptions from Canada. Although, now that there's a shortage of flu vaccine, he is now saying that maybe we could get some of the needed vaccine from Canada (can you say "flip-flop"?). Is Canadian medicine safe (as I and many believe) or is it NOT safe (as Bush has implied)? Kerry believes that we should be able to purchase medications from Canada, that the drug advertisements that bombard us today on TV, radio, etc, should be curbed, that Medicare should be allowed to negotiate lower drug costs. My dad went bankrupt after he and his wife both had expensive medical emergencies. I'm already paying over $500 per month for what I consider to be minimal health coverage and I know that many folks could not afford to spend that much. Something needs to change. Bush has not helped and Kerry has a real plan that makes sense.

Survival for low-income families

The last time the federal minimum wage was increased was when Clinton was in office back in 1997. It has remained at $5.15 since then, and Bush (and Republicans in general) are against increasing the minimum wage. What this means for folks trying to survive on this wage is that they have seen the purchasing power of their wage decrease by over 12% between 1997 and 2004 (it's decreased by 40% since 1968). These numbers are from InfoPlease, based on the numbers provided by the US Department of Labor. Bush believes that folks on minimum wage are in transition - that they need to improve their skills, get educated and get a better job. That is easy to say, when you've spent your life in a wealthy family. If you are born into a poor family, often the only option for education is to join the military. That's a whole separate issue (but related) - how the population of the military (like my nephews in Iraq right now) is disproportionately comprised of those who are trying to get money for college or just earn a paycheck, because they have no other options. But I digress. The fact is that it is simply a greedy lack of empathy and compassion that keeps some folks from wanting to raise the mandated minimum wage. Here in Florida, it is estimated that the average firm would have to increase its revenues by just 1/25th of 1 percent to fully cover the costs of the proposed increase of the state's minimum wage to $6.15.

Honesty and the Iraq War

Now, in terms of the individuals running for the presidency, I disagree with Chris' suggestion of "don't analyze the man" (in this post). As I have posted many times, I do not trust Bush, nor Cheney. If it was such a huge issue when Democrat Clinton lied about oral sex, why is it trivial when Republican Bush mileads America? It is not trivial. Clinton pissed me off. I didn't vote for him the first time, but I did vote for him the second time. For him to cave to temptation, cheat on his wife, and lie to America was a violation of the trust that I and so many had placed in him. But no one died from that lie. At least 13,000 Iraqi civilians and 1,100 US Military persons have died so far due to an invasion that was launched based on misleading and misperceptions, and has been exacerbated by the mismanagement of the Bush administration. And then there's the 7,700+ wounded so far. I trust Kerry far more than I trust Bush. I think of holding my newborn son literally seconds after he was born. I think back on that incredible moment and the infinite potential that was cradled in my arms. He is 20 now. I cannot imagine opening my front door and having two uniformed personnel convey the realization that my son had died in a war initiated on false pretense. I hope and pray that my sister does not get that knock on the door.

More issues I want to post about - and will - when/if I can make the time:

Energy

Environment

Degradation of the US Constitution

Personal rights for all people

Stem cell research

Additional links:

Endorsements for Kerry, listed on Vote-Smart

Kerry's Senate voting record

More reasons to vote for Kerry

Endorsements for Bush, listed on Vote-Smart

Kerry support in Florida

Ten of us met this evening in Brandon (Tampa area) and waved Kerry/Edwards signs (and Betty Castor signs - she's running for US Senate here) ...and it was great! Folks on their way home from work were honking, waving, cheering...MAN it was energizing! This is an area that some had said was heavy Republican territory. If that was true, it sure didn't show tonight! I tell ya, the support was fantastic. I am feeling very, very good this evening. And this was not any official activity. This is just democracy in action ...Steve (in the wheelchair) thought it'd be great to have some folks waving signs and just put the word out to neighbors and anyone who seemed interested. Very cool. Less than 3 weeks to go, baby!