Rating: 
Summary: America's Starting Gate
Review: I'm simply a Retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer who stands on a Firm Belief that we have some challenges to resolve. Our Nation needs to consistently move forward - in all directions imaginable. Progress requires Leadership. Accomplishment requires People Working Together.In 1996, well-known author, James Michener, writing "This Noble Land," provided us 13 questions he asked of the Nations and Communities that he lived in, worked in, and wrote about:
1. Has the nation been able to create a stable society?
2. Does the nation provide a reliable money system?
3. Does the nation have a political system that ensures peaceful transitions of power from liberal to conservative and vice versa?
4. Does the nation provide its citizens, especially the young, with adequate health services?
5. Does the nation provide effective schools, colleges, universities and schools for industrial training?
6. Does the nation provide free libraries?
7. Does the nation provide adequate employment opportunities for the young person as he or she approaches adulthood?
8. Does the nation provide a financial/taxation system that helps keep the difference between the very rich and the very poor at an acceptable level, and does it encourage the development of a moderately well-to-do middle class of entrepreneurs?
9. Does the nation provide churches for the moral guidance of its people and especially its leaders?
10. Does the society provide recreational opportunities?
11. Does the society provide access to museums, opera houses, symphony halls, theaters, parks, and zoos?
12. Is the nation able to balance the different cultural and ethnic and racial groups within its society, and does it treat all such groups equitably?
13. Does the nation provide an orderly system whereby the interests of the aged are protected from the ravages that overtake them? In my humble opinion, I truly feel that John Kerry, as he lays out his Agenda in, "A Call to Service," is prepared and capable to provide the Leadership our World's Citizens need to Move Forward and Work Together. From "A Call to Service," I willingly started a discussion group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/veteransforkerry and an international group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/veteransforprogress for Veterans of the Armed Forces of All Nations to openly discuss our World Community needs and, prayerfully, come together to propose working agendas based on our Community and Fellow Citizen's needs and concerns.
Rating: 
Summary: The Most boring book I ever read
Review: It had no meaning to me whatsoever. Just a bunch of left wing mumbo jumbo, that's all it was to me. I can't believe that we'll have to listen to this kind of jargon from both Bush and Kerry for the next SEVEN MONTHS! His vision for a better America is just as clear as the meaning behind a poem written by a "poet" high on drugs. Give me a break. If people think his war record is shadiest part about him, then they need to read this, because quite frankly I have no idea what in the heck he's talking about.
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Summary: John Kerry and the Logic of Human Life
Review: John Kerry and the Logic of Human Life
Now that the hoopla of the Democratic convention is over, it behooves us to think critically about a key plank of the Kerry platform-an issue that will not go way, even if terrorism receives more attention. Recently in the New York Times, William Safire wrote: "Here's John Kerry's position on abortion. He's personally opposed to it, and as a matter of faith he believes that life begins at conception. But he's unwilling to impose that faith on women who may not share it. It should be a matter of individual conscience, he says. This position, I submit, is a self-serving and obvious absurdity." Safire is right; this absurdity deserves some scrutiny with respect to both logic and consistency with the religious tradition Kerry owns.
First, if Kerry believes life begins at conception, he must believe that this life is human. What else would it be if not human? Would it be a vegetable? Would it be an insect? Of course, it (he or she) is human! Any biologist will tell you so.
Second, if that unborn life is human, as Kerry must claim, then this is an objective fact. Kerry may be trying to assuage his Catholic conscience (and appeal to Catholic voters), but this is not simply "a matter of faith" where faith means something divorced from publicly available reason and evidence. It is a fact of biology. And if one grants human life a unique and incomparable value, then that human life should be protected by culture and by law. Many abolitionists-in Britain and America-opposed slavery for deeply held religious reasons, but that hardly relegated their concerns to matters of private, subject, and socially irrelevant faith.
Third, a statement can be affirmed by religious people and acted on publicly in civil government without any "imposition" of religion on the state. The Bible clearly affirms the humanity and value of the unborn (Psalm 139:13-16) and prohibits the murder of the innocents (Exodus 20:13). Christians should believe this to be true and pertinent to the legal and moral culture of society. But The Ten Commandments also affirm that theft is wrong. So does our legal system, but this hardly makes America a theocracy. The First Amendment was never meant to bar religious people from contributing to law and public policy.
A wide variety of American citizens of various religions and of no religion oppose America's abortion-on-demand status quo. Why should their voices be silenced while the pro-abortion voice remains the law of the land? All law is based on some moral vision or is enacted to that end. In a democracy, people advocate laws that reflect their diverse worldviews. There is no reason why Christians-or other religious people-should not be participants in the public square, so long as they abide by legal procedures. Many religious people, myself included, are outraged by John Kerry's positions and do not want them emanating from The White House.
John Kerry voted against "The unborn victims of violence act." This act refers to "the child in utero" as "a member of the human species," and calls for separate penalties for injury to the mother and to the unborn child. This proves that Kerry's affirmation that life begins at conception has no effect on his politics and shows his true colors. He is not willing to consider even a viable unborn human being worthy of legal protection against violence perpetrated by someone other than the mother.
Not surprisingly, Kerry also advocates research on embryonic stem cells. This means that he endorses the creation of human life for experimental purposes. Human beings become merely means to an experimental end. What these experiments may yield is uncertain-and stem cells gained without killing human embryos show experimental promise. But the death of the human embryos is not uncertain.
Should a man with these illogical commitments be President of the United States? Should John Kerry be trusted to appoint two or three Supreme Court Justices and dozens of federal judges? Should John Kerry control federal stem cell research policy? Think about it-for God's sake and the sake of the unborn.
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Summary: "Trivializing the momentous and complicating the obvious"
Review: John Kerry is the typical Washington insider who talks, and talks and talks; yet seems to have nothing to say. He seems content to do little more than ramble off the old leftist rhetoric about oil cabols and evil adgends behind every single Bush plan. As far as ideas Kerry seems to have few. Of course we should try to work with foreign governments, but Kerry wants us to submit to them. sure he does not pharse it that way, but the idea of America asking anyones premission to act is absurd; the president, not the UN, is elected by the American people. Besides, who should we listen to, (to make ourselves feel better)the French? (the same ones trying to sell weapons to China and outlaw reglious expresions in their nation?) All the ideas Kerry puts forward can not Realisticly happen; they would futher hamper our federal budget (which is controled by Congress not the president anyway). Kerry is right that we should start decreasing the debt, and also right to criticize Bush for not pressuring congress yet again this is hollow on his part. According to most economic theories (and the current market) Bush has handled the nation well. during recessions, one is supposed to grant tax cuts and defict spend. increasing taxs now would only wreck the progress we've made. And what is he whining about, the seperation between rich and poor? Alas, America has become a materialtic nation that desires entitlements. The poorest Americans hardly even pay taxs and yet they recieve huge amounts of money from the government. And has the liberal war on proverty worked? One need look no futher than the incereses in provety, out of wedlock births, the decline in marriage, all of which led to a weaker culture and thus more problems for America. Kerry and those like him mean well yet are so blinded by their Ideology that they can not see what needs to be done. Kerry is not the man to led this nation.
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Summary: John Kerry is a very respected public servant...
Review: John Kerry is very honest and respected public servant. He thinks his countrymen before himself. He is very very intelligent person and he is FIT to be a President of the United States of America.
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Summary: Honor, Integerity, and Service = John Kerry
Review: John Kerry will bring honor and integrity back to the White House. He is a man of courage and will be a President for all Americans. George W. Bush is a failure and he has jeopardized this nation's future. We need John Kerry to get us back on course.
This book is a great introduction to what John Kerry stands for as a man and what he will do when he becomes President.
Rating: 
Summary: Go Johnny Go, Go!
Review: John Kerry's book A Call to Service is a basic overview of his plans to wrest our country from Bush Inc. He's got plans to help our environment, create jobs, a new clean fuel economy, and rejoin the community of Nations. Our country and world will again be safe when President Kerry is sworn in on Jan. 20th, 2005. We've had so many disasters since Jan. 20, 2001 and it's time to get back on track with a man of intelligence, depth, progressive worldview, and get on the road to peace and prosperity.
The whole world is waiting for November to see whether we will have 4 more years of disasters or a new direction. It's a hard road until then and if Bush wants to make national security a campaign issue Kerry has 3 words he knows Bush understands: BRING IT ON!!
Rating:
Summary: Complete Political Baloney
Review: John Kerry's book is a complete waste of time. It's nothing more than the usual self-serving, liberal, confused ideology that the left has been selling, unsuccessfully, for 50 years. Kerry offers the same tired liberal arguments that were proven wrong again and again by Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Who believes this stuff? For example, Kerry still refers to President Reagan's fight against the communist incursion into Central America in the 1980's, particularly Nicaragua, as an "illegal war." That "illegal war" lead to the freedom of millions who can now hold free elections, no thanks to John Kerry. And yet, Kerry claims that he wants "liberty and freedom" for all. Really? I guess he likes to talk about it but can't seem to do anything to make it a reality. I think Kerry's true views, especially on freedom, Vietnam and his fellow soldiers, are more accurately portrayed in "The New Soldier" (not "The "New War" which he is currently selling) -- Kerry's 1970 book in which he accuses his fellow U.S. soldiers, who were heroic in their defense of freedom in S.E. Asia, of "war crimes" and other attrocities without one shred of evidence. Of course, now you can't buy that book because Kerry doesn't want you to. He's fully embraced his Vietnam service now (and talks about it ad nauseum), since he feels he can scam some votes with it -- but was "ashamed" of his service in 1970. Who is the real John Kerry? It seems that he doesn't know either. The "Real Deal?" Try the "Real Sleaze." Kerry's book makes abundantly clear that he should never be president.
Rating:
Summary: Fresh air of sound thinking
Review: Kerry admits to the difficulty of defeating an incumbent president in the time of war, yet he demonstrates his strength and will to send Bush back to Crawford, Texas. He starts the book by enlisting his likeness and difference with John McCain that relates to fighting for America, then protesting against the war versus becoming POW. He made it clear that he is not a pacifist, nor is he hesitant to use military intervention when needed, yet with great level of diplomacy. He even commends George Bush for establishing American credibility for intervention against threats but criticizes him for dismissing diplomacy.
Kerry argues that both old conservative isolationism and today's unilateralist approach are eroding global American influence. He contends that the fast military victory in Iraq and Afghanistan are hollow, since they lack the diplomacy of winning the peace. He pounds on the fact that global prosperity has to be founded on respect and credibility in order to advance economic relationships with other states. He undoubtedly demonstrates that he is a new democrat with long experience in both domestic and international reform.
On the federal deficit, Kerry argues that Clinton's policy of disciplined spending, open trade, investing in public knowledge and innovation have all be reversed by Bush. The reckless spending on unnecessary wars and comforting the comfortable (by massive tax cuts to the wealthiest) have dissipated the surplus and endangers the welfare of this great democracy. On the open trade, Bush has created more enemies and thus undermines open trade. On advancing innovation, Bush has opposed progressive research based on religious beliefs, which have impeded science for the last few centuries. On investing in public knowledge, the secrecy of Bush' White House of stonewalling and hidden agenda hinders public participation in democracy.
Although, one might argue that George Bush has done a great job in bringing down two tyrannical governments, yet Kerry's claims that the absence of peaceful ending of these two conflicts is serious. He intends to promote democracy and prosperity in the Middle East in order to eliminate the causes of hatred and hopelessness that result from many unemployed young people. Yet, his greatest mistake is that he believes in securing a Jewish state in Israel at the expense of suppressing the Palestinians. While American Ideals separate church from state, Kerry is pandering the Jewish voters by appeasing Israel. Had America appeased nazism, communism, or apartheid, the world would have been a miserable place today, as it is chaotic in the miserable Zionist state of Israel. Kerry claims that the road map of the USA, Russia, European countries, and the UN is a fair solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict. Thus, he dismisses the aspiration of the real people, whose land was stolen by force, from determining their own fate. He accuses Arafat as an obstacle when he turned down the Camp David deal and dismisses the fact that that deal was entirely unfair to the Palestinians.
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Summary: Kerry is America
Review: Look whoever you are saying that "anti-war" demonstrators subsequently prolonged Vietnam, QUIT GETTING YOUR HISTORY FROM THE INTERNET. Yeah, you float around on enough Bill O'Reilly Tribute sites and you are bound to connect enough of their conservative jargon to believe it as real history. Behold the power of political rhetoric and consensus history...American Exceptionalism at its best! The Truth is, you have probably never been to war and neither have I. Try reading ACHILLES IN VIETNAM by jonathan shay. Then perhaps you'll understand what happens when a person goes to war. It's a historical and psychological continuity that always changes one's life. You disgust me...to think that Bush, a man that has never been to war, would make a better diplomatic decision over a truly decorated hero like Kerry? When a person studies history, they should always attempt to use Primary Sources, not the internet. Kerry and his book are primary sources for this country to base a decision on whether or not they agree with America's past. But Bush is not even a secondary source and has no credibility in war mongering. The proof is in the aftermath of Gulf War II. Here's some history: After the communist won in Vietnam, the country was in disaray and civil war consumed the country for decades. So the DOMINOE THEORY didn't even happen, yet there was the pretext for our foriegn policy. Where is your critique of these allegations??? Dominoe Theory, Weapons of Mass Destruction; both false justifications for false-wars.
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