[Peace-discuss] Re: Peace-discuss Digest, Vol 6, Issue 50

[ppatton at uiuc.edu]

>
>Message: 1
>Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 12:38:04 EDT
>From: "jencart" <jencart at mycidco.com>
>Subject: Re:[Peace-discuss] The case FOR John Kerry
>To: aboutnik at yahoo.com, peace-discuss at lists.cu.groogroo.com
>Message-ID: <id.30072004123804.00000 at FPE>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
>Thanks for Kerry's anti-war list, Don.   But, unfortunately, 
the Kerry of today seems a different person from the Kerry of 
yesterday.... He speaks and votes differently, totally 
ignores his own exemplary anti-war history instead of being 
proud of it.  Also,  I didn't hear the word "peace" in his 
acceptance speech last night...... The pundits on 2 channels 
said it was a speech that could have been given by a 
Republican, prob because it was so pro military (and saying 
he'll reduce yearly health insurance costs by as much as 
$1000 per year, big deal.....) 
>
>What do you think we can expect from the Kerry of tomorrow?  
(Not that I think there's any choice re whom we vote for 
because we KNOW what we can expect from Bush...)
>
>Jenifer C.

Kerry may have reasoned that it was better to be a pragmatic 
politician, achieve power, and change things a little bit, 
than it is to be an idealist and remain on the outside.  
Although he has been a lukewarm critic of the Iraq war, 
and has a pro-Israel slant in the Israel/palestinean 
conflict, Kerry nevertheless does hold pro-peace positions on 
some quite significant issues. Unlike Bush, Kerry opposes the 
development of a new generation of nuclear weapons, and seeks 
an international ban on the production of fissile materials 
for nuclear weapons.  Kerry also seeks accelerated reductions 
of US and Russian nuclear arsenals.  This is also unlike 
Bush, whose Treaty of Moscow required only that warheads be 
removed from their missiles and placed in storage, but didn't 
require their destruction.  Kerry wants to accelerate 
programs to secure Russian nuclear materials, a vital issue 
which Bush has largely neglected.  Kerry is willing to engage 
in direct bilateral talks with North Korea about their 
nuclear weapons program, something which Bush has refused to 
do.  This info is available at:

http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_security/weapons.html

Kerry's website is strangely silent on the issue of National  
Ballistic Missile defense, so I'm not sure how he stands on 
this issue.
-Paul Patton
__________________________________________________________________
Dr. Paul Patton
Research Scientist
Beckman Institute  Rm 3027  405 N. Mathews St.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign  Urbana, Illinois 61801
work phone: (217)-265-0795   fax: (217)-244-5180
home phone: (217)-344-5812
homepage: http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ppatton/www/index.html

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the
source of all true art and science."
-Albert Einstein
__________________________________________________________________