pyronautica

( This is an e-mail I just sent to my mother.)

You would not have moved to Canada. (She voted for Bush.)

I'm still trying to decide how I feel about the outcome. I think if I were to classify myself under a party, I would be republican because I feel that if you are a hard-working American, you will find fortune and I believe very strongly that America is the greatest country in the world...I hate the welfare junkies and the unemployment stiffs...and I support our military... but these are the issues that I was most worried about when I voted:

1) Women's reproductive rights - I think that if a woman wants an abortion she should be able to get one. Birth control should be available confidentially between a woman and her doctor. Bush is against abortions, he wants to make birth control harder to obtain (Don't you think it's a little odd that Viagra is covered by most insurance companies but birth control pills aren't?)

Also, during Bush's last term, the number of abortions performed in this country rose by 34%. It's at the highest it's been for over 10 years. This is mostly blamed by the economic situation and what Bush is doing to programs like Planned Parenthood.

2) I'm a supporter of Gay Rights. I really find it hard to believe that if two men or two women love each other and want to get the same priviledges that heterosexual couples get, that the country will fall apart. I have gay friends, I have witnessed families with gay parents and they are no different from my straight friends or families with both a male and female parent. What's wrong with two people loving each other? Nothing.

I really believe that most of the votes for Bush were out of fear of homosexual marriage. If Massachusetts can do it, so can the rest of the country.

3) Also, most of my friends and coworkers are in college right now and because their parents make so much money, they get absolutely no support from grants or financial aid. We're quite familiar with that, aren't we? My coworker, ====, has been living on her own and supporting herself since she was 17 and now she's 22 and is still being penalized for her parents' income. My other coworker, =====, was taxed last year on a student loan that not a penny of touched her hand. The school got the entire thing. Bush probably isn't familiar with financial aid or student loans, and you know what, Kerry probably isn't either considering they went to Harvard ( Because their parents have money. ) and they were both members of the same Fraternal Secret Society.

My friend ==== from Seattle (Who happens to be one of my best friends.) went to Virginia Tech and studied Chemistry, she is so smart but can't find a decent job. She recently moved to Los Angeles because she thought that finding something would be easier down there, she wanted to make a new start, but you know what she does now? She's a stripper. She has so much debt and has to make rent and pay her bills that she can't afford to work a retail job like I can. Even if she had THREE retail jobs she wouldn't be able to survive. I cried when she told me. I cried. It makes me want to cry thinking about it right now. What's worse is she has no one to ask for help.

Who is going to help out the college kids when they're broke and unemployed after school?

4) Last is Health Care. I saw sooo much literature and information on health care for senior citizens but nothing about health care for younger people who just can't afford it. You know about my wisdom teeth and how badly they've been hurting me, and because of my job my knees have been giving me problems again. They were swollen to the size of soft balls the other night and I had to ice them with packages of frozen vegetables. But I can't do anything about it. I just have to deal with it until the day it gets so bad I can't help but go to the doctor.

My friend ===== has had inflammed tonsils for over two years but can't afford the surgery to have them removed or the time off from work it would take for her to heal. She's always sick because her immune system can only handle fighting off the infection in her tonsils.

My friend ===== has heart problems. I'm not sure exactly what is wrong, but he can't afford to have his prescription filled every month so he has to p ick and choose what days he takes his medication and what days he can't. That really can't be helping him.

Our country won't have much of a future if all of the young people get sick and die from Tonsilitis and heart problems because they can't afford a trip to the Pharmacy.


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I'm just really worried about the direction things are heading in. I know it's only four years, but when you're building a house it only takes a day to pour the foundation. I try to have faith that Bush will try his hardest to do what is right for ALL of the citizens of this country and I don't want to sound like a cry baby, because I'm not. If I met the president tomorrow I would shake his hand and congratulate him.

In my opinion, neither of the Candidates were all that great. They both seemed pretty narrow minded to me, but it was like trying to choose between Macaroni and Cheese or Hot Dogs for dinner when you've been eating nothing but both for the last 4 years. I wish London Broil or Filet Mignon had been on the menu.

I love you, and I miss you.
Brooke