Both sides are to blame for election vandalism

This letter is in response to Debby Trinen's letter of Oct. 19, 2004, in the Daily Bee. I agree with Debby that the person(s) who stole her Bush/Cheney signs from her yard are desperate and pathetic.

However, I want to level the playing field by telling of the vandalism we've experienced.

My mother, a Kerry/Edwards supporter who displays bumper stickers on her car, left her car window open a crack during the heat of August. When she returned to her car, someone had slipped a sentiment through the crack of her window onto the front seat of her car. This was some mumbo jumbo obnoxious pamphlet about how "all Muslims should be converted to Christians… blah blah blah. On the back of this pamphlet, this person had hand written a note stating that if my mom supported Kerry, she "needed help."

Additionally, my husband's Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker was ripped off the back of his car.

Now I don't believe that two wrongs make a right, but I do want to make it clear that there are also some Bush supporters out there who certainly fall into the (in Debby's words) desperate and pathetic category along with their candidate.

ANNIE FAGGARD

Sandpoint

Kerry's policies will be good for United States

Dr. Ivy's letter, and your positioning of his erroneous opinions about the UN's role in our national security, in a recent "guest opinion" clearly demonstrates the problems of the reality gap.

A majority of Republicans persist in the false notion that Kerry would subject the safety of this country to a UN veto and that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the attacks on 9/11.

Anyone who watched the presidential debates and/or has listened to John Kerry knows the truth. Kerry has taken a strong position on the president's responsibility to protect the United States. He knows that, while we must enlist the support of other nations to win the peace, he will never let the safety of this country be subject to decisions by others. The safety of the United States is the primary responsibility of our president. We need a president who has strength, and wisdom, to accomplish that.

During Vietnam, my husband was a medic who cared for wounded soldiers in a stateside triage unit. We learned the tragic consequences of believing lies told by a president and his staff. I am working actively this year to prevent that from happening again.

I am also working to help elect John Kerry because his policies will be good for the country. I am a nurse and I teach nursing. When 42 million people in this wonderful country are uninsured, when nurses are being laid off in Spokane because the hospitals are going bankrupt, when I have to stand in line with my elderly loved ones so they can get a flu shot, and when health care insurance is becoming harder and harder to afford, I know it is time to vote for a better plan.

I urge voters to learn the truth and vote for John Kerry.

JUDY L. MEYERS

Sagle

War was positive step

in the right direction

The war in Iraq, if finished, may go down in history as one of the best strategic moves our government has ever made. Some have said it was a big mistake to go to Iraq but look at just a few of the facts:

We've had no more terrorist attacks on our soil.

The terrorists are flocking to Iraq to fight. We are waiting there to destroy them, outside the U.S.

Thousand of innocents were starving because of one of the biggest world wide scandals in history (oil for food). The war stopped that and now the people of Iraq will reap the benefit.

The certainty of WMDs being produced for our destruction was stopped.

A nation's people are being freed. We've gained respect from the world that we are resolved to act for our own safety.

The 1,000 American lives lost was very tragic but they have not died in vain as have more of our youth (1,400 per year) that succumb to alcohol-related deaths at our own colleges.

The facts prove that the Iraq war was a positive step in the right direction, for the United States and the world. Let's get behind it and finish the job right.

May God bless the United States of America.

CHUCK WRIGHT

Clark Fork