John Kerry

Well, I'm younger than JK, anyway, and he's still looking great and going strong -- I look to him as a role model for how to get older without getting older.

The way I see it, the government is supposed to represent us, so we should all get involved and keep an eye on what our representatives are doing.

There's very clear evidence that the 2004 election was stolen. I know Democrats don't like to talk about it in public -- elected Democrats, anyway, because they don't want to appear ridiculous -- but I think the evidence is overwhelming. If we live in a country in which elections can be stolen so brazenly, with very little outcry from the press or from our elected representatives, why on earth should we trust that in general, the government is functioning well? It seems more likely to me that there are all kinds of forces at work in our government, including people who do not represent our interests at all. I think Senator Kerry is one of the good guys. But I like to know what, specifically, he's doing as one of the good guys. Occasionally he makes a mistake -- apparently the FBI tricked him or his staff into writing language into the cruise ship bill that had the opposite of the effect he intended. So I want to see for myself what he's doing for us.

It seems to me that there's a link between the fact that the government can pass all kinds of frightening laws impinging on our rights and the fact that civil rights are already being violated, not just on paper but in practice, in what is increasingly becoming a police state. I think it's all one package.

ETA: There is a record that JK introduced 2 amendments, but the text of them appears to be unavailable. I would like to know more of his thinking on this law in part because I trust his thinking -- if he thinks the law has been adequately fixed, I'll be inclined to heave a sigh of relief. His comments on the floor suggested that he thought it was better but might still have problems. I'd like to know more about what he thought were the problems.