Pubdate: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA) Copyright: 2000 The Fresno Bee Contact: http://www.fresnobee.com/man/opinion/letters.html Website: http://www.fresnobee.com/ Forum: http://www.fresnobee.com/man/projects/webforums/opinion.html Author: James Riley 'NO COMPASSION' Good for the Democrats, a ticket of common sense and realism for the future. I will not vote for Republican war profiteers. Another one of their puppets in the White House will result in more crowded classrooms and poorer schools. Look at the poor Texas and California schools. Overseas it will result in more wars on children. The oil companies have favored non-military sanctions against Iraq because they disliked the nationalizations of oil in Iraq. So their sanctions have visited disease and death on Iraqi children, who are not my enemies. I will have no enemies the military-industrial complex may dream up. Likewise, the failed conservative fantasy of the "war on drugs" has wasted trillions on prisons. We do not need more military fantasies like the trillion-dollar "Star Wars" game. We need therapy for drug users; it's much cheaper than prisons. We need books for children and more teachers and classrooms and more plain old love with a balanced budget. Conservatives have no compassion. The Vietnam War taught me that they were wrong. They are still wrong. James Riley - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk