From the Deck of Hawker Hurricane

[HawkerHurricane]

From the Deck of Hawker Hurricane

Of Sailors and Politics
(And hopefully not repeating myself)

Last time I wrote a 'From the Deck', I mentioned my three friends, who I nicknamed Sparks, Guns and Fire after thier Navy jobs. I've been talking to them (and others) some more, and it's looking better and better...

Sparks, the only true Republican of the three, openly called Bush "an idiot". I told him once in the past that he always supported Republicans and only claimed to like Democrats who were safely out of office. This annoyed him, but he couldn't name a single Democrat currently running who he would vote for President. So I asked him: Are thier any Democrats you would vote for?
His answer shocked me: Feinstein and Clark.
It shocked me because back in 1998, he cursed Feinstein's name for winning a senate seat here in California. 'But since then, she's shown that she's not some maniac left winger' he tells me.
And his favorite Republican who's not running? Christine Whitman.
So, the good news there is that Bush is not getting his vote in 2004. The bad news is that unless Clark runs, the Democrats aren't getting it either. And no, he won't be voting green, he'll probably go with Constitutional Union or Libertarian.

Guns, who voted for Perot in '92, Clinton in '96, and Bush in '00 says he deeply regrets his vote for Bush. He feels that Gore might have taken a month longer to 'Get' the Taliban in Afghanistan, but he wouldn't waste out time with Saddam and Iraq... And on every other measurement, Gore would be better than Bush. He's voting for 'Any Democrat' in '04, unless they nominate LaRouche. I'm with him, I wouldn't vote for LaRouche for anything.

Fire, good Catholic that he is, will not vote for Bush again either: There is more to politics than the Abortion issue, and Bush is on the wrong side of all of them. Besides, he says, 'bad economy and poverty is causing more abortions, therefore anything that helps those things help my cause too.' He seems to have softened on the issue, to the point of wanting it minimized without having to ban it (if that makes sense). So he's voting Democrat also, but unlike the rest of us he's still registered in his 'home' state of Missourri. (Military men can vote in thier 'home of record' vice where they are living, hence all the absentee ballots, even from people in the US).

Now, a co worker, who I'll call 'Wheel'...
Wheel is a good Christian (non-fundie), slightly younger than me and we work together daily. He's of the opinion that Bush is a disaster for this country; that the War in Iraq was a waste of time, money and lives, and that if Clinton could be impeached for lying about his sex life than Bush should be impeached for lying about the war. Another Bush vote gone.

Last and least, our resident Freeper has decided to leave the service. Rather than re-enlist, he's done his four and out, going home and getting back in 'the real world'. The only man onboard who vocally supported the war in Iraq has decided that he never wants anything to do with the military again, rather than risk being sent back. I'll miss him, for his easy to refute emails made him the laughing stock of the command, and the main weapon in my arsenal to convert the ignorant from Bush Worship. He left, questioning my patriotism once more...which I responded "I've done 20 years of service to my country, you are bailing out after 4...which one of us is the patriot again?"

So, out of 5 stories, I've got 4 with good news. I'm on a roll.

Now if I can just get my cousin "Coastie" to admit his error, I'll be all set.

And I remain

Hawker Hurricane
PO1, USN
Leading Chemical Weapon Detector
Taking deep breaths, in San Diego Harbor