As a former United States Marine

and Vietnam veteran, I cannot remain silent any longer! The Democratic

Party has campaigned for the right of Floridians to be heard, based upon

confusing ballots, uncounted machine votes, pregnant chad, etc. How then

can this same party deny overseas military personnel the right to vote

for the president of the United States, who will be their commander in

chief?

We just celebrated the 225th

birthday of the senior service, the USMC, Nov. 10, and Veteran's Day,

Nov. 11. Let us not forget that these servicemen and women are those special

individuals who are and have been willing to put themselves in harm's

way and ultimately give their lives for this country so that we can continue

to enjoy the freedoms and rights that we sometimes take for granted specifically,

the right to vote!

Now, Florida officials have

discarded more than 1,400 overseas ballots, most lacking a postmark (which

Florida law requires). Most of those ballots were cast by military personnel,

because federal law requires the military to mail absentee ballots for

free, meaning they have no postmark. Where is our sense of decency? Where

is our sense of fair play? Where is our sense of outrage?

Shame on you, Florida! Shame

on you, Democratic Party! Shame on you, Gore! And finally, shame, shame,

shame on any American that does not say, "Enough already!"

God bless America, and please

save us from our inept legal system!

H.R. "Russ" Gausman

Peachtree City