Sen Leahy (12:25:39 PM): Hi Bill, this is Corey yelekarb (12:25:48 PM): good afternoon Sen Leahy (12:25:51 PM): The Senator is on his way :-) yelekarb (12:26:11 PM): Good...we are just reviewing his "card" with the kids... Sen Leahy (12:26:34 PM): Excellent Sen Leahy (12:30:51 PM): Hi This is Pat Leahy and i just got back from the Judiciary committee. Please excuse my typing mistakes but i still do my own typing on these chats. yelekarb (12:31:26 PM): Good afternoon...I have 71 fifth grade students who are excitged to chat with you...and I, too, am typing with errors.l.. yelekarb (12:31:49 PM): First question.... yelekarb (12:31:56 PM): Coming up Sen Leahy (12:32:11 PM): I remember when I was in 5th grade. I enjoyed it and i am sure the students there are happy to have such good teachers yelekarb (12:32:16 PM): How would you feel about kid representatives and senators? Sen Leahy (12:32:41 PM): Do you mean in Congress or in the Vermont legislature? yelekarb (12:32:56 PM): Washington... Sen Leahy (12:34:40 PM): the US Constitution requires a House member to be at least 25 and a Senator to be at least 30 so that would rule it out. However I have a lot of students as interns, Senate pages, legislative assistants and so forth and really enjoy having students from Vermont here . I like to think we learn from each other yelekarb (12:35:21 PM): What was your favorite sport as a kid? (no particular order to these!!!!) Sen Leahy (12:35:54 PM): I liked swimming and skiing - it meant there wasn't much to do in mud season! yelekarb (12:36:05 PM): What do you think about U.N. inspectors in Iraq? Sen Leahy (12:37:15 PM): I think we should have the inspectors there. THe US should help them with intelligence information to make it more difficult for Saddam to hide weapons. yelekarb (12:38:18 PM): Why can the US have nuclear weapons and no other country can? Sen Leahy (12:40:05 PM): Actually a lot of countries have nuclear weapons including England, France, Israel, India, Pakistan, Russia , China and probably North Korea. Most countries do not want to spend the money to develop them or have signed treaties not to have them. Russia and the U.S. have the most and we are reducing the number on both sides. yelekarb (12:40:56 PM): Okay...what is your favorite sports team? (and you can't say Tampa Bay...no Monday morning quarterbacking...) Sen Leahy (12:41:23 PM): Boston Red Sox - and if I live long enough they will win! yelekarb (12:41:39 PM): That was the right answer!!!! Sen Leahy (12:41:59 PM): Great - I'm not alone yelekarb (12:42:22 PM): In your opinion, what was the worst law that has been passed ever? Sen Leahy (12:43:28 PM): Over the history of our country there have been many bad laws. I think among the worse were the Alien and Sedition laws and the laws that legalized segregation yelekarb (12:44:12 PM): What is alien and sedition law? Sen Leahy (12:45:47 PM): During the time of President John Adams they passed a law that basically made it a crime to criticize the government. After a Vermont Congressman was jailed in protest of the law it was finally done away with. A totally unconstitutional restriction of the great freedom we Americans have - the freedom of speech. yelekarb (12:46:19 PM): Has there ever been a law that you voted for that made you unpopular? Sen Leahy (12:49:06 PM): There have been a number of votes over the years [e.g. some treaties] that were unpopular at the time I voted but later on people supported them. There are many things we vote on in Washington that are supported by half the people and opposed by the other half so a lot of votes are unpopular with someone somewhere. As a Senator I have to try to make the best judgement possible yelekarb (12:49:46 PM): If you were president, what would your feelings be about Osama Bin Laden and Iraq, and what would you do about it? Sen Leahy (12:51:18 PM): I would worry a lot more about Osama Bin Laden and his terrorists than I would Iraq. Right now the terrorists who follow Bin Laden are a greater threat to our country than Iraq and our first priority should be to capture him and his followers. I am afraid that our attention on Iraq may make that impossible yelekarb (12:53:19 PM): Then should we get Iraq out of the way or leave them alone? Sen Leahy (12:53:47 PM): I think it is a mistake to go to war in Iraq and I have told the President that yelekarb (12:54:38 PM): What made you decide that you wanted to be a U.S. senator? (and the teachers in the room want to know if you are eating lunch at the same time as you are doing this...) yelekarb (12:54:56 PM): And are alone right now or do you have help? Sen Leahy (12:57:06 PM): I am not eating lunch and will be lucky to get time to grab a sandwich before I leave this afternoon for Vermont. Your question did make me hungry though! I think I have wanted to be a U.S.Senator from the time I was a child. As a native Vermonter I knew that the one place in the government where our small state is equal to all others is in the Senate and I wanted to be Vermont's voice there. Sen Leahy (12:57:43 PM): I have a lot of people who help me in all my committees and subcommittees and help in the offices in Vermont. These answers, and the typos, are mine yelekarb (12:58:00 PM): If we caught Osama Bin Laden, what would you suggest we do with him? yelekarb (12:58:46 PM): and where do you think he is kinow? Sen Leahy (12:59:07 PM): He should be imprisoned and kept from organizing more terrorists. What we do not want to do is make a martyr of him. Too many suicide terrorists admire what they consider martyrs. Sen Leahy (12:59:17 PM): Time for one more yelekarb (1:00:14 PM): Were you picked on as a kid? Sen Leahy (1:00:17 PM): I think he is in the Pakistan area near the Afghanistan border but that is only a guess. His followers still get support from within Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan ond other places Sen Leahy (1:01:08 PM): I am six fout four inches tall now and was always big for my age. Didn't get picked on much but I grew up in Montpelier at a time when we did not have many bullies around. yelekarb (1:01:51 PM): Senator, thank you so much for taking time out of your day...the kids have a lot of excellent questions and concerns, and we appreciate the thoughtfulness of your responses...we are all giving you a round of applause and think you should go get something to eat!!!Thanks. Sen Leahy (1:03:11 PM): I am really impressed with the questions, they show the students are very bright and certainly have great teachers. Makes me all the more anxious to get back to Vermont today. Let's hope it warms up this weekend and we can ski. THank you
