John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 1

This post is a continuation of a subject I've mentioned before here, here, here, and here. I changed my mind about just updating my last post on this subject periodically. I don't want the newer stuff to be overlooked at the bottom of an older post.

-------------------------

That Swift Boat Vets video has the Democrats sweating, as well it should. Human Events Online has a copy of the letter the DNC's lawyers have been sending to television stations around the country trying to scare them out of showing it. John Cole has more on the DNC counterattack, with plenty of useful related information; click here and here. John at Castle Argghhh! has a copy of John O'neill's letter to the station managers, which refutes the claims in the DNC lawyers' letter by revealing some information that, if the DNC hadn't tried to squelch the truth, wouldn't have become public before the release of Unfit for Command.

On a related note, click here to learn how to get a free copy of one chapter of Unfit for Command.

So, at this point we (those of us who've read everything I linked to in this and my previous posts) know that John Kerry lied to get not only his first Purple Heart, but his third one as well. By that time the people he worked for were so fed up with his poor attitude and performance that they went along with the game to get rid of him before he got some good people killed. We also know there is good cause to doubt whether he deserved his Bronze Star and Silver Star or distorted the facts to get those as well. We also know (some of us have known for over 30 years), that he lied to Congress and the American people when he came back from Vietnam. I have to wonder what else we're going to find out he lied about when Unfit for Command hits the streets.

The Low-Life Son Of A Bitch lied to get out of Vietnam early, lied to Congress, lied to the American public, and now he wants us to admire him for his performance in Vietnam. Why should I take that so personally? Let me explain:

1. If I'd gotten back from Vietnam after only four months, I might very well still be married to my little girl's mother.
2. If John Kerry and his ilk hadn't convinced my little girls mother (and a lot of other people) that every G.I. in 'Nam was committing crimes against humanity just be being there, I might very well still be married to my little girl's mother.
3. If the U.S. Congress hadn't decided it was time to cut and run, due in no small part to the lies of John Kerry and his co-conspirators in Vietnam Veterans Against The War, I wouldn't still be afraid to wonder what happened to Sgt. Vinh and my other Vietnamese friends this country left to their fate. Vietnamization was working. Victory was within our grasp, and we left without finishing the job.

So now the stupid son of a bitch wants us to trust him to be in charge of dealing with the Islamic radicals who'd like to kill every non-Muslim in the world. He has a plan. All we have to do is trust him. I just can't see it.

Any questions?

John Kerry: Unfit for Command

This post is a continuation of a subject I've mentioned before here, here, and here. From now on, instead of creating new posts on the subject I'll update this one and move it to the top of my blog anytime I run across something else relevant.

-------------------------

Actually, "war hero" John Flipper Kerry was against the Vietnam War before he was for it, before he was against it again. According to a 2-18-1970 article in the Harvard Crimson:

At Yale, Kerry was chairman of the Political Union and later, as Commencement speaker, urged the United States to withdraw from Vietnam and to scale down foreign military operations. And this was way back in 1966.

When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy.

I don't guess I can complain too much about Kerry having joined the Navy to stay out of the Army. I joined the Air Force for the same reason. After 6 months in 'Nam I got bored with pushing paper, volunteered for an Aerial Port Mobility Team, and found enough genuine excitement to last me a lifetime. Kerry on the other hand, ended up on the sharp end of the stick by accident. From a 6-16-03 Boston Globe article, (which cheerfully tells Kerry's version of some things a lot of people who knew him back then remember differently [no one has disputed this portion of the article]):

Kerry initially hoped to continue his service at a relatively safe distance from most fighting, securing an assignment as [a] "swift boat" skipper. While the 50-foot swift boats cruised the Vietnamese coast a little closer to the action than the Gridley had come, they were still considered relatively safe.

"I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a little-noticed contribution to a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing."

But two weeks after he arrived in Vietnam, the swift boat mission changed -- and Kerry went from having one of the safest assignments in the escalating conflict to one of the most dangerous. ...

So, when Kerry ended up in combat despite his best efforts, he gritted his teeth and performed admirably, right?

Not according to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who produced the video everyone's talking about.

Not according to John O'Neill, a U. S. Naval Academy graduate who took over command of ("Swift Boat") PCF-94 after John Kerry "earned" three Purple Hearts and was allowed to terminate his Vietnam tour early. Mr. O'neill told The Wall Street Journal:

He doesn't deserve to be commander in chief.

***

Today, America is engaged in a new war, against the militant Islamist terrorists who attacked us on our own soil. Reasonable people may differ about how best to proceed, but I'm sure of one thing -- John Kerry is the wrong man to put in charge.

John O'neill's and Dr. Jerome Corsi's new book Unfit for Command ... is currently #1 on Amazon.com's Best Sellers list.

Among numerous other questions raised about Kerry's performance in Vietnam, there are also questions about whether he was honestly entitled to all of the three Purple Hearts that enabled him to come home early.

In an excerpt from their book made available in a a Human Events Online article Mr. O'neill and Dr. Corsi say:

Kerry sought a Purple Heart after he fired a grenade from too-close range into a shoreline where it exploded, sending a small piece of shrapnel back to slightly wound his arm.

Purple Hearts are not knowingly awarded for injuries that do not result from enemy action. Again quoting from the Human Events Online article:

Kerry's boat did not come under enemy fire the night Kerry received this minor wound, the authors say. Kerry did not require hospitalization or even a single stitch for it. And Kerry's commanding officer refused Kerry's request that the officer recommend Kerry for a Purple Heart as a result of the incident.

***

Retired Navy Commander Grant Hibbard, who headed the Naval division to which Kerry was assigned, also spoke to the authors on-the-record. ... "The next morning at the briefing, I was informed that no enemy fire had been received on that mission." said Hibbard.

***

The authors asked Hibbard if Kerry wanted Hibbard to recommend him for a Purple Heart. "Yes, that was his whole point," said Hibbard. "He had this little piece of shrapnel in his hand. It was tiny. I was told later that Kerry had fired an M-79 grenade and that he had misjudged it. He fired it too close to the shore, and it exploded on a rock or something. . . . I told Kerry to 'forget it.' There was no hostile fire, the injury was self-inflicted for all I knew, besides it was nothing really more than a scratch. Kerry wasn't getting any Purple Heart recommendation from me."

When asked how Kerry did get a Purple Heart for the incident, Hibbard told the authors: "I don't know. It beats me. I know I didn't recommend him for a Purple Heart."

I realize there are always two sides to every story. The best way I know to point that out in this case is this Snopes article.

For an interesting (to say the least) take on the action for which Kerry was awarded his Silver Star, check out this link.

The always fair and ever prolific Prof .Glenn Reynolds posts updates on this topic every day or two, and is always worth a visit.

My Blogging Family

My little girl has rediscovered blogging and started posting about everything from cats and my grandson to stem cell research and how much she'd like to see John Flipper Kerry win the election. Learn more about it at http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=willowfae.

My oldest nephew, Lt. Robbie Faith, is an Air Force officer currently stationed at Lajes Field in the Azores. Stop by to say "Hi" at http://www.robbiefaith00.blogspot.com/.

Robbie's sister Brandi completed her sophomore year at Northwestern and promptly left for an exchange student semester in Argentina. I helped her start a blog before she left and made her promise to keep us up to date, and she's doing it! Learn all about life as an American student in Buenos Aires at http://brandijean02.blogspot.com/.

Needless to say, there are pictures of Heather, Robbie, and Brandi on my web site.

(Insert sound of shirt buttons popping as chest swells with pride.)

A Quiet Slap in the Face to Wendy's

From A Modern American, via Showcase:

Remember when John Kerry and John Edwards ate at Wendy's with their wives? According to the New York Post, it was just a photo op. The food that they really ate was ordered from the Newburgh Yacht Club the night before, to be picked up while the group was at Wendy's. I guess they just couldn't eat normal food.

[Modern American made some minor changes to his post after Showcase picked it up. The version above is from the revised version.]

DO. NOT. MISS. THIS. VIDEO !

Infidel Cowboy linked to this video in his post that I excerpted below, and I know there are dozens of other links to it on the net already, but if for some reason you haven't watched it yet, WATCH IT NOW. Learn what the men who served with "hero" John Kerry in Vietnam think of him. Think about that the next time he mentions Vietnam and tries to claim that having been there somehow qualifies him to be Commander in Chief of our nations armed forces.

Hell, people, I was in 'Nam over twice as long as Kerry was. People tried to kill me. Pure blind luck kept me from being on a C-130 that no one walked away from. I guess that means I should be running for office instead of Kerry. The difference is I'm honest enough to admit I'm not smart enough to be in charge. Kerry isn't either, but for him honesty has nothing to do with it.

Four months, three Band-Aids, and the stupid S.O.B. thinks we're supposed to worship him. Oh, I forgot, he has a secret plan to get us out of Iraq! All we have to do is trust him. Remember Nixon's secret plan for getting us out of Vietnam?

Updates:

The script for the video is available here, but you really need to watch it to truly understand.

Clarification 1: (for the younger crowd that might not remember) Most of us never did figure out what Nixon's secret plan was. He might have had one, and it might have worked if people like John Kerry and Walter Cronkite hadn't convinced a sizable portion of the American public that it was time to cut and run. Congress used their budget authority to force Nixon to start withdrawing troops before it made sense to, then cut off logistical support to the South Vietnamese and abandoned them to their fate.

Clarification 2: I came home from 'Nam 3 months short of being there a year, due to the congressionally-mandated troop withdrawal.

Swift Justice?

Infidel Cowboy, who's even newer to blogging than I am, beat me to something I hadn’t gotten around to yet, and did an excellent job with it.

If this gets much play, it may be one of the most devastating political ads ever made.

***

As I said, Kerry has served his country in war. Whether that service merits the claims he makes now about his fitness to lead is the question. The answer for those he served with is overwhelmingly NO. Part of what makes this ad so devastating is the lead in from John Edwards saying you should ask his fellow vets if you want to know what kind of man Kerry is. You have to wonder why they are doing this now, don't you? I think I know the reason.

***

Go there. Read the whole thing. Then add him to your blogroll and go back everyday.

Corny Campaigning

Some people talk a good fight:

Others just roll up their sleeves and get the job done:

ANTI-TERROR TO-DO LIST

Today’s New York Post contains an excellent Michelle Malkin article about four things that we need to deal with soon:

1. Tracking trucks and tankers

2. Profiling hazmat drivers

3. Monitoring ammonium nitrate sales

4. Border security

Read the whole thing.

An Open Letter

An open letter to our country's Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen, and especially to my nephew, Lt. Robert L. Faith, Jr., USAF.

What can I say? Ladies, Gentlemen, and genuine Hell-Raisers, I salute you. I’m not a gifted writer. Please accept my humble efforts as proof that I care.

Some of you were committed to enlistment contracts and already in uniform before 9/11. To you I say: Thank you for not running and hiding. Some of you, like my nephew Robbie, still had a choice when it became clear that you were signing up to fight. An extra thank you to you.

Robbie, you’ll never know how proud you made me the night in October of 2001 when we discussed how the world had changed and you made it clear that you’re plans hadn’t changed in the least. It scares the Hell out me knowing that the little boy I taught to tiptoe up on baby rabbits (You probably don’t remember, but I do.) is now in uniform and has a damned good chance of ending up in a war zone before the dust settles. Be safe, please.

I know what Vietnam cost those of us who went there and did what our country asked of us. Three boys men from my little home town didn’t come home. My cousin, Scott Parker, survived numerous firefights, then came home to die of lung cancer caused by four packs of cigarettes per day. His name isn’t on The Wall, but it should be. In some cases, mine included, worse harm was done back home by John Kerry and his ilk than anything the war threw at us. I spent most of my time in country pushing papers, dodged a little shrapnel a few times, and came home physically intact; my marriage to a woman I still love dearly took mortal wounds while I was gone. Some people come home from a war with scars on their bodies; some of us came home with scars on our souls.

There’s nothing I can do for those of your generation who will die from bullet wounds and shrapnel. I pray that number won’t be any bigger than it has to be. Please know and believe that if I could trade places with you I would. I’ll do everything I can, with this letter, my prayers, and my small presence on the web, to minimize the emotional scars I know some of you will come home with. Please, ignore the Michael Moores and the latter-day John Kerrys of the world. They aren’t fit to shine your shoes. Know that most of your nation appreciates you and prays for you.

What else is there to say? More gifted writers might think of something, but I can’t. I salute you. You’re in my prayers. THANK YOU.

Bill Faith

Let Our Troops Know You Care

If you have time to read this, you have time to read:
SlagleRock's Slaughterhouse: Letters To The Troops (Help From All Bloggers). Go there, now, and get busy. The post above this one will be my humble contribution to this noble effort.

Just Taking Some Time To Brag

"Daddy's little girl" with her little man

Click the picture for a larger view or click here for a lot more.

Have You Forgotten? Has John Kerry?

From lgf: A Small Victory - Posters :

Michele and Lisa have kindly made their “Have You Forgotten?” poster available for download in several sizes: A Small Victory - Posters.

The posters are based on the LGF slideshow I linked to in an earlier post.

Yet, Kerry assured us in his acceptance speech that:

I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response.

I guess the 9/11 thing didn't count.

Who I'd really like to vote for

Some people might get the impression from things I've posted that I'm a staunch Republican, and I'm not. I'm not really all that happy with either of the choices in this fall's election; Kerry just scares me worse than Bush. If I thought Kerry would handle the war on terror right I could probably ignore the fact I've hated him for over 30 years. Actually, if I didn’t consider a Kerry presidency such a terrible idea, I’d write in Joseph Lieberman for President and Zell Miller for V.P. (and they’re both Democrats!) But I can’t. What if I did and Kerry carried Illinois by one vote? Even if Kerry wins Illinois, I’m tired of hearing about how Gore won the popular vote, and I don’t want to listen to four more years of whining from people who don’t understand why we use an Electoral College and not a direct popular vote.

Disappointment -- !! NOT !!

Is it time for some damage control? I hope not, but if it is I hope it’s not too late.

An excerpt from my beautiful, very intelligent, adult daughter’s blog:

I have a confession to make, which I am sure will have my very intelligent and very passionate Vietnam Veteran father shaking his head in disappointment.

I am a pacifist.

***

I DO understand that everyone can't be that way, and I AM grateful for those who fight to defend me and my freedom. I did not complain when Bush attached Afghanistan because I saw it as a matter of self defense.

But Iraq... I just don't see where there was a clear and immediate danger. We basically said that we thought they were probably amassing weapons that they might like to use against us, so we might as well take them out before they got the chance.

***

(Click here for the whole thing.)

Disappointed? Because my little girl thinks for herself? Never gonna happen. From the email I sent her a little bit ago:

Your “very intelligent and very passionate Vietnam Veteran father” loves you very much. Forever. Unconditionally. Period. It’s possible for two intelligent people to look at the same set of facts and reach different conclusions. We’ve done that, and I can’t be disappointed in you for making up your own mind about things.

I’m going to keep on blogging, partly as a way to blow off steam and partly in the belief that if someone, somewhere, reads something I wrote and reconsiders a vote for John Kerry it will be worthwhile. George Bush will carry Texas this fall without my daughter’s vote, and John Kerry will probably carry Illinois without mine. I’ll vote for Bush because I want my daughter and my grandson to live safe, happy lives and die of old age. And I’ll keep right on being proud of my little girl for thinking for herself, and for a lot of other reasons.

Another site you should know about

Click the picture to go to the site it came from.

Posted using the Hello BloggerBot

Operation Give needs some help.

Operation Give, a very worthwhile charity benefiting Iraqi children, has been ripped off for $30,000.00 by a shipping company that was supposed to deliver 3 large containers of donated supplies to Iraq.

Michelle Malkin has more on her site:

A CALL FOR HELP
By Michelle Malkin · August 02, 2004
08:28 AM

Chief Wiggles, who initiated the Operation Give toy drive for Iraqi children, needs your assistance in dealing with the Scrooges at Atlas Line. Please click on over and give a hand if you have a chance today.

Glenn Reynolds posted at Instapundit:

OPERATION GIVE is having problems with Atlas Lines. Chief Wiggles' blog and Reid Stott have more information.

posted at 03:34 PM by Glenn Reynolds

I’ve emailed Atlas Line about this (as I hope thousands of other people have or will), then sent a copy of my mail to Atlanta talk show host Neal Boortz in hopes he’ll help spread the word. If anyone reading this has time to help flood Atlas Line with angry emails and phone calls about this, please do. Their email address is info@atlas-line.com and their phone number is (404) 766-4676.

Kerry Lovers Get Your News Here

One of the best places on the web to keep up with the Kerry campaign is The Kerry Spot on National Review Online. While you're in the neighborhood, don't miss The Corner, either.

I got mentioned on a blog people actually read!

One itsty bitsy step toward building up a readership: I left a comment on an article on Michelle Malkin's site and she found it worthy of mention in and update to the article. I'm not exactly famous enough yet to retire and live off off advertising revenues from my blog, but I can keep trying ;-)

Never Forget, Never Forgive

Click the picture for the whole slideshow.
Posted using the Hello BloggerBot