John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 14

[Continued from Update 13.]

Prof Glenn Reynolds' August 21 post on the Kerry situation is too good to put off until I do my next "daily" update. Especially notable is this from an email Glenn received:

While I'm glad the vets are finally getting their chance to be heard, it's not the Vietnam stories that bother me. It's Kerry's reaction to the books and ads. This is showing his character today, not in the past, and it's not pretty.

For almost a year there have been attack ads against Bush. Bush displayed much more character by not demanding that the books and movies and ads that have been attacking him be banned the way Kerry is trying to do. Bush stood up for the rights of even those who opposed him and lied about him.

Kerry tries to silence any opposition, in much the same way as portrayed in Fahrenheit 451 (the original book). That is frightening!

And to make matters worse, the mainstream media is in collusion with him.

What can I add? ... Heh. Read The Whole Thing.

A BMEWS reader sounds off

A BMEWS reader left a comment so well put that Allan decided it was worthy of a post of it's own. I agree.

What if? What if Kerry does win the election and then he abandons his "Band of Brothers" like he did 35 years ago in Vietnam. I wonder if the truth [will] come out from these guys about the real Lt Jg Kerry. ...

Go read the whole thing.

Google still understands.

1. Click here to open Google
2. Type "Waffles" in the search box
3. Click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button
4. :-)

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 13

[Continued from Update 12.]

The cracks in the dam are beginning to widen, with even the New York Times and Washington Post admitting there are two sides to the issue and the veterans attacking their golden boy have valid reasons to do so: Washington Post, Washington Post, New York Times

As Just One Minute points out, even the Kerry people have acknowledged the real reason the vets are out to get Kerry:

When somebody's attacking your military record, you reach a boiling point ... When you go and fight in a war, when you spill blood for your country, your instinct is to fight back and defend your record.

Of course, the DumboDemocrats still have their widdle feelings hurt and still want all those mean ol' veterans to just go away and be quiet, but the more they whine the more they're drawing attention to the issue: CNN

As Captain Ed points out, now it's coming to light that Kerry's authorized biography, Tour of Duty, also contains major exaggerations concerning his time aboard the destroyer USS
Gridley. Why am I not surprised?

Glenn Reynolds has posted a time line clarifying the fact that when Kerry was in Paris cozying up to the enemy, he was still an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves. I still don't understand why he wasn't Court Marshaled for that.

Democrats: Its All America's Fault

From Blogs for Bush:

Democrats: Its All America's Fault

***

51% of Democrats say that US "wrongdoing" might have motivated the 9/11 attacks.

Let that sink in, ladies and gentlemen. More than half of one of the two major American political parties think that we might be at fault for the 9/11 attacks. In contrast, only 17% of Republicans in the poll are this amazingly stupid. ...

Go read the whole thing. Enlighten yourself, then vote accordingly.

AOL Elections 2004: Straw Poll

AOL Elections 2004: Straw Poll. I never realized AOL users were so intelligent! You have to be an AOL member to take part in the poll, but you can go enjoy the results anyway. W is looking real good.

Mudville Gazette: Vietnam Veterans with Blogs

Greyhawk recently put up a short list that I assume will keep growing: Vietnam Veterans with Blogs. He hasn't come out and said he'll add new people to the list, but if you should be on it I'd leave him a comment to that effect and see what happens.

MAJOR cracks in the dam. The Johns are being flushed.

A tip of the hat to Adrian Spidle's Public Enquiry Project for linking to Friendly Fire: The Birth of an Anti-Kerry Ad. Amazingly enough, The New York Times article you'll find there actually does a fairly reasonable job of presenting both sides of the "Why are those guys attacking Kerry?" issue. Among the things you'll learn by clicking the link is that most (53% vs. 39% as of this writing) of the people who've taken the online poll there believe The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth over John Kerry about Kerry's Vietnam record and that 55% of those taking the poll think George Bush has more to gain than John Kerry from a debate over Vietnam. There are also links to both Swift Boat ads. This is from an AOL News post containing a New York Times piece. After reading the New York Times piece and the Washington Post piece I mentioned earlier, I think it's finally safe to say the dam is breaking. The Johns are about to get flushed, none too soon.

Another waste of perfectly good oxygen.

I've had my suspicions for some time now that Eleanor Clift was someone no truly sapient creature would miss if she got kidnapped by space aliens sometime. Today she proved it once and for all. Guess what? The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are just trying to distract us so we don't realize what a rotten job Bush is doing in Iraq! I mean, why else would anyone possibly have anything negative to say about poor sweet Jean Fraud Kerry? It's so obvious, how could I have missed that. (Obviously she doesn't read the Post, or my blog, or BMEWS, or...)

The Washington Post finally gets a clue!

From the Washington Post: Some Veterans Still Bitter at Talk of Crimes. No shit, Sherlock? Do you really mean they aren't all taking payoffs from the Bushies after all? Good Lord, when Kerry goes to his just reward he's going to need an overcoat!

I don't need to be rabid ...

I don't need to be rabid ... as long as there's BMEWS. Vilmar has such a way with words. That's why BMEWS is one of my daily reads. And he says it so much more eloquently than I do.

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 12

[Continued from Update 11.]

Dean Esmay has a well-written article pointing out the effect the Internet (which I'm sure Al Gore now regrets inventing) has had on the whole Swift Boats issue.

Rachel Lucas condenses things to their very core so well I stand in awe:

So it's left to innocent voters like me to figure out who's telling the truth. Do I believe a group of 256 Vietnam veterans who say Kerry's a liar, or do I believe John Kerry and Jim Rassman, who say 256 Vietnam veterans are liars? Gee, lemme think about it for a sec.

It's not just the Swift Boat Vets going after Kerry now. Read my post on the new ad, then follow the links to Greyhawk's place to keep up with the latest. And don't miss Captain Ed's post on the same topic. Also: Instapundit, Black Five

The Kerry camp is running scared, trying to use shady legal tactics to keep you from hearing the truth. Assigned reading: In Bill's World, Captain's Quarters, Donald Sensing

The mainstream media is doing their best to help Kerry, too: In Bill's World, The Right Coast, Michelle Malkin, MSNBC, N.Y.Times, Power Line, Power Line

And, the evidence keeps piling up that Kerry's lying about his "heroic" service in Vietnam: Captain's Quarters, Captains Quarters, Donald Sensing, Donald Sensing, Donald Sensing, Weekly Standard

Just An Old Hippie ...

First, go read Michelle Malkin's report about trying to have a sane, civil discussion with Chris Matthews about "Unfit for Command". Then go check out Chris Muir's take on the show. Doonesbury is so-o-o September 10th.

About all those missing pictures ....

All of the pictures I use in my blog are stored in a hidden folder on my web site, http://users4.ev1.net/~bdfaith/. I can't get into it right now either. My best guess is there's a server problem of some sort in Houston. Past experience says it'll probably be better by morning, so I'm not going to harass Tech Support right now.

Update: The problem appears to be fixed. If it comes back, would someone leave me a comment to make sure I know about it? (I get email when you leave comments, even if I'm not looking at my blog.)

What Soldiers Did

I received this in an email from a dear friend I haven't been doing nearly a good enough job of staying in touch with. I think I'll be forgiven for passing it on. I know it's been floating around a while, but it can't be repeated too often.

The following passage is from a sermon by John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio:

I want you to close your eyes and picture in your mind the soldier at Valley Forge, as he holds his musket in his bloody hands. He stands barefoot in the snow, starved from lack of food, wounded from months of battle and emotionally scarred from the eternity away from his family surrounded by nothing but death and carnage of war. He stands though, with fire in his eyes and victory on his breath. He looks at us now in anger and disgust and tells us this...

I gave you a birthright of freedom born in the Constitution and now your children graduate too illiterate to read it.

I fought in the snow barefoot to give you the freedom to vote and you stay at home because it rains!

I left my family destitute to give you the freedom of speech and you remain silent on critical issues, because it might be bad for business.

I orphaned my children to give you a government to serve you and it has stolen democracy from the people. [Not yet. Over my dead body it will. -- BDF]

It's the soldier, not the reporter who gives you the freedom of the press.

It's the soldier, not the poet who gives you the freedom of speech.

It's the soldier, not the campus organizer who allows you to demonstrate.

It's the soldier, who salutes the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is draped with the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag!!!

Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need.

Amen.

Who really has ties to "shadowy groups?"

Matt at blogs for Bush has a very interesting question and some information that might surprise you:

So Kerry has filed an FEC complaint... But....

Who really has ties to "shadowy groups?"

(April 7, 2004) John Kerry has hired an Internet-savvy Democrat to run his presidential campaign's online communications, a move that raises new questions about the link between his campaign and the independent groups that run TV ads on his behalf.

Zach Exley, the director of special projects for the MoveOn PAC, is going to the Kerry campaign to become its director of online communications and organization.

Exley also worked during the Democratic presidential primary for Howard Dean, helping Dean set up his web-based organization.

Since Kerry became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in early March, the MoveOn PAC has spent more than $2.5 million on TV ads that attack President Bush.

But under the new campaign-finance law, those efforts cannot be coordinated with the Kerry campaign.

A MoveOn statement said Exley and the staff of all MoveOn entities have agreed that they will not be in contact through the election period to avoid the appearance of coordination, "even though federal election rules permit some forms of communication."

Add that into the conveniently timed "condemnation" by Kerry of MoveOn's last attack ad against Bush, perhaps Kerry should look before he leaps.

I've used Matt's banner, but if I knew PhotoShop I'd have turned the flag upside down. Kerry was fond of flying it that way in his Vietnam Veterans Against The War days. Some of us still remember. ... I don't have anything else civil to add to the discussion at this point. Maybe I can think of something when my blood pressure comes back down a little.

Power Line: Bias? No, by us

Power Line: Bias? No, by us -- I couldn't resist reposting the whole thing here since it ties in so well with my previous post. Don't forget to stop by Power Line every day like I do.

Update 20 Aug 2004: I'm pleased to be able to replace the poem I had posted here earlier with the version I received by email from Russ Vaughn. I can't see any differences between this and what I posted before, except I now have the proper authorship information at the end of the poem. I originally posted this 16 August at 2:09 AM. I'm moving it to the top of my blog to make sure everyone sees the "official" version.

Media Bias? No, By Us

For years we have said as we’ve watched and read,
That the Media is liberally left leaning.
When news only we sought, what we usually got
Was some coiffed commentator’s “true” meaning.
Just seeking the news, we instead got their views
And too much Peter Jennings-like preening.

We are fair they declare and your charge is unfair
Everything we put out is uncanted.
Then they snidely deride any charges they’ve lied
Though it’s clear where their left feet are planted.
They deny overmuch liberal leanings and such
While it’s plain they’re all Rather slanted.

What they call reporting we see as distorting
So obvious that it does appall us.
But they think we’re all sheep, unthinking, asleep,
And care less if their bias does gall us.
As Sunday eves dreadful they feed us a headful
Of that oh so impartial Mike Wallace.

And as for the press, what a self-righteous
mess, Intoning our right to know all.
While the grand New York Times, dismisses and slimes
Those, who for the truth, loudly call.
And the Washington Post sets it columnist host
To impugning these men, one and all.

So election year’s here and it’s crystalline clear
That John Kerry’s the media’s hero.
They praise him in war and completely ignore
Those brave men who rate him a zero.
With utter disdain for truth in the main
This Media’s fiddling like Nero.

At some future date, when it’s far, far too late,
To ever atone for their bias,
Finally faced with their fate that they carry no weight,
All those talking heads will be so pious,
As without any shame they will loudly declaim
How on earth did that phony get by us?

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Think those ads don't have Kerry's people worried?

Kerry files FEC complaint against critical veterans group

The Kerry presidential campaign on Friday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging ads from an anti-Kerry veterans' group are inaccurate and "illegally coordinated" with Republicans and the Bush-Cheney campaign. ...

What happened to "Bring it on?" Rather than try to debate the facts, and facts they are, the Kerry camp would rather stoop to trying to suppress the free speech rights of anyone who dares tell the truth about their shining Prince Jean. Is this election going to have to end up back in the Supreme Court because the Dems think the First Amendment should only apply to their version of the story?

CNN mentions new Swift Boat Vets ad

Amazingly, CNN.com actually mentions the new Swift Boat Veterans For Truth ad, less than 24 hours after Greyhawk posted about it. They work hard at discrediting the new ad, but just the fact they mentioned it at all has me scanning the skies for flying pigs. ABC and MSNBC are both too busy kissing up to the N.Y. Times to mention there's a new ad. CBS and Fox are currently ignoring the SwiftVets completely, but at least for the moment they aren't siding with the enemy.

Update: The CNN link was messed up earlier. I think I now have it pointing to the same page it was supposed to point to before.

5:15 PM: Fox finally got around to acknowledging the issue here and here. There's also another link on their site pointing to the second story, apparently by mistake.

What liberal bias? About that Kerry speech to the VFW ...

Blatantly plagiarized from James Taranto's Best of the Web Today. He doesn't provide permalinks so I'll have to hope saying "Check out his column every day like I do." qualifies this post as "fair use" under the copyright laws.

Vets on Kerry: Cheers or Jeers?

John Kerry, who by the way served in Vietnam, gave a speech yesterday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a group that, as the Washington Times notes, Kerry's Vietnam Veterans Against the War called "a paramilitary, pro-war organization" back in the 1970s. What's interesting is how divergent are the reports of the reception Kerry received from the group. Here is the liberal New York Times:

The veterans' group played host to both candidates this week--Mr. Bush spoke to them on Monday--as the two camps vie for the hearts and minds and votes of veterans, an important constituency in this election and one that has traditionally leaned Republican. This year, however, veterans seem more closely divided in their support of the two candidates. Today, the V.F.W. audience greeted Mr. Kerry with frequent applause, much as it had Mr. Bush on Monday.

But the conservative American Spectator reports (second item) that "Kerry is said by several advance staffers to have been visibly upset at the reception he received at the VFW convention on Wednesday in Cincinnati":

"He was upset after the speech, visibly upset when he was out of public view," says a Kerry adviser, confirming the story.

Kerry was greeted by polite applause in the large auditorium, with many VFW members sitting with their arms crossed and not applauding at all. A few VFW members stood in the rear of the room with their backs turned to the dais. . . .

"He's not used to not getting a warm reception," says the advance staffer. "He can handle the Bush hooligans we get, but when he's told he'll be greeted well, he expects that to be the case."

Who's right? The Associated Press account is far closer to the Spectator's than the Times':

Kerry received a polite if not overwhelmingly positive reaction from the VFW. But there was a clear divide, with scores of veterans sittings with their arms folded while others clapped.

This is from the caption of a photo that shows two vets giving Kerry their backs. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the AP is 923 words more credible than the Times.

Correction: Mr Taranto does provide permalinks to each column, just not to individual items within the columns. Click here to see the whole column from which the above was taken.

Update: Here's the picture of those two vets showing their respect for Kerry (Copied from The Mudville Gazette. Greyhawk's post on this is at least as good as Mr. Taranto's)

[Originally posted 20040820 2:33 AM. I'm bumping this to the top so you don't miss Greyhawk's article.]

Mudville Gazette: The New Swift Boat Ad

Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette, one of my every-day reads, has an exceptionally (well, for him, not that exceptional) good post on the latest Swift Boat ad and some information from one of the gentlemen speaking in the ad.

Paul Galanti learned of Kerry's speech while held captive inside North Vietnam's infamous "Hanoi Hilton" internment camp. The Navy pilot had been shot down in June 1966 and spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war.

During torture sessions, he said, his captors cited the antiwar speeches as "an example of why we should cross over to (their) side."

"The Viet Cong didn't think they had to win the war on the battlefield," Galanti said, "because thanks to these protesters they were going to win it on the streets of San Francisco and Washington."

He says Kerry broke a covenant among servicemen never to make public criticisms that might jeopardize those still in battle or in the hands of the enemy. Because he did, Galanti said, "John Kerry was a traitor to the men he served with."

Now retired and living in Richmond, Va., Galanti, 64, refuses to cool his ire toward Kerry. "I don't plan to set it aside. I don't know anyone who does," he said. "The Vietnam Memorial has thousands of additional names due to John Kerry and others like him."

There's more. Go read the whole thing. You owe it to the men and women whose names are on The Wall.

I was all for that, till I found out George Bush was too

From Liberating Iraq (Hat tip: TigerHawk)

Kerry flip-flops on troop realignment

Kerry's latest flip-flop - this time on troop realignment - is so serious, and so severe a turnaround, and such a gaffe that I have to question everything Kerry says about foreign policy, so I feel somewhat justified in bringing this up in detail in the Liberating Iraq blog.

After Bush made the proposal to cut troop levels in central Europe and Korea - "a seven- to 10-year plan to withdraw up to 70,000 U.S. troops from Cold War bases in Europe and Asia" - Kerry came to the same forum (VFW) August 18 to blast it. ...Kerry's position would be bad enough in that context of keeping our troops where they aren't needed, but it's worse! Kerry has been saying just the opposite only a few weeks before. ...

The Kerry flip-flop record

Kerry Is Against Troop Realignment

Today John Kerry Criticized The President For Realigning Our Troops. "Finally, I want to say something about the plan that the President announced on Monday to withdraw 70,000 troops from Asia and Europe. Nobody wants to bring troops home more than those of us who have fought in foreign wars. But it needs to be done at the right time and in a sensible way. This is not that time or that way. Let's be clear. The President's vaguely stated plan does not strengthen our hand in the war on terror. It in no way relieves the strain on our overextended military personnel. It doesn't even begin until 2006, and it takes ten years to achieve." (Sen. John Kerry, Remarks At The Veterans Of Foreign Wars Convention, Cincinnati, OH, 8/18/04)

Kerry Is For Troop Realignment

In August 2004, Kerry Said: "I Think We Can Significantly Change The Deployment Of Troops, Not Just There But Elsewhere In The World. In The Korean Peninsula Perhaps, In Europe Perhaps." ... (John Kerry, ABC's "This Week," 8/1/04)

In April 2004, Kerry Hoped For The "Reduction Of American Presence" On The Korean Peninsula.

... A proper approach to the Korean peninsula, for instance, should include the deployment of troops, the unresolved issues of the 1950s and ultimately, hopefully, could result in the reduction of American presence, ultimately. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be trying to achieve in our foreign policy." (John Kerry, News Conference, 4/14/04)

***

In 1990, Kerry Voted To Reduce The Number Of U.S. Military Personnel In Europe. ...

In November 1990, Kerry Complained: "We're Currently Paying For 300,000 Troops To Be In Germany To Save The Germans From The Soviet Troops That They're Paying To Leave Then To Stay. ...

Funny how a good idea can become a bad idea just because President Bush likes it, isn't it? On the other hand, maybe we're being unfair here. I mean, when has J. Flipper Kerry ever needed a reason to change his opinion on something?

Those Oh So Manly Democrats

From GlennReynolds.com:

... John Kerry has been acting extra-tough for a while -- lots of war stories (some of them maybe even true), photo ops with guitars, guns, and astride Harleys, and so on. Even pro-Kerry pundits are commenting, as Joan Vennochi writes in the Boston Globe: "Clearly, 'modest hero' will not be his epitaph."

But now the problem seems to have spread to the whole Democratic party. The party that gave us Al Gore's earth tones is now the party of swaggering machismo. But it rings kind of hollow....

Go there, read the whole thing. It's interesting.

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 11

[Continued from Update 10. See also Et tu, Fox? ]

I've already said you should read everything Michelle Malkin posts, but I'll still mention SWIFTEE JUSTICE, simply because it's the closest any "mainstream" source has come yet to generating some attention for the whole issue. Prof. Glenn Reynolds has some exceptionally good observations on the media bias relating to John Kerry's war stories today. Hugh Hewitt's Weekly Standard column also raises some good questions.

Today's Other Reading: [Coming later -- I'll update this post later in the day. Update: Some other things came up. I'll get the list out sometime tomorrow.]

20040820 1205 P: Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Power Line, Dean's World, Instapundit, Instapundit

I'm moving this to the top of the stack. Originally published 20040819 4:43 PM

Here, Ayatollah, Here, Ayatollah. Just a little closer ... Whap!

From al-AFP via Yahoo! News:

Iran warns of preemptive strike ...

Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani warned that Iran might launch a preemptive strike against US forces in the region to prevent an attack on its nuclear facilities.

"We will not sit (with arms folded) to wait for what others will do to us. Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that preventive operations which the Americans talk about are not their monopoly," Shamkhani told Al-Jazeera TV when asked if Iran would respond to an American attack on its nuclear facilities.

"America is not the only one present in the region. We are also present, from Khost to Kandahar in Afghanistan; we are present in the Gulf and we can be present in Iraq " said Shamkhani, speaking in Farsi to the Arabic-language news channel through an interpreter.

I remember a cartoon I saw once, with a cornered mouse flipping off the cat ...

Which bloggers served in the military?

Backcountry Conservative Jeff Quinton has embarked on a worthwhile project:

Who Served?

Michelle Malkin points to a table put together by E.J. Perkins of azcentral.com (a Marine Corps vet) of political and media figures that points out who served (and didn't serve) in the military and when. Other information regarding the branch and type of service is included.

Kos is the only prominent blogger (the others listed are Glenn Reynolds, Wonkette, Andrew Sullivan, Josh Marshall) listed who has served in the military.

This gave me an idea. The blogosphere was significantly underrepresented in the table and it would be interesting (in the same way the Perkins table on politicians and reporters is interesting) to see which bloggers, besides the self-identified ones, have served.

If you served or serve in the military and blog, make a post on your blog ...

I'm glad to see someone is putting together such a list and suspect it may contain some surprises. I would never have guessed, for instance, that "Daily Kos," which I refuse to link to, was written by a military veteran. What's next? Was Michael Moore the spook that Kerry dropped off in Cambodia?

I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1970 and was discharged as a SSgt (E5) in 1974. During that time I spent 9 months in Vietnam as an Air Cargo Specialist, then cross-trained as a Material Facilities Specialist when I got back to The World. (Like Sen. Tom Harkin, I did not fly combat missions over 'Nam.) In short form for Jeff's list I guess that's: "Bill Faith, U.S. Air Force 1970-'74, SSgt, Vietnam vet."

I've "arrived"! I have trolls.

Well, I guess I've "arrived." I just found troll-droppings in the comments on one of my posts. Click here, scroll down to the comments, and behold, friends, the spoor of the Lesser American Moore-on (ignoramus Americanus stupititus). A pathetic, helpless little thing, incapable of independent thought (Never mind that fat maggot behind the curtain.), willfully ignorant of the truth, the Moore-on deludes itself that it can carry the day with lies, misdirection, and personal attacks on anyone with whom it disagrees. I may leave a few spoor samples around for the curious now and then, but I'll sweep most of them out with the rest of the trash.

[Civilized "I disagree with you because ..." comments are always welcome. Personal attacks on myself, my President, or anyone else (Jean Fraud Kerry, Slick Willy Clinton, and Michael Maggot Moore excepted) will receive exactly as much respect as they deserve. You have the right to post anything you want on your own blog, and I have the right to not read it.]

Just one of the reasons I hate Jean Fraud Kerry, and part of why it's so personal

I'm copying a whole post from Greyhawk. His site is worth reading every day. Do it.

Greetings, Friends, Neighbors, Morons...

"Thank you. I am proud to be a lifetime member of this organization and grateful for your continued deep commitment to veterans and to the defense and security of our nation. For more than 100 years now, you have had many distinguished veterans come before you – some Republican, some Democrat, some presidents. But as a fellow veteran, I can proudly say that there is one title that is more important than all, and that is patriot. You have all earned that title and I am proud to stand with you today."

-- John Kerry, Speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, 105th Annual Convention, Cincinnati, OH, 17 Aug 2004

"And so a New Soldier has returned to America, to a nation torn apart by the killing we were asked to do. But, unlike veterans of other wars and some of this one, the New Soldier does not accept the old myths.

We will not quickly join those who march on Veterans' Day waving small flags, calling to memory those thousands who died for the "greater glory of the United States." We will not accept the rhetoric. We will not readily join the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars-in fact, we will find it hard to join anything at all and when we do, we will demand relevancy such as other organizations have recently been unable to provide. We will not take solace from the creation of monuments or the naming of parks after a select few of the thousands of dead Americans and Vietnamese. We will not uphold traditions which decorously memorialize that which was base and grim.

It is from these things the New Soldier is asking America to turn. We are asking America to turn from false glory, hollow victory, fabricated foreign threats, fear hich threatens us as a nation, shallow pride which feeds off fear, and mostly from the promises which have proven so deceiving these past ten years.

-- John Kerry, The New Soldier, 1971

Think about the man who wants us to trust him to lead our country. Think about the implications of making a man like that Commander in Chief of our armed forces. Think!

Is it personal? Like many, my first marriage took mortal wounds at home while I was in Vietnam. Why should a healthy young woman be true to a lowly G.I. while he's away doing the horrible things Hanoi John and his slimy ilk told everyone we were all doing? Yeah, it's personal. Even if Jean Kerry wasn't such a lying low-life indecisive henpecked derrière-kissing bastard son of a bitch today, I'd still have my memories. Every vote for Kerry will be a slap in the face to every patriotic American who ever put on a uniform and went off to war. Think about that. Please, think about that.

Et tu, Fox?

Damn it! CNN, CBS, MSNBC, and even frequently fair Fox were all quick to pick up the news that Kerrys bitching and moaning about the Swift Boat Veterans ads, but not one of them bothers to mention the wealth of evidence that the ads aren't doing anything more than exposing Kerry for the low-life backstabbing fraud that he is. ABC still hasn't bothered to mention the issue at all. I expected the pro-Kerry bias from the others, but I had hope for Fox. If Kerry wins the election and bends over to present both other cheeks at once, I hope the news networks will be proud of themselves for helping make it happen.

Update: I've been trying to be a little less rabid lately (You couldn't tell? Well I'm trying, anyway.) so instead of telling you how I really feel, I'll send you over to BMEWS, someplace you should know about anyway.

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 10

[Continued from Update 9]

I spent a big part of the day figuring out how to run JavaScript within a BlogSpot post, so I'll do a better job of catching up on my linking later. Today's reading: Houston Chronicle, LGF, Captain's Quarters, Power Line

Meet Maria Teresa Thiersten Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry

A few thoughts from Professor Braden

A few notes on Mrs. John Kerry

(She hates being called that, by the way!)

Maria Teresa Thiersten Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry. Married to Senator Kerry in 1995, she only took his name eighteen months ago [When he decided to run for President -- BF]. She is an interesting paradox of conflicts. I thought John Kerry was scary, but he doesn't hold a candle to his wife ...

***

So how does Mrs. Heinz Kerry spend John Heinz's money? Just one example: ... in the years between 1995-2001 she gave more than $4 million to an organization called the Tides Foundation. And what does the Tides Foundation do with John Heinz's money?

***

If voters will only try to imagine a woman such as Teresa Heinz Kerry, the fairy godmother of the radical left, laying her head on a pillow each night just inches from the President of the United States, hopefully they will decide that the only way these two will ever be allowed into the White House is with an engraved invitation in hand.

Please go read the whole thing. And think about it.

DO read Michell Malkins blog every day

I found a post on Michelle Malkin's blog that I sent to Blogger to deal with later. Two minutes later I found another one. After the 3rd one I realized what a waste of time it would be to try to create a separate post for every good thing she writes. Just go there. Every day.

Even if you aren't in a "battleground" state ...

Even if you aren't in a "battleground" state, VOTE ANYWAY. I'm going to vote for George Bush in November even though I know he doesn't stand much chance of picking up Illinois' electoral votes. I'd vote for him if I still lived in Texas, even though I know he has Texas all sewn up. Why? Because I'm sick and tired of hearing people bitwhimper and moan about the fact that Al Gore received more of the popular vote in 2000 than George Bush, but Bush won in the Electoral College, where it counts. I don't want to listen to that for another four years.

A History Lesson
Back in the old days, before political correctness and "self esteem" became more important in our public schools than actually teaching kids something useful, those of us who paid attention graduated from High School understanding that the Founding Fathers created two houses in Congress, and the Electoral College, for very sound reasons. They recognized that if the laws of the land were determined purely by popular vote the populations of a few major cities could demand laws that totally ignored the rights and needs of people in rural areas. -- "Let's tax all the farmers and ranchers more so we can have more street lights in New York." ... "Why should Bostonian's have to pay taxes to support an army to protect people in Kansas from Indians?" ---To keep either segment of the population, urban dwellers or city dwellers, from overriding the needs of the other, they created a House of Representatives, where more populous states would have the greatest influence, and a Senate, where all states would be equal. For presidential elections, they created the Electoral College, where each state would have a number of votes equal to the sum of its House members and Senators. It's not a perfect system, but it's the best way anyone has come up with to balance the needs of New York and Boston tenement dwellers against the needs of New Mexico ranchers and Nebraska farmers. Since the Founding Fathers had the good sense to give New Mexico and Nebraska just as much influence in the Senate as New York and Massachusetts, it's a system we are, fortunately, likely to be "stuck with" for a good while longer. [Yes, I understand New Mexico and Nebraska weren't states in 1789. I've used modern-day examples to make the matter easier to understand for those of you who went to public schools too recently to learn what you should have there.]

Since there's a sizable portion of the population that doesn't understand why we have the system we have, any time one candidate wins the popular vote and the other wins in the Electoral College there's going to be four more years of whining and moaning. The best chance we have of preventing that is to all get out and vote, whether we expect our votes to affect the Electoral College totals or not.

A Very Brief Telephone Conversation.

I just added Parkway Rest Stop to my blogroll after I read this. I owe someone a hat tip, but I was too stupid to make a record of who linked to this and I've slept since then. Anyway, the rest of the Rest Stop site looked pretty good too. Check it out sometime.

A Very Brief Telephone Conversation.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrring………

John O’Neill: "Hello."

John Kerry: "May I please speak with John O’Neill?"

John O’Neill: "Speaking."

John Kerry: "Hi, John. This is John Kerry."

John O’Neill: "I recognized your voice."

John Kerry: "John. I have to tell you that you and those Swift Boat guys are really giving me a hard time, and I was wondering whether you might be interested in establishing some kind of truce."

John O’Neill:

John Kerry: "Let me be frank, John. You know -- sailor to sailor."

John O’Neill:

John Kerry: "OK, well, I’m putting together a list of people I would like to have serve in my administration, if I win this thing in November. Seeing as how you are a former Navy officer and a Vietnam Vet, I was wondering whether you might be interested in serving as my Secretary of the Navy."

John O’Neill: "'Sailor to sailor' did you say?"

John Kerry: "Absolutely."

John O'Neill: "Shove off, asshole."

Click

I got my first comment spam

When you start getting comment spam does that mean you've "arrived" or just that some moron read your post and decided you sounded gullible? Unfortunately, I was taking a coffee break and the spam stayed on my blog almost twenty minutes. I'll have to be more attentive from now on. At least it isn't possibe to spam my comments without bumping my hit counter; maybe I should hope for more. ;-)

Kerry Wins The Arab Vote

Amir Taheri, writing in the New York Post, says

"If it were up to us, it would be 60 percent Kerry, 40 percent Bush," says Iyad Abu-Chaqra, an Arab columnist who has followed American politics for years. "Most Arabs have one dream this year: to see George W. Bush booted out."

***

They see his talk of democracy as an attempt at preventing them from establishing their "ideal Islamic" system based on the Shariah rather than elections.

Bush's "Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative" is seen by Islamists as "a plot to impose a Western model."

Click the link and read the whole thing. I now have one more reason
to vote for Bush.

Two Friends Of Mine Are Running for Office!

Ali and Mohammed Fadhil, whose blog, IRAQ THE MODEL, I've been following for quite a while now, have just announced they're both going to run for positions in the Iraqi National Assembly. You can learn more about them by reading some of the posts on their blog, and learn more about their campaign plans at the Iraqi Pro-Democracy Party web site. So you don't miss it on the site, I'll also link directly to their press release, dated 18 Aug 2004. Help these guys if you can, regardless of how you feel about Bush and Kerry. They're on our side. There's a PayPal button on their donations page. Please use it if you can.

Just an ordinary guy who understands the little people

From Neal Boortz:

Apparently eager to look as out of touch as possible, John Kerry decided he needed a haircut while he was campaigning in Portland, Oregon last week. So what did he do? Go visit a local place, socialize with the locals for a perfect photo-op? Nope...once again, he flew his own private hair stylist across the country for a haircut. Must be nice.

The New York Daily News is reporting that French hair stylist Isabelle Goetz, from the exclusive Washington D.C. hair salon Christophe, rushed to groom The Poodle
on the campaign trail. If the name sounds familiar, that's the same hair stylist that shut down LAX in 1993 to give then-President Bill Clinton a haircut on the tarmac. What's with Democrats and expensive haircuts? Who knows.

Yep...that's a man of the people right there. He's so much like you and me, he flies his hair stylist from Washington, D.C. all the way to Oregon just to give him a haircut. It doesn't get any more like the common man than that.

Yeah, just an ordinary guy who understands our needs. Let's give this man an Oval Office, shall we?

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 9

[Continued from Update 8]

Prof Glenn Reynolds: "Dam Breaks." It's getting harder and harder for the dead-tree media to ignore the Kerry Lied issue. Also worthy of special note: David Limbaugh's latest TownHall column. Today's Other Reading: The American Spectator, Power Line, Power Line, Power Line, Power Line, National Review Online, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, TownHall: Michael Barone, TownHall: Kathleen Parker, Beldar, Hugh Hewitt, Instapundit, Donald Sensing, Neal Boortz

Wictory Wednesday

Wictory Wednesday

Dozens of blogs across the country participate in Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, these bloggers put up a post asking their readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign. In their Wictory Wednesday posts, they also include the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which lists all participating blogs.

I display the Wictory Wednesday blogroll on my sidebar seven days a week. -- Why wait for Wednesday to support the president's efforts to be reelected when we need a good man person (Rice/Lieberman '08!) in charge every day? Please do whatever you can for the Bush/Cheney campaign. We're in a war, people. We need a leader who understands that.

I'm posting this, my first Wictory Wednesday post, today, August 18. I'll bump it to the top of my blog every Wednesday.

Update: 10:15 AM: PoliPundit has a reminder on his site that there are only two weeks left till the Republican National Convention. After that, it will be too late to donate to the Bush campaign. Do it now, please.

Current Wictory Wednesday Bloggers:

Racial profiling -- A matter of survival

Michelle Malkin's USA TODAY Opinion Piece, "Racial profiling: A matter of survival" makes some very good points.

When our national security is on the line, "racial profiling" — or more precisely, threat profiling based on race, religion or nationality — is justified. Targeted intelligence-gathering at mosques and in local Muslim communities, for example, makes perfect sense when we are at war with Islamic extremists.

Yet, last week, the FBI came under fire for questioning Muslims in Seattle about possible terrorist ties. Members of a local mosque complained to Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., who called for a congressional investigation of the FBI's innocuous tactics. The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington accused the agency of "ethnic profiling."

But where else are federal agents supposed to turn for help in uncovering terrorist plots by Islamic fanatics: Buddhist temples? Knights of Columbus meetings? Amish neighborhoods?

Click the link above and read the whole thing. I may find something someday that I disagree with Michelle about, or think I could say better, but this wasn't it.

It's not about Vietnam. It's about lies. It's about lack of character. It's about trust.

So what's with all this harping about what John Kerry did or didn't do in Vietnam? So what if he lied his way into some medals he didn't deserve? So what if he was never really in Cambodia? So what if he shot an unarmed Vietnamese kid in the back? So what if he came home and and slandered every American G.I. who went to 'Nam and did what his country asked of him? That was all a long time ago, so why does it matter now?

It's not about Vietnam. It's about a man who started lying 35 years ago and hasn't stopped since. It's about honor and character. It's about putting someone who can't be trusted in a position of power. Why is that so hard for some people to understand?

Pillars of the Bush Doctrine

Infidel Cowboy has been posting excerpts from Norman Podhoretz's "World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win" on a regular basis. If your attention span hasn't allowed you to read the whole Podhoretz article yet (mine hasn't), do the next best thing and check out the Cowboy's series.

Tango Threats

My niece is in Argentina for an exchange-student semester. She's apparently having a good time in general, but she had an unpleasant experience recently that caused her to write:

There are racist jerks in all parts of the world i realize, and all it was was stupidity. I would rather be on the receiving end of it though, than to be the racist jerk who says such things,
...í´d rather be the one being threatened for being from the US than to be the jerk in the US who says awful stuff to or about others just cuz they´re from Mexico or someplace, so...whatever.
And i would love for people from the US to realize that when they say bad things to or about people for being from other places, they´re that guy from last night who was threatening me and my friend.

Click here to read the whole post.

Having a little problem

I'm having some sort of problem with Blogger and have gone back to an older site template temporarily, so some things that are normally on my sidebar will be missing for a little while and will come back gradually. If I owe you a link (e.g. Blogs4Bush, Wictory Wednesday, etc.) please be patient with me. I'm working on it.

2 AM Update: I just spent three hours rebuilding my site template a piece at a time, testing as I went to see when things quit working right. As far as I can tell I have everything back in place and everything still works. File corruption? Gremlins? I'm afraid to turn my back. :-(

My daily "John Kerry: Unfit for Command" update is going to have to miss a day. I'll include two days worth of links tomorrow.

Grandson bragging

Isn't this the cutest face you've ever seen?
Go here to see more pictures.

Make your opinion known!

Go here:
Davids Medienkritik: ZDF Hits the Reset Button: Poll Reinstated after Results Erased

Follow the instructions. ;-)

Did the dam just break?

Did the dam just break? (Ref "Dean Esmay and Captain Ed both report cracks in the dam" below.) Scott Johnson at Power Line reports "The dam breaks." Scott is happy to report that the Wall Street Journal, which he says has the second largest daily circulation in the United States, just published an editorial pointing out that John Kerry's claim to have crossed into Cambodia on a Swift Boat just doesn't hold water. (Pardon the pun. Blame me for that one, not Scott or the WSJ.) The WSJ editorial ends with the conclusion: "So far the veteran whose testimony is doing John Kerry the most damage is . . . John Kerry." I hope that Scott's right, that the dam has broken, but I fear that all we can realistically call the WSJ editorial is a larger, albeit very threatening, crack. The point I'm afraid Scott is missing is that the WSJ has a very conservative readership, only a small portion of whom were likely to have voted for Kerry regardless of any Vietnam-related issues. That's not to say I don't see hope, though. The WSJ is by far the most influential paper to have pointed out the flaws in Kerry's Cambodia story. It just became a lot harder for the N.Y. Times and Washington Post to keep ignoring the issue. When they publish something as hard-hitting as the WSJ did, then the dam will break.

What do the Iraqies think about their situation?

Well, I started off with the silly notion that I'd produce a list of all the Iraqi blogs I could locate. A year ago that wouldn't have been too tough. Times have changed! For a little bit I decided I'd settle for just listing the blogs linked to from the ones I read on a fairly frequent basis, then I realized even doing that would be an all-day job. In the end, I decided to settle for just listing the Iraqi blogs I was familiar with before I started my little project and recommending that anyone who's interested check out some of the other blogs on their blogrolls. Be forewarned: Iraqi's are writing faster than any one person could possibly read.

Just to show how open-minded I can be, I've put my list in alphabetical order, even though that means the first blog on the list is written by a lady who was well-connected enough under Saddam that she wishes things hadn't changed. -- Read more than just her opinion, please. -- With that said, here's my list:

1. Baghdad Burning
2. Hammorabi
3. Healing Iraq
4. Iraq at a glance
5. Iraq The Model
6. The Mesopotamian
7. The Religious Policeman

Update: I'm changing the posting date on this to move it to the top of my blog. If you don't have time to visit all the sites on my list, please try to at least check Iraq the Model, Healing Iraq, The Mesopotamian, Hammorabi, and Iraq at a glance. The Religious Policeman is currently on hiatus. Take anything you read on Baghdad Burning with a large dose of salt.

What media bias? THAT media bias!

Patterico, whose blog I'll be reading much more often from now on, has an excellent post up demonstrating the way writers for the mainstream media can slant a story without ever quite resorting to outright lies. To demonstrate, he's taken a not-atypical Washington Post article, rewritten it without the obvious pro-Kerry bias, and posted his article and the original side by side for easy paragraph by paragraph comparison. Please click here to read it. The sad thing is that he didn't have to wait for a particularly egregious example to make his point. He could have picked nearly any article published in recent history in the Washington Post, New York Times, L.A. Times, or any number of other major papers in the country and it would have worked just as well. The major papers are doing everything in their power to hand Kerry the presidency, whether it's ignoring Kerry's lies about his Vietnam service and what his lies tell us about his serious character flaws, continuing to attack George Bush over things he had no control over, continuing to accuse Bush of "lying" about WMDs for reporting information that the CIA and several foreign intelligence services (Great Britain, Russia, France and Germany, to name a few) believed to be true, or slanting everything they write in Kerry's favor. The saddest part is that a sizable portion of the American public is gullible enough to accept the media's distortions without even realizing they're being had.

Hat tip: Allah

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 8

[Continued from Update 7]

Good news! Dean Esmay and Captain Ed both report cracks in the dam. The mainstream media is finally catching on that they can't ignore the "Kerry Lied" issue forever. (Thank God for the blogosphere.) When the dam breaks, it's going to flush the Johns right out of the election. It couldn't happen to two nicer people. Today's Reading: Dean's World, Dean's World, Dean's World, Dean Esmay on QOAE, PoliPundit, PrestoPundit, American Thinker, Captain's Quarters, Power Line, Power Line, Power Line, Weekly Standard, Patterico

Don't DO That :-)

The passenger tapped the taxi driver on the shoulder to ask him something. The driver screamed, lost control of the taxi, nearly hit a bus, went up on the sidewalk, and stopped centimeters from a shop window! For a second everything went quiet in the taxi, then the cabbie said, "Look mister, don't ever do that again. You scared the daylights out of me!" The passenger apologized and said he didn't realize that a little tap could scare the driver so much. The cabbie replied,"You're right. I'm sorry it's not really your fault. Today is my first day as a taxi driver. I've been driving a hearse for the last 25 years."

From Taxi Vignettes: FIRST DAY AS A TAXI DRIVER. Joann has an entirely different type of site than mine. I'll be going there now and then when I need a need a break from all the political and GWOT stuff. I hope you'll do the same.

Treason? Damned right it was.

From the Grand Forks Herald: O'Grady: Kerry's actions after Vietnam constituted treason.

Scott O'Grady, the Air Force pilot who captured headlines in 1995 when he survived being shot down over Bosnia, on Friday said Sen. John Kerry committed "treason"during the Vietnam War.

O'Grady ... said Kerry helped push North Vietnam's proposals for the United States to withdraw at a time when the two countries were still officially at war.

"I see that as treason," said O'Grady. ...

O'Grady said he was referring to Kerry's 1971 appearance before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations [during which] Kerry mentioned that he was involved in peace talks in Paris.

"I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government," Kerry told the panel, according to a transcript.

A U.S. law prohibits citizens from negotiating with foreign governments on matters such as peace treaties.

(Emphasis mine. Note that this occured well before Kerry's election to the Senate.)

Something O'Grady doesn't mention in the Herald article is that at the time he was in Paris giving aid and comfort to the enemy, John Kerry was still an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve

Hat tip: LGF

Update: See also former Senator and former Admiral Jeremiah Denton's comments in the Mobile Register

When Kerry joined me in the Senate, I already knew about his record of defamatory remarks and behavior criticizing U.S. policy in Vietnam and the conduct of our military personnel there. I had learned in North Vietnamese prisons how much harm such statements caused.

To me, his remarks and behavior amounted to giving aid and comfort to our Vietnamese and Soviet enemies. So I was not surprised when his subsequent overall voting pattern in the Senate was consistently detrimental to our national security.

Kerry's 'NamGate?

Bruce Kesler has a post up that does a good calm methodical job of analyzing a situation I've been trying to stay on top of and draw some attention to.

Will the SwiftBoat veterans’ affidavits revealing deceptions about John Kerry’s service in Vietnam and after, and the Kerry campaign and supporters’ counterattacks, become John Kerry’s “NamGate”? I’m neither an attorney nor great political prognosticator, but many who are believe it well may be. ...

Go read it all.

Kerry cares. He's worried about us. Really worried.

An excerpt from a longer Power Line post. Go there to read the whole thing.

The Bush campaign has released a new television ad; you can see it here. The ad ... blasts him, very effectively, for missing almost all of the public hearings held by the Senate Intelligence Committee when he "served" on it. Most devastating is the fact that in the year after the first World Trade Center attack, Kerry did not attend a single Intelligence Committee session. ... "There's what Kerry says...and then there's what Kerry does."

Would you sacrifice your child?

The Rev. Donald Sensing, a former military officer, has posted has posted the sermon he delivered this morning addressing Michael Moore's recent rhetorical question to Bill O'Reilly. Too much of it is excellent for me to attempt to pick out one particular highlight to excerpt here. Just go there and read it.

On a Christmas Eve long ago

'Twas the night before Christmas and we were afloat
Somewhere in Cambodia, in our little boat.
While the river was lightened by rockets red glare
No one but the President knew we were there.

The crew was all nestled deep down in their bunks,
While the Spook and I watched the sampans and junks.
Our mission was secret, so secret in fact,
No one else would remember it when we got back....

From a longer post at Silent Running. Click here to read the whole thing.

Update: Oops. Thanks to Dean Esmay for pointing out that what I found on Silent Running was as excerpt from a Horsefeathers post. The poem is longer than I realized. I especially like how it ends:

Don’t bother to quibble with history my friend,
By pointing out Johnson was President then.
Don’t listen to Swiftees who try to explain,
For I tell you that night is seared into my brain.

Down Hibbard, down Lonsdale, and you too O’Neill,
So you don’t remember? Well it’s something I feel.
I don’t need all you Swiftvets to support my campaign,
Cause Christmas in Cambodia is seared into my brain,

Into my brain, into my brain, into my brain...

Infidel Cowboy commented on his site a while back that "if you like Kerry much and are overly sensitive" you might want to avoid some of the posts on my blog. What can I say? -- I resemble that remark! For a well written, link-rich, non-rabid, post on some things I've been gotten sort of emphatic about now and then, please click here.

Kerry's Dukakis Moment

I'm too lazy to copy pictures tonight, so just click here and here. I mean, what should we expect? Kerry was Dukakis's Lieutenant Governor, after all.

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 7

[Continued from Update 6]

Captain's Quarters continues to be a rich source of information about Kerry's lies, with more strong evidence that David Alston lied at the Democratic convention and more on Kerry's Cambodia lie. Today's Reading: Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Classical Values, Dean's World, Tacitus, Black Five, Hugh Hewitt, Hugh Hewitt, Hugh Hewitt