Kerry Web Site Claims Decorations Contradicted By Navy Records

In the midst of the controversy between the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and Kerry campaign representatives about Kerry's service in Vietnam, new questions have arisen.

The Kerry campaign has repeatedly stated that the official naval records prove the truth of Kerry's assertions about his service.

But the official records on Kerry's Web site only add to the confusion. The DD214 form, an official Defense Department document summarizing Kerry's military career posted on johnkerry.com, includes a "Silver Star with combat V."

But according to a U.S. Navy spokesman, "Kerry's record is incorrect. The Navy has never issued a 'combat V' to anyone for a Silver Star."

There's more to it than that. Go read the whole thing, and don't forget my last post just below this one.

Update: Kerry citation a 'total mystery' to ex-Navy chief

Former Navy Secretary John Lehman has no idea where a Silver Star citation displayed on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign Web site came from, he said Friday. The citation appears over Lehman's signature.

"It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me," he said. ...

Update: Captain's Quarters has more

Bumping the date/time stamp. Originally posted 20040827 20:18

Condoleezza Rice for President in '08

Well, I'd already said I was in favor of it, but I didn't know anyone had already started trying to stir anything up. Click the picture for more information.

Another Kerry "Shaggy Dog" Story

A new four-legged angle — actually a dog named “VC” — has suddenly materialized surrounding Sen. John Kerry’s swift boat service in Vietnam.

In a 2004 presidential candidate questionnaire for Humane USA, Mr. Kerry was asked whether any pets have had an impact on his life.

“I have always had pets in my life, and there are a few that I remember very fondly,” Mr. Kerry replied. “When I was serving on a Swift Boat in Vietnam, my crewmates and I had a dog we called VC.”

“One day as our Swift Boat was heading up a river, a mine exploded hard under our boat,” he continued. “After picking ourselves up, we discovered VC was MIA (missing in action). Several minutes of frantic search followed, after which we thought we’d lost him. We were relieved when another boat called asking if we were missing a dog.”

Said Mr. Kerry: “It turns out VC was catapulted from the deck of our boat and landed, confused but unhurt, on the deck of another boat in our patrol.”

Problem is, once again if do a little checking, you find out this story is about as credible as most of Jean Fraud's. Read the whole post at LGF. The dog apparently belonged to Harvey, the CIA spook who gave Kerry his magic hat for smuggling him into Cambodia on Christmas Eve. Oh, what the heck ... Let's give this man an Oval Office.

Update: There's more on this at http://hughhewitt.com/#postid832. Click the link then scroll down a ways, press Ctrl+F and search for "a dog named VC"

Update 2: There's also more here.

Originally posted at 2004-08-27 at 16:54

Sue ME! Sue ME!

Little Miss Attila says the Kerry camp is threatening legal action against anyone who posts this picture:

So far I've posted it in a previous blog post, on my web site, and here, as well as using a smaller version of it for a button on my sidebar. Hey, Jean Fraud Kerry! Yo! Johnny Four Months! I'm talking to you! F.O.A.D! You're wasting perfectly good oxygen!

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 20

[Continued from Update 19.]

It was a fairly slow day for some people who usually stay right on top of the Kerry Lied situation. I think some of them may have decided that the message is getting out well enough that they can lean back and relax a little. Fortunately James Lileks and Victor Davis Hanson have both posted good essays on Kerry.

From the Lileks article:

[...]

So why does Kerry want to be president?

The reason is almost tautological: John Kerry wants to be president because he is John Kerry, and John Kerry is supposed to be president. Hence his campaign's flummoxed and tone-deaf response to the swift boat vets. Ban the books, sue the stations, retreat, attack. Underneath it all you can sense the confusion. How dare they attack Kerry? He's supposed to be president. It's almost treason in advance.

[...]

Inconsistencies are irrelevant, because he's consistently John Kerry. And he's supposed to be president.

[...]

From the Hanson article:

[...]

If John Kerry had once endured fire, his post facto exaggerations about war crimes — with lurid allusions to Genghis Khan — and slurs at veterans were aimed at advancing his own nascent political career at the expense of the reputations of thousands of anonymous, and mostly blameless, others.

[...]

Indeed, one of the striking things about watching the old Dick Cavett-hosted debate between John Kerry and John O'Neill is how naïve the young, articulate Yalie sounds about the probable consequences of a unilateral American withdrawal. He seems to have had not a clue about the true nature of a totalitarian Communist regime with a past — and future — record of mass murder, gulags, refugees, and political re-education camps. And his suggestion of providing a deadline for withdrawal from Vietnam sounded as naïve then as it does now in promises to leave Iraq within a scheduled time frame.

[...]

Other worthwhile reading: The Moderate Voice, TownHall.com: David Limbaugh, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Power Line, Instapundit

Ah, yes, I remember it well

Admiral who was there says Kerry lying about 1st Purple Heart

Admiral speaks out, disputes Kerry's account of 1st wound

Retired Rear Adm. William L. Schachte Jr. said Thursday in his first on-the-record interview about the swift boat veterans dispute that "I was absolutely in the skimmer" in the early morning on Dec. 2, 1968, when Lt. (j.g.) John Kerry was involved in an incident that led to his first Purple Heart.

"Kerry nicked himself with a M-79 [grenade launcher]," Schachte said in a telephone interview from his home in Charleston, S.C. He said, "Kerry requested a Purple Heart."

There's more. Go read it.

Even Jane Fonda apologized. Will you, John?

Oliver North: Bring it on, John

[...]

But that's not really the problem, either. The trouble you're having, John, isn't about your medals or coming home early or getting lost -- or even Richard Nixon. The issue is what you did to us when you came home, John.

When you got home, you co-founded Vietnam Veterans Against the War and wrote "The New Soldier," which denounced those of us who served -- and were still serving -- on the battlefields of a thankless war. Worst of all, John, you then accused me --and all of us who served in Vietnam -- of committing terrible crimes and atrocities.

[...]

Even Jane Fonda apologized. Will you, John?

New Word of the Week: Liarrhea

From the ever-unequaled Rachel Lucas:

Diagnosis: Liarrhea

It would be funny if the guy weren't running for president. ...

Don't miss her site. Make it a daily stop.

John O'neill Responds to Dem Accusations

From the WSJ Opinion Journal:

Are we controlled by the Bush-Cheney campaign? Absolutely not. The Swift boat veterans who joined our group come in all political flavors: independents, Republicans, Democrats and other more subtle variations. Had another person been the presidential candidate of the Democrats, our group never would have formed. Had Mr. Kerry been the Republican candidate, each of us would still be here.

We do not take direction from the White House or the president's re-election committee, and our efforts would continue even if President Bush were to ask us directly to stop.

Why have we come forward? As explained in "Unfit For Command," Mr. Kerry grossly exaggerated and lied about his abbreviated four-month tour in Vietnam. He disgraced all legitimate Vietnam War heroes when he falsely testified to Congress that we were war criminals, daily engaged in atrocities that had the full approval of all levels in the chain of command. So, once Mr. Kerry decided to apply for the commander in chief's job with a war-hero résumé, we felt compelled to come forward to explain why he is "unfit for command."

Read the whole thing.

Kerry Admitted Falsifying Combat Reports

In 1971, in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry openly admitted routinely falsifying after-action reports during his time commanding a Swift Boat in Vietnam. Read more about it here. So, now we're supposed to believe that Kerry obviously deserved the decorations he was awarded, including the three Purple Hearts that bought him an early trip home, just because those reports say he did? Vote for me! I'm a hero! Yeah, right.

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 19

[Continued from Update 18.]

It's almost tempting not to provide any links today but one, to Herman Jacobs's essay in the WSJ Opinion Journal. It's too good to even attempt to pick one or two outstanding excerpts. Just go read it.

Also very worth reading: The Moderate Voice

Other worthwhile reading: Dean's World, Silent Running, Tech Central Station, Michelle Malkin, Black Five, Captain's Quarters, Donald Sensing, Donald Sensing, Power Line, Instapundit, National Review, No Pundit Intended, Tim Blair, Tim Blair

John Kerry tanks on The Daily Show.

A few excerpts from a review by Dana Stevens, a Kerry fan, of his appearance on The Daily
Show:

If He Only Had a Heart - John Kerry tanks on The Daily Show

[...]

From the moment the senator appeared and sat down on the gray sofa where, just last week, Bill Clinton basked in the audience's applause like a cat lapping up cream, Kerry's charisma was less than zero: It was negative. He was a charm vacuum, forced to actually borrow mojo from audience members. He was a dessicated [sic] husk, a tin man who really didn't have a heart. ...

Watching Kerry strike out was especially heartbreaking given that Stewart was pitching not just softballs but marshmallows. Puffy interview marshmallows with rainbow sprinkles on them, and Kerry was letting them sail by as if he planned to get to first base on a walk. That may be how he hopes to win the presidency as well, but before he gets there, he'll have to jump through hoops a lot tougher than this exchange: ...

Muslims for Bush

I'm ashamed of myself for being surprised to find out Muslims for Bush existed. I'm deliberately not linking to the specific post this came from so you'll have to wander around on the site a little and come away more educated.

Within this world, there are two different George W Bush’s. One Bush lives in the mind of Hollywood and the media. The other resides within the body of the president, himself. Unfortunately, like many others, I had only come to know the media Bush. He was a bumbling speaker, who seemed to lack intelligence, and knew little about the world, outside of America. The European media even took this a step further, as they painted him to be a gun-totting, cowboy, country bumpkin. In fact, he had rarely, if ever, visited Europe.

Hat tip: Sergeant America

Update: See also Muslim WakeUp

JOHN GETS STUCK IN A QUAGMIRE VS. SWIFT FOES

Just a taste to whet your appetite, from Deborah Orin's New York Post Op-Ed:

AS THE Swift vets furor rages, even some fellow Democrats are lamenting that Sen. John Kerry's campaign war room looks pretty inept for escalating and prolonging it.

"If they think this is a winner right now, they're smoking something. It's time to take your lumps and move on. They've got to get back on their game and talk about jobs and health care," says a longtime Democratic strategist.

Hey, did you know Kerry was in Vietnam?

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 18

[Continued from Update 17.]

(The pictures are hyperlinks. Rumor has it the top one was taken by a Fox News photographer, but I'm guessing it might have been John O'Neill.)

Lots of links, almost no commentary from me, thanks to the stormy weather we've been having. Life continues to be stormy for Jean Fraud Kerry, as well. If you don't read anything else today, read Medal of Honor recipient on John Kerry. Other recommended reading: Black Five, Black Five, Black Five, Black Five, Black Five, Sondra K, Bastard Sword, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Power Line, Power Line, Neal Boortz, Instapundit, Instapundit, Instapundit, Instapundit, Instapundit, Mudville Gazette

John Kerry's "THE NEW SOLDIER" -- NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE, and IT'S FREE

He was proud of it when he wrote it, now he doesn't want you to read it. CLICK HERE for a look at it.

When Jean Fraud Kerry got back from Vietnam, his top priority was to build a reputation so he could go into politics. Toward that end (or maybe just because he's a two-faced lying backstabbing asshole by nature) he became a key member of Vietnam Veterans Against The War. He participated in high-volume slander of every G.I. who went to Vietnam, even to the point of testifying before Congress about non-existent war crimes and writing a book on the subject. When he decided he wanted to be President he put John Heinz's money to work buying up every copy of The New Soldier his lackeys could locate. He also refused to grant permission to the publisher to print new copies. What he couldn't do anything about was people who already had copies they might be willing to share. Guess what? The New Soldier is now available on the internet. Click here or on the picture above to get a downloadable copy to peruse at your convenience. On the same page, there are also links to Kerry's 1971 testimony before the U.S. Congress and to three free chapters of Unfit For Command, the other book Kerry really, really, doesn't want you to read.

A lot of Vietnam vets aren't going to be voting for Kerry. Some of them are even doing what they can to talk other people out of it. Now you know part of their reason.

The page with the links to The New Soldier is on a BlogSpot server. I've never gotten enough traffic to need to wonder if there is any bandwidth limit on BlogSpot, but this will be the test. It also wouldn't surprise me in the least to see the Kerry campaign try to take legal action to get the downloadable copy of the book removed from the net. Just to be safe, I've copied the http://johnkerrythenewsoldier.blogspot.com/ page to my hard drive, along with the book itself. I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of that. If it becomes necessary, I'll post links to a copy of the page, and to the book, at http://users4.ev1.net/~bdfaith/Op-Ed/Op-Ed.htm. Please, if you're reading this and the links to the New Soldier pages don't work, email bdfaith@yahoo.com and let me know about it.

Update: Sergeant America links to another site where the book is available and has the same attitude I do about picking up the torch and running with it if the first couple of guys who put it online get shut down somehow. Have you noticed how much success the record companies have had stopping people from sharing music files? ...

David Limbaugh -- A new daily read

David Limbaugh, whose columns I have found very enlightening since I first started visiting TownHall.com on a regular basis, now has his own blog. While you're in the neighborhood, swing by the index of his past columns and read a few of them, too. You'll learn something.

Methuselah's Daughter on Kerry

Methuselah's Daughter, an excellent writer with a mostly apolitical blog, has an interesting take on the mess Kerry's gotten himself into:

[...]

It is my conjecture that the failure of the Kerry campaign to adequately deal with the Swift Vets group has a deeper cause than merely the assumption that some nefarious coalition of left-leaning media commentators would see to it the story died a quiet death. ...

[...]

Read the whole thing. It's worth it.

It was a dark and stormy night .... Again

Well, once again I'm not going to get everything done that I'd hoped to tonight. I'm neither edicated enough nor rich enough to risk frying a computer because I was too stubborn to shut it off when I should have. At some point I'll have to decide which things on my to-do list I'll have to sacrifice to keep from blogging about 3 day old events. For now, just please bear with me.

A Marine Speaks

Something good from the New York Times for once, via Powerline:

[...]

I've learned that this enemy is not just a mass of angry Iraqis who want us to leave their country, as some would have you believe. The forces we're fighting around Iraq are a conglomeration of renegade Shiites, former Baathists, Iranians, Syrians, terrorists with ties to Ansar al-Islam and Al Qaeda, petty criminals, destitute citizens looking for excitement or money, and yes, even a few frustrated Iraqis who worry about Wal-Mart culture infringing on their neighborhood.

[...]

Now we are on the verge of victory or defeat in Iraq. Success depends not only on battlefield superiority, but also on the trust and confidence of the American people. I've read some articles recently that call for cutting back our military presence in Iraq and moving our troops to the peripheries of most cities. Such advice is well-intentioned but wrong...

[...]

Michael Moore recently asked Bill O'Reilly if he would sacrifice his son for Falluja. A clever rhetorical device, but it's the wrong question: this war is about Des Moines, not Falluja. This country is breeding and attracting militants who are all eager to grab box cutters, dirty bombs, suicide vests or biological weapons, and then come fight us in Chicago, Santa Monica or Long Island. ... No, I would not sacrifice myself, my parents would not sacrifice me, and President Bush would not sacrifice a single marine or soldier simply for Falluja. Rather, that symbolic city is but one step toward a free and democratic Iraq, which is one step closer to a more safe and secure America.

The above was written by a Marine helicopter pilot who's currently flying combat missions over Najaf. Please click the links to read the whole column. You owe him that much, at least.

I guess I won't run Google ads after all

I guess I won't be running Google ads after all. I clicked the There's AdSense in My Blog! link at http://www.blogger.com/home and tried to sign up for a pay-per-click ad program; I add a script to my blog template that lets them insert ads, then they pay me when someone clicks on the ads. Sounded good to me. I guess I should have read the fine print before I submitted the form. They wrote back and said ...

Unacceptable site content: Your website contains content that we do not allow at this time. Please review our policies (https://www.google.com/adsense/policies) for a complete list of site content not allowed on web pages.

When I went to the policies page I got this far:

Site may not include:

• ...
• Hate, violence, racial intolerance, or advocate against any individual, group, or organization
• ...

So, I guess if I promise never to say anything nasty about Jean Fraud Kerry, Michael Maggot Moore, Islamist jihadies, the Dummycrats, or any other protected species I can run Google ads. Come back next century to see if I'm running any yet.

More grandson bragging

From my daughter’s blog:

Well, I made it through my 2 year old son's birthday party. …

[…]

We converted the crib to a toddler bed and hooked his motion sensor back up. There is a horribly irritating beep that goes off whenever he leaves his bed now. I was up 4 times the 1st night and just once last night. When I did get him up this morning, he handed me the motion sensor base like he wanted me to be sure that it didn't start beeping. Smart kid. He also seems to share my hatred for sudden noises. Maybe that will teach him to stay put.

If I have this figured right, the motion detector in question is a baby monitor that makes a major racket if it can't hear someone breathing near by. If that's right, I'm guessing a month, max, for my grandson to figure out that if he takes it with him when he goes for a stroll it won't rat him out.

What a troll DOES NOT look like.

I have to call attention to what a troll does not look like, and mention a blog I hope you'll check out. In a comment to one of my posts, K-Squared said "Not much offends me, though I can't say I agree with all of your opinions, ..." Friends and neighbors, that is what's called "civil discourse." It's possible for sane, intelligent people to disagree without attacking each other. I was curious who, besides family and a few blog friends who pretty much see things like I do, would leave a comment like that, and I ended up finding a great blog I can go to when I need to step back from my election ranting now and then and just enjoy life. Don't miss The Second to Next Best Thing.

Learn about Max Cleland

So, Former Senator Max Cleland and a handful of sitting Democratic Senators (Remember Tom Harkin, who'd still be telling people he flew combat missions over 'Nam if Al Gore hadn't invented the internet?) want the President to condemn the swift boat ads. Let's forget about all the mud-slinging by MoveOn.org for a little bit and just get to know Max Cleland.

1. Fact: Mr. Cleland did serve honorably in Vietnam, contrary to John Kerry's testimony to Congress that every G.I. over there was a monster.


2. Fact: Mr. Cleland lost three limbs in an accident in 'Nam, not due to enemy fire. At least he's honest enough to admit it instead of asking for a medal for it like Kerry did for his self-inflicted scratches.


3. Firmly held opinion: Max Cleland is an asshole.

I could spend a couple of hours Googling up dirt on Max Cleland, but fortunately Sergeant America has done already done that and posted the information on his (so wonderfully named I'm jealous) Johnny Four Months blog. Click here to go straight to his post on Mr. Cleland.

I just discovered Johnny Four Months a couple of days ago, but it's on my daily visit list. "Sergeant America" was just leaving the Air Force about the time I enlisted and we seem to see eye-to-eye on just about everything. If I ever find myself disagreeing with one of his posts, or him disagreeing with one of mine, I'll definitely have to take time to stop and really think over my position on the subject.

Google Bragging ;-)

Google knows me! I got curious and Googled "Jean Fraud Kerry". 2 of the 28 hits were my blog ;-). That's not quite as cool as searching for "Waffles" and finding JohnKerry.com, but it was kinda fun.

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 17

[Continued from Update 16.]

Possibly the most significant post of the day yesterday: Captain Ed links to a Washington Post article that, as he puts it, "Runs A Stake Through The Heart Of Kerry's Cambodian Fable." Read the Post article and Ed's analysis. Denizens of the blogosphere have known about the Cambodia lie for some time, due in large part to Ed's research, but seeing an article so critical of Kerry in the Washington Post is earth-shaking. There will never be any way to prove it, but if Kerry loses the election I think a large part of the credit should be given to SBVT, Captain's Quarters, and Power Line.

Also worth noting, also from Captain's Quarters, is proof, from the Democratic National Committee's web site, that there has been major cooperation between MoveOn.org and the Kerry campaign. Click here to read Ed's post on that. This puts a whole new light on the Kerry campaign's whining to the Federal Election Commission about supposed cooperation between the Bush Campaign and Swift Boat Veterans For Truth.

The mainstream media has been enthusiastically spreading the word for a couple of days now that George Bush spoke out against "the SBVT ads." What the President spoke out against was all 527-funded ads. MoveOn.org has outspent SBVT by a factor of 20. I'm still waiting for Jean Fraud Kerry to condemn MoveOn.

Other reading: Donald Sensing, Donald Sensing, Q and O, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Power Line, Power Line, Power Line, Instapundit, Boston Globe , Instapundit, Instapundit, Instapundit, Instapundit, Red State

Give Texas Its Proper Weight In The Electoral College

As Austin Powers points out in a WSJ Opinion Journal - Extra column, The Lone Star State has for 159 years had the legal right to split itself into 5 pieces, each entitled to 2 Senators and its fair portion of Congressmen:

[Congress] granted its consent to Texas's potential subdivision 159 years ago. This made sense, as those had been the terms that Texas, a sovereign nation at the time, had negotiated for entering the Union. One provision of the 1845 Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas, passed by Congress and signed into law by President John Tyler, reads as follows:

"New States, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the federal constitution."

[...]

So what are y'all waiting for? Can anyone think of a good reason why we shouldn't mess with Texas? For the good of America, for the good of Austin, for the good of the GOP, now's the time for Texas to become five Texy-Tots. Yee-haw!

What Mr. Powers failed to note is that splitting into 5 pieces would also give Texas 8 more votes in the Electoral College, another reason all Texans, even expatriate Texans like me, should be in favor of standing up for their rights in Washington.

Best of the Web

I made myself a note Monday night to mention Monday's WSJ BEST OF THE WEB TODAY as soon as a permalink became available, but Tuesday's column was just as good. James Taranto has been on my daily read list for months, and recently he's been all over the Kerry situation. His column is good every day. Read it.

Service Pack 2 and ... Scripts? Active X?

I'm not sure now what Service Pack 2 didn't like about my blog the first time I opened it. It also gave me a message saying it might not be safe to open the Useful Links page I still use now and then to make it easy to find some of my daily reads. The message said something about Active-X, which makes no sense at all in terms of that page. I guess people running SP2 will figure out soon enough that it cries "Wolf!" now and then when it shouldn't. I just wonder how soon that will lead to ignoring valid warnings. I wish Microsoft had at least tried to build in a list of base sites that it wouldn't complain about running scripts from. I mean, there can't be more than a few million sites out there that run scripts from blogrolling.com, for Pete's sake.

I spent way longer than it should have taken me figuring out where I could put a message assuring my readers that it was safe to tell SP2 it was OK to run the scripts on my site. I wanted it higher on the page than it ended up, but that's the best I can do. If you missed it near the top of the page it says:

Windows XP SP2 Users: There may be a bar just above the top of this window telling you that Windows just blocked a script and that you need to click the bar if you want to let it run. I promise I'll never run any script that will do anything harmful to your system. I run scripts to display my blogrolls, my site meter, my standing in the TTLB ecosystem, etc. If I knew how to write a script to detect and delete pro-Kerry and pro-Islamist files from your hard drive I'd run that too, but I don't so you're safe. -- Bill Faith bdfaith@yahoo.com

I meant all of it. If I ever decide to study hacking, I might use my new-found talents on Islamist sites, or maybe against "MoveOn,org: Dumbocracy in Action" (No, I didn't forget to link to them. I don't link to scum.), but I'll never punish anyone for visiting my blog or my web site.

I'm going to end up having to skip my nightly John Kerry: Unfit for Command post. I'll include the links I would have used in tonight's post tomorrow night.

Light Posting Again Today

Looks like another day of less-than-normal production. I have excuses. Doesn't everyone?

1. I'm dedicated to my blogging, but not dedicated enough to get a computer fried by trying to forge on during a thunderstorm.
2. I took time to install Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. I like the new security features, especially since they'll make it harder for my nephew to take advantage of all of those free offers he'd be better off without, and I like the built-in pop-up/script blocking, but it's also going to be a little bit of a headache. There are some scripts, like the one to add a blogrolling.com blog roll, that they need to tell it are OK instead of people having to OK it every time they visit a different blog. The next thing I'm going to be doing after I post this is modifying my Blogger template to add a note promising XP SP2 users that there aren't any harmful scripts on my blog and won't ever be.
3. I just found out there was a new version of Ad-Aware available. (Click here to get a copy.) The old version was already pretty good, but the new version found some things the old version (and Spybot) had been missing. I recommend it whole-heartedly. BTW, I also recommend keeping a current version of Spybot Search & Destroy handy. You can get it here. I know it finds things occasionally that the older version of Ad-Aware missed. I don't know whether that's true compared to the new Ad-Aware version, but they co-exist well. Nothing wrong with wearing a belt and suspenders under that new SP2 raincoat. (Update: S & D just found some registry changes Ad-Aware missed. Like I said, nothing wrong with a belt and suspenders.)

I think I'll keep my Google toolbar running even though I don't expect to need its pop-up blocker any more. I like having one-click access to a Google search page and the Blog This button is something no Blogspot blogger should be without.

Kerry: Strange, Stuck-up... and Stupid

(London) Daily Telegraph columnist Mark Stein weighs in brilliantly on Kerry once more:

Kerry: strange, stuck-up... and stupid

[...]

I said a couple of weeks back that John Kerry was too strange to be President, and a week or two earlier that he was too stuck-up to be President. Since I'm on an alliterative roll, let me add that he's too stupid to be President. What sort of idiot would make the centrepiece of his presidential campaign four months of proud service in a war he's best known for opposing?

[...]

And even if he'd never slimed his comrades, there's something ridiculous about a fellow with four months in Vietnam running as Ike, the Duke of Wellington and Alexander the Great rolled into one. On Sunday, after calling on the Senator to apologise to the 2.5 million veterans he slandered, Bob Dole couldn't resist chipping in his own view of Kerry's wounds.

"Here's, you know, a good guy, a good friend. I respect his record. But three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of," he said. "I mean, they're all superficial wounds." Dole's right arm is withered and useless from wounds received in World War Two, and he never made a big hoo-ha about it in the '96 campaign.

[...]

After going around huffing and a-puffing that, if Bush wanted a debate about Vietnam, "Here is my answer: BRING. IT. ON," he's now gone to ground and is demanding Bush call it off. Meanwhile, his lawyers are threatening suits and the campaign's complained to the Federal Election Commission to get the Swift vets taken off air.

Hat tip: TigerHawk

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 16

[Continued from Update 15.]

Don't miss Silent Running's "Kerry Record Hot Topic on Talking Heads" -- or Business Week Online's: Why Kerry's War Record Matters. Further reading: Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Power Line, New York Post

I'm going to get some rest tonight and try to do better tomorrow.

JOHN A VIET CON: DOLE

New York Post Online Edition news: "JOHN A VIET CON: DOLE"

No comment necessary. Just go read it.

Details on those changes in the overtime law

I'm too wrung out to even attempt any sort of analysis tonight, but you can click here to read what the Department of Labor has to say instead of just listening to a bunch of talking heads who'll do anything in their power to make George Bush's administration look bad.

Not one of my better days

I left the V.A. hospital unimpressed and things went down hill from there. I may not even get around to my nightly Stop Kerry post tonight. Maybe tomorrow will be more productive. For now just call me AWOL I guess.

Light Posting Today

Posting will be light today due to an out-of-town appointment at a V.A. hospital. It will be late tonight or possibly tomorrow before things get back to normal.

John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 15

[Continued from Update 14.]

From Professor Glenn Reynolds:

THE RIGHT-WING ASSAULT MACHINE has been after Kerry for a while, it would seem. Who knew its tentacles extended so far? . . . [BF: The link goes to that notorious right wing attack rag The Village Voice. Click it!]

UPDATE: My God, they've been after him since the beginning!

Quote of the day, also from Professor Reynolds:

FIRST THEY IGNORE YOU. Then they attack you. Then you win.

For the most part, the mainstream media is still struggling to help Kerry however they can. I think at this point it's mainly a case of realizing how bad they're going to look, when the truth finally comes out, for continuing to provide such one-sided coverage as long as they did: In Bill's World, The American Mind, Dave Shearon. One the other hand, Newsweek has actually published a reasonably balanced article on the Swift Boat Vets' accusations:

... As sailors who weren't on Kerry's boat tell the story of what happened on March 13, 1969, Kerry did nothing very heroic. ...

More on the Kerry situation in general: In Bill's World, Investors Business Daily, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarters, Captain's Quarter's, Instapundit, U. S. News & World Reports, Black Five, Donald Sensing

Just another "Chicken-Hawk?"

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole suggested Sunday that John Kerry apologize for past testimony before Congress about alleged atrocities during the Vietnam War and joined critics of the Democratic presidential candidate who say he received an early exit from combat for "superficial wounds."

"One day he's saying that we were shooting civilians, cutting off their ears, cutting off their heads, throwing away his medals or his ribbons," Dole said. "The next day he's standing there, 'I want to be president because I'm a Vietnam veteran.' Maybe he should apologize to all the other 2.5 million veterans who served. He wasn't the only one in Vietnam," said Dole, whose World War II wounds left him without the use of his right arm.

Dole added: "And here's, you know, a good guy, a good friend. I respect his record. But three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of. I mean, they're all superficial wounds. Three Purple Hearts and you're out."

Click here to read the whole report.

Update: Rev. Donald Sensing quotes from a CNN Late Edition interview with Senator Dole:

But Senator Kerry's record in the Senate, I served with him for 14
years, I can't remember a single piece of legislation that bore his
name. And maybe he did a lot of good work, but it wasn't very obvious.

Click here to read Rev. Sensing's whole post.

Judicial Watch Calls For Investigation Into Kerry’s Medals, Anti-War Actions

(Washington, D.C.) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today filed a request with the U.S. Navy and the Defense Department for an investigation into the awards granted to Sen. John Kerry during his service with the U.S. Navy in Vietnam. Judicial Watch also requested that military authorities investigate Kerry’s anti-war activities, including his meeting with North Vietnamese and Viet Cong delegations in Paris, while a member of the Naval Reserve.

It's about damned time. Why did an outside group even need to remind DoD that this should be looked into? They should have had a cell waiting for the son of a bitch the day he got back from Paris.

Hat tip: The Foggiest Idea

Update: I just Googled Judicial Watch to make sure they weren't some sort of Right Wing hit machine. Their most recent prominent target seems to have been Vice President Cheney's energy task force. I think it's fair to say they really are nonpartisan.

Originally posted at 2:11 PM

Too fast to keep up with

Good things are showing up on the Blogs for Bush site too fast for me to even try to provide individual links and excerpts. Click the above button or the one in my sidebar every day.

Blogs for Bush: A Web of Connections

Click the picture and learn.

Hat tip: My Pet Jawa

The Saudi Visa Fiasco

From The New York Post:

9 IN 10 STILL GET SAUDI VISAS

IF al Qaeda wants to strike on U.S. soil before the elections, it still has available to it a gaping loophole it exploited pre-9/11: Saudis' easy access to U.S. visas.

Despite supposed reforms implemented by the State Department, current statistics obtained by this columnist reveal that nearly 90 percent of all Saudi visa applicants get approved. To put this in perspective, applicants in most other Arab nations — the ones that didn't send us 15 of 19 9/11 hijackers — are refused visas three to five times more often than Saudis. ...

As I've said before, the Bush administration is far from perfect, but it will only get worse if Kerry's elected.

A Poem For The French...

Eleven thousand soldiers
lay beneath the dirt and stone,
all buried on a distant land
so far away from home.

For just a strip of dismal beach
they paid a hero's price,
to save a foreign nation
they all made the sacrifice.

And now the shores of Normandy
are lined with blocks of white:
Americans who didn't turn
from someone else's plight.

Eleven thousand reasons
for the French to take our side,
but in the moment of our need,
they chose to run and hide

Click here to read the whole thing.

To: Main-stream Media -- Re: Potentially Imploding Aspirants for the Presidency

Sgt. Mom has an excellent post up regarding the media's childish refusal to take a close look at their anointed candidate, in spite of the fact that anyone who can spell "google" knows he has some serious flaws.

We shouldn’t have to make you cover the story, Main-stream Media— it’s your damn job. You have been telling us for years how special, and unbiased and credentialed and professional you all are, ...

Go read it all. It's good.

Update: I had the wrong link -- It's fixed now.

All Your Servers Are Belong To Us!

Rusty Shackleford of My Pet Jawa was making the rounds this morning and discovered that some enterprising American hackers had decided they'd had enough of the website Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's people use to post those lovely beheading videos and other equally glorious news. Click here to see how much nicer it looks now.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin

Remember that Iraqi soccer player who wants the U.S. to go away?

Remember that Iraqi soccer player who wants the U.S. to go away? Of course you do. ABC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC made sure everyone heard about it. Let Omar enlighten you about that situation:

This is the *BEST* acheivment Iraq has ever acheived in soccer.

***

I know some of our American friends are upset with the Iraqi team because of the latest comments of some players, but this is Iraq, not 1 or 2 players and the player who said these terrible words didn't even play! I wish you could forget that idiot and join us in our celebrations, as the truth must be said, it's a victory that you helped in in so many ways.