Stolen Honor

Here’s a site I want you to check out.

A Documentation of John Kerry’s Record of Betrayal.

Yes, I did say, the LA TIMES.
Not exactly a right-wing bastion, that. But even they admit it.
OTB has the details and links. And James says, also;

“Interesting. Kerry has had a couple of bad weeks and, presumably, Bush will gain further momentum from the convention. Still, absent major new developments, the effects of the Swift Boat controversy should diminish over time. Bush is going to refocus the race and give voters a reason to give him a second term; the convention speech is his next best opportunity.”

It strikes me that this large a poling shift means that voters who had previously decided to vote for Kerry have shifted… this isn’t just the rather smallish group of undecideds, here. This is a ground shift.

I wonder about a bounce from the convention, now. I had thought perhaps four points, a few weeks ago, but given the size of the shift being reported here, I have to wonder if, following the convention, it’ll be quite so large as that, even. I could be wrong, here, and in fact I hope I am. But I have my doubts.

Other side of the coin, here is that popularity, like infamy tends to feed on itself. The momentum has shifted… at a bedrock level. That much of a shift going into the convention may very well cause many to have a second look at the president… even those who had decided to vote for Kerry a few weeks ago.

(Updated 11:50 eastern to add quote from testimony)

Senate Committee
Vietnam War Hearing 1971
Foreign Relations
Washington, District of Columbia (United States)
ID: 181065 – 04/22/1971 – 1:11 – ns

Kerry, John F., U.S. Senator, D-MA

On April 22nd, 1971, 27 year old former Navy Lt. John Kerry testified against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War as a member of “Vietnam Veterans Against the War”. Senator J. William Fulbright (D-Arkansas) chaired the committee.

Coverage will include, in its entirety, John Kerry’s opening remarks to members of the committee, followed by questioning by some committee members. This event was filmed by NBC News. In those areas where there is not a complete film archive of Kerry’s testimony, it will be supplemented by audio from Pacifica Radio.

See ID 181060.

Seems my call for an apology from John Kerry to Max Cleland was one day premature. After seeing this relay tonight, I would expect about everyone will take up the call.

Oh, by the way Soxblog has a look at the Sham that Max Cleland tried to pull off yesterday. One wonders if Mr. Cleland will have anything to say to Kerry about what he said in 71, hmmm? Like for example… and listen for this passage of his testimony:

“I called the media …. I said ‘If I take some crippled veterans down to the White House and we chain ourselves to the gates, will we get coverage?’  ‘O, yes, we’ll cover that.'”

Might this idea have had anything to do with Cleland’s being sent? If I were being used in such a manner, I think I’d be right PO’d. Wouldn’t you?

Something else I want you to keep in mind tonight as you watch this, is somehting Francis Beckwith mentions over on Southern Appeal early this morning:

If Kerry was correct in his assessment of the Vietnam War in 1971–it was unjust and American should get out–then W’s joining the National Guard can’t be wrong as some Democrats are suggesting, since it decreased W’s likelihood of participating in the combat of an unjust war. On the other hand, if W’s joining the National Guard was wrong because it decreased the likelihood of his participating in combat, then Kerry was incorrect in calling it an unjust war. Maybe I’m missing something here. And I’m open to correction on this. But it seems to me that if Kerry was correct that the war was unjust, then it was much better for Bush to have joined the National Guard rather than wait to be drafted and participate directly in that unjust war.

As the letter that Max Cleland got handed yesterday along with his head, says:
“You can’t have it both ways.”

Boortz points up another lie from Kerry… and this is one I hadn’t heard before:

“Here are the words of The Poodle at a gathering in Richmond, Virginia on January 20th, 2003:

“I remember well April 1968 — I was serving in Vietnam, a place of violence — when the news reports brought home to me and my crewmates the violence back home, and the tragic news that one of the bullets flying that terrible spring took the life of [Dr. King.]”

Oops.  Small problem here.  If you look at John Kerry’s website you will see that he didn’t report for duty in Vietnam until November 16, 1968 .. more than seven months after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered.”

Does Kerry have any concept whatsoever, of the truth?

I’m here and now issuing a public call for John F. Kerry to offer an apology to Max Cleland for calling him a war criminal.

The question will come up during the RNC, where all the rather ummm… interesting people will be coming from in NYC… WND has the answer:

“WASHINGTON – An anarchist group planning disruptions at next week’s Republican National Convention in New York gets funding from a Ted Turner foundation as well as a foundation chaired by Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of the Democratic Party presidential nominee.

The Ruckus Society, besides getting support from the Tides Foundation, a favorite charity destination of Heinz Kerry, as previously reported by WND, has also received a $150,000 grant from the Turner Foundation via the Ecology Center, according to Activistcash.com.”

Oh, it gets better. These are not just your avergae protestors…

“The Ruckus Society seems to have no compunction about breaking laws when they become inconvenient to ‘the cause,'” reports the website. “John Sellers himself (the founder) has been arrested over 40 times, most notably outside the 2000 Republican National Convention, where he was held on a $1 million bond until the event had concluded.
“While radicals claim that Sellers was railroaded by law enforcement, it’s worth noting that police officers confiscated a variety of weapons from protesters at the scene of Sellers’ arrest, including piano wire and gasoline-soaked rags tied to chains.” 

So, now you know.

Not that any of these have any connection or coordination with Kamp Kerry, mind you.
(yeah, right) I wonder if we can ask John Kerry to disavow such tactics? can John Kerry stand up and say “I don’t want such idiots voting for me”?

No? well, then consider what happened in 1968 as an indication. The tactics of the far left so turned off the voters that the election went in landslide proportions to the Republican nominee.

CNN is reporting:

“Prices fell after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said gasoline stocks were unchanged at 205.7 million barrels last week near the upper end of their five-year average, the EIA said.

Analysts had expected gasoline supplies to decline due to summer vacation gasoline consumption, but gasoline demand over the past four weeks was just 0.7 percent higher than last year, the EIA said.”

So, that’s pretty much over, and we’re in not great, but OK shape for the immediate future, because the Administration was smart enough to leave it’s hands off the price of oil, and let the market sort things out. Think I’m kidding that this was the answer? Well, let’s consider this.

When was the price of crude, and thereby the price of gas, the highest? This chart shows clearly that it was during the Jimmy Carter years. (Click the chart for full size version.)

The chart here is from WTRG Economics. In their excellent article on the subject they suggest any attempt at price controls on oil, which many were urging the president to do, would be bad policy.  It points to the post Arab Embargo world, and says in part:

“The rapid increase in crude prices in this period would have been much less were it not for United States energy policy during the post Embargo period. The US imposed price controls on domestically produced oil in an attempt to lessen the impact of the 1973-74 price increase.  The obvious result of the price controls was that U.S. consumers of crude oil paid 48 percent more for imports than domestic production. Of course U.S producers received less.”

So, in reality the post-embargo limits imposed by Carter were what caused a good deal of our problem by limiting domestic oil production…. Which given that Carter was beholding to the enviro-wackos didn’t bother Mr. Carter in the least.

And isn’t it interesting that it was the Democrats in general, and John Kerry in particular who wanted price controls imposed, which history suggests is exactly the opposite of what we wanted to do?

Now… let’s get going in ANWR and other domestic sources. Cut the red tape, cut the enviro crap, cut the cafeteria style blending requirements and let the market do it’s work!

Looks like someone read my slam of Kerry yesterday. I know they didn’t… by my sitemeters… but, still it’s exactly what I said yesterday… at least part of it.

August 25, 2004

Senator John Kerry
304 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Kerry,

We are pleased to welcome your campaign representatives to Texas today. We honor all our veterans, all whom have worn the uniform and served our country. We also honor the military and National Guard troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today. We are very proud of all of them and believe they deserve our full support.

That’s why so many veterans are troubled by your vote AGAINST funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, after you voted FOR sending them into battle. And that’s why we are so concerned about the comments you made AFTER you came home from Vietnam. You accused your fellow veterans of terrible atrocities – and, to this day, you have never apologized. Even last night, you claimed to be proud of your post-war condemnation of our actions.

We’re proud of our service in Vietnam. We served honorably in Vietnam and we were deeply hurt and offended by your comments when you came home.

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t build your convention and much of your campaign around your service in Vietnam, and then try to say that only those veterans who agree with you have a right to speak up. There is no double standard for our right to free speech. We all earned it.

You said in 1992 “we do not need to divide America over who served and how.” Yet you and your surrogates continue to criticize President Bush for his service as a fighter pilot in the National Guard.

We are veterans too – and proud to support President Bush. He’s been a strong leader, with a record of outstanding support for our veterans and for our troops in combat. He’s made sure that our troops in combat have the equipment and support they need to accomplish their mission.

He has increased the VA health care budget more than 40% since 2001 – in fact, during his four years in office, President Bush has increased veterans funding twice as much as the previous administration did in eight years ($22 billion over 4 years compared to $10 billion over 8.) And he’s praised the service of all who served our country, including your service in Vietnam.

We urge you to condemn the double standard that you and your campaign have enforced regarding a veteran’s right to openly express their feelings about your activities on return from Vietnam.

Sincerely,

Texas State Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson
Rep. Duke Cunningham
Rep. Duncan Hunter
Rep. Sam Johnson
Lt. General David Palmer
Robert O’Malley, Medal of Honor Recipient
James Fleming, Medal of Honor Recipient
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Castle (Ret.)

Chain mail through my wife. I’ve had no time to check this out, but, it’s great if correct. The note suggested the writer had heard through the grapevine about it but checked it out herself. So she did, and found …

“….that in fact they have extended their program of military pay differential to 36 months.  So they will pay the difference between the reservist military pay and what they would have been paid at Sears.  This also includes allowing Sears reservists who are full-time employees to continue participating in the company’s life insurance, medical and dental programs, if they choose. The company will also hold a comparable position for these individuals for up to five years.

I thought I would pass this along.  It is nice to know that some companies support our military and their families.  The Customer Service Representative who contacted me said that “Sears has a heritage of commitment to families and home. This is a difficult time for military families, and Sears is proud to be able to take these actions to demonstrate support for their many co-workers who are serving our Nation”.

Consider it passed on.

and…. Well Done, Sears.  Your company just went back on my shopping list.

Lisa, over at Right Voices makes the point it IS illegal for Kerry to be contacting them. IN fact, reports Lisa…

“Sean McCabe, a spokesman for the 264-member organization, said it plans to send a cease-and-desist letter warning Kerry “to stop calling our members,” because it’s an independent “527” group and it’s illegal for campaigns to contact them.”

Sounds like they’re saying Kerry and his people have been making direct calls to the vets to DIRECTLY attempt their strong-arm tactics.

One can almost smell the desperation.

David Limbaugh has started a blog.

It’ll be interesting to see how he adjusts to the run-and-gun style of Blogging.

By now, you’ve seen the ongoing reports of two Russian Planes crashing. Odd because despite how badly conditionsed these Rusisan planes are, they don’t crash all that often, and certainly not two at once. I was hinkey on the deal. That suspicion was confirmed this morning by this CNN report

“MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) — Russia’s Interfax news agency has reported that a hijacking alarm was activated on one of two passenger jetliners that crashed over Russia in nearly simultaneous incidents.”

Last I knew, they had the black boxes and were doing up the data. We’ll see what we see.

““NEW YORK (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry accused President Bush’s campaign and political allies on Tuesday of conducting a campaign of “fear and smear” to avoid talking about jobs, health care and the war in Iraq.”

Memo to John Kerry:
Ummm…. John? Let’s go over some facts, shall we?

It was YOU who put your own war history front and center at the Democratic convention and of your campaign. Did you think anyone missed the phoney “reporting for Duty” meme? Of course, then there was the parade of Swiftees who support you… at least one of which has been caught in a flat-out lie in supporting you. All that footage of bullets flying, and through it all John Kerry in Uniform.

All that was YOUR doing, John. Your campaign, and for that matter, your entire convention said nothing whatever about new ideas… except in the most general of terms. There were no specifics offered at all. There was nothing mentioned about your great list of accomplishgments in the Senate. Of course in fairness, I must say that you HAVE no new ideas to mention, and no great record of accomplishment to mention, either. So, there’s nothing there for you to have spoken to, I suppose.

Be that as it may, now once they’re kicking your butt on the terms YOU YOURSELF set, you’re going to blame the Republicans for addresing the issues you, yourself were trumpeting as so much the issue so very few weeks ago?

Funny how you waited until you saw your chances at being elected, slipping away… and until a goodly chunk of your claims were exposed as lies, thereby raising questions about your integrity, or the lack thereof… before you suddenly decided that all these issues YOU RAISED, were out of bounds.

A little less than honest to be complaining, and blaming someone else for what you did to yourself, don’t you think?

Update: Welcome to Broken Masterpieces Readers.

Ralph Peteres in today’s NYP:

“John Kerry lied. Without remorse. To advance his budding political career. He tarnished the reputation of his comrades when the military was out of vogue.

Now, three decades later, camouflage is back in the fall fashion line-up. Suddenly, Kerry’s proud of his service, portraying himself as a war hero.

But it doesn’t work that way. You can’t trash those who served in front of Congress and the American people, spend your senatorial career voting against our nation’s security interests, then expect vets to love you when you abruptly change your tune.

Kerry might have won support had he apologized frankly for what he said in the early 1970s. But he no more disavowed his lies than he disclaimed the lies of Michael Moore.

Which brings us to problems two and three.

John Kerry doesn’t show a trace of integrity. Those constant flip-flops to suit the prevailing political winds are more troubling to military folks than many of the issues themselves.

Integrity matters to those in uniform. You have to be able to depend on the guy in the next foxhole — or swift boat. Trust is more important than any technology.

And John Kerry just doesn’t seem trustworthy.

Finally — and this is the one the pundits have trouble grasping, given the self-promoting nature of today’s culture — real heroes don’t call themselves heroes. Honorable soldiers or sailors don’t brag. They let their deeds speak for themselves. Some of the most off-putting words any veteran can utter are “I’m a war hero.”

Real heroes (and I’ve been honored to know some) never portray their service in grandiose terms.

Ouch!

Then again, this is pretty much of a kind with what I suggested late last winter.

“War heroes do not fight for their country, and then return to spend the next 30 years or so attacking both the country’s actions and call it’s fighting men ‘war criminals’, while working tirelessly to hamstring that country’s actions and giving support to that country’s sworn enemies.”

The reason he’s gotten this far is he’s always gotten a pass… nobody’s called him on this stuff. Ann Coulter adresses this point a couple days ago:

“The problem with a suck-up press for Democrats is that with no adversary press to call them on it, Democrats develop wilder and wilder Walter Mitty fantasy lives until finally one day, when they are at the zenith of their political careers, someone notices that they’re not Irish, they didn’t deserve their war medals, 254 Swift Boat veterans hate them, and they didn’t spend Christmas Eve, 1968, in Cambodia. (Or that they are white-trash serial molesters and unrepentant rapists who somehow talked their way into an Arkansas governorship.)”

Personally, I have my doubts Kerry can ever recover from these revelations. Which is good, because if he ever became president, I doubt we could recover from him.

Drudge yesterday:

“After warning about the “Death of the West,” bestselling author and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan now declares: “There is no conservative party left in Washington.”

Know what? Buchanan’s quite correct.

Thing Buchanan hasn’t figured out yet is, that list would seem to include Buchanan himself. Buchanan has never BEEN a conservative, being rather, a populist of he first order.

Which makes the remainder of his commentary on the subject laughable at best.

He’s been right, occasionally over the years, and I’ve supported him, in those times.
This isn’t one of them.

Buchanan’s claims, though put an interesting twist of the Democrats and theor portrayal of Mr Bush as a far right-winger… the second incarnation of Hitlerm etc, etc… Buchanan’s saying Bush isn’t even a conservative. And know what? Pat’s right. Mr. Bush has never been anything but a centerist.

That designation, however, still puts him head and shoulders above John Kerry in terms of what’s good for this country.