SwiftVets.com

[BL]

OPERATION STOP THE PRESS:
Background:
The pursuit of the press and media to discredit the Veterans has been shocking to me in many aspects and I have decided to take a stand about it. I am using good ole trusty google news to find any and all articles pertaining to swift vets, and issuing corrections where they may be needed. I think it is time for the vets to go on the offensive and take a few hours out of our day to set the record straight, each of my posts in this thread will contain the publication, author, name of the article, url to it and the response sent to them. In the response to the publications I am letting them know that I am posting everything on the swiftvets website. If others would like to join, I will post an example in a few minutes. I feel it is necessary to combat this, being a vet myself (non-combat type), I am not happy about how they are trying to paint these warriors, it is a very very sad thing.

Objective:
Correct the media's attempt at trying to discredit these warriors that served our country proudly. Semper Fi (Always Faithful)

Suspense:
No suspense given, issue corrections to all media publications until they stop reporting falsehoods about the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

[BL]

1.)
Publication: The Oregonian
Author: David Sarasohn (davidsarasohn (at) news.oregonian.com)
Title of Article: GOP fires another shot at Kerry's boat
URL to Article: The Oregonian

Link hypertexed by Admin

Response sent via feedback/comments section (Main publication):
In David Sarasohn's August 8th article, "GOP fires another shot at Kerry's boat," Mr. Sarasohn states that, "Rassmann is a collateral casualty in last week's assault on Kerry's Vietnam record by Swift boat veterans who never served on his boat..."

I strongly believe a serious correction must be issued in regard to the article stated above. Recently, a Vietnam veteran by the name of Steve Gardner, one of Kerry's first class gunner's mates in Vietnam (November thru January), has come foward. Gardner has taken part in more than one interview. A copy of the transcript when Gardner was on the Michael Savage show can be seen at the Swiftvets' website. I am more than sure that Michael Savage would provide the soundbite and the official transcript of the conversation for you if requested.

URL for transcript:
http://www.swiftvets.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1762

I find your reporting to be rather disingenuous and have concluded that with even a small investigative effort, your publication would have been able to uncover the information stated above.

I will post your article and my response at the Swiftvets' website. I hope this correction will be issued in a timely fashion and placed on a page in your publication that will allow the maximum visibility to all your readers (as what was posted in your article was highly erroneous). Thank you for your time.


Response sent to David Sarasohn personal email address:
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004 04:55:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Willy M" <bill_con2004@yahoo.com>
Subject: Concerning Correction for your August 8th Article
To: davidsarasohn@news.oregonian.com

Mr. Sarasohn,

In your August 8th article, "GOP fires another shot at Kerry's boat," you stated that, "Rassmann is a collateral casualty in last week's assault on Kerry's Vietnam record by Swift boat veterans who never served on his boat..."

I strongly believe a serious correction must be issued in regard to the article stated above. Recently, a Vietnam veteran by the name of Steve Gardner, one of Kerry's first class gunner's mates in Vietnam (November thru January), has come foward. Gardner has taken part in more than one interview. A copy of the transcript when Gardner was on the Michael Savage show can be seen at the Swiftvets' website. I am more than sure that Michael Savage would provide the soundbite and the official transcript of the conversation for you if requested.

URL for transcript:
http://www.swiftvets.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1762

I find your reporting to be rather disingenuous and have concluded that with even a small investigative effort, your publication would have been able to uncover the information stated above.

I will post your article and my response at the Swiftvets' website. I hope this correction will be issued in a timely fashion and placed on a page in your publication that will allow the maximum visibility to all your readers (as what was posted in your article was highly erroneous). Please note, this was also sent to the publications feedback section. Thank you for your time.

Bill M, Hawaii 96815
bill_con2004@yahoo.com

Perhaps the grammer police will step in and help out a little with this, I suck at english (pathetic I know) and any help would be appreciated.

I hope others will come join this battle with me, we need to get some manuever warfare going on these people (i.e hit them from all angles with the element of surprise and shock being obtained), show them the real "band of brothers" and sisters.

[Theresa Alwood]

Here are some e-mail address for Fox News Channel: Let's hit them and hit them hard and let them know that we want the swiftvets to be heard and heard loudly - we stand behind out swiftvets and support them for trying to get the truth out about John Kerry.

General FOX News Channel E-Mail Addresses
Viewer Services
Viewerservices@foxnews.com

FOX News Channel Comments
Comments@foxnews.com

FOXNews.com Comments (website)
Foxnewsonline@foxnews.com


FOX News Channel Show E-Mail Addresses

After Hours
Afterhours@foxnews.com

FOX Report with Shepard Smith
Foxreport@foxnews.com


At Large with Geraldo Rivera
Atlarge@foxnews.com

Hannity & Colmes
Sean Hannity
Hannity@foxnews.com

Bulls & Bears
Bullsandbears@foxnews.com

Hannity & Colmes
Alan Colmes
Colmes@foxnews.com

Cashin' In
Cash@foxnews.com

Heartland w/ John Kasich
Heartland@foxnews.com

Cavuto on Business
Cavuto@foxnews.com

On the Record with Greta
Ontherecord@foxnews.com

DaySide with Linda Vester
Dayside@foxnews.com

Special Report with Brit Hume
Special@foxnews.com

Forbes on FOX
Forbes@foxnews.com

Studio B with Shepard Smith
Studiob@foxnews.com

FOX & Friends
Friends@foxnews.com

The Beltway Boys
Beltway@foxnews.com

FOX Magazine
Foxmagazine@foxnews.com

The Big Story with John Gibson
Myword@foxnews.com

FOX News Live
Feedback@foxnews.com

The O'Reilly Factor
Oreilly@foxnews.com

FOX News Live Weekend Edition
Feedback@foxnews.com

War Stories
Warstories@foxnews.com

FOX News Sunday
FNS@foxnews.com

Your World with Neil Cavuto
Cavuto@foxnews.com

FOX News Watch
Newswatch@foxnews.com


Go to CBS.com and click on the icon for shows and scroll to the bottom of each page and see the "contact us" and click on that. I am working on NBC and ABC next!

Calling on Vets to Service to let these stations hear from us!!!
_________________
Born to raise a little hell!

[Bob Chamberlain]

Thank you Theresa for posting these email addresses. I sent emails containing the following text to nearly every email address on your list. I urge all of you to do the same. Don't use my words, because it will sound too much like an orchestrated campaign and simply give them an excuse to ignore us. But DO use calm and reasoned language to make them understand why this issue is so important to so many of us. We simply must do all we can to convince the media to let the voices of the Swiftvets be heard.


Sir;

I have been following your "coverage" of the Swiftvets' charges against John Kerry and find it biased and wholly inadequate. These Swiftvets have, in the finest tradition of our Founding Fathers, comitted their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to correcting the false picture John Kerry is painting of his military service. They have prepared a detailed rebuttal of his claims and backed it up with numerous sworn affidavits. Even if you do not choose to believe these men, John Kerry's own words damn him. He has not been clever enough to lie consistently over the years and the inconsistencies in his various statements and "sworn" documents lend credence to the claims made by the Swiftvets. FoxNews prides itself on being fair and balanced. I challenge you to take a close look at the various claims and charges about John Kerry's military service. Take a close look at the men making the various statements. Put pressure on John Kerry to open his full military records to the public. If he has nothing to hide, he should have no reason to refuse.

This is an issue that does matter. To millions of men and women who served in Vietnam, it is abhorrent to think of a political opportunist like John Kerry sitting as the Commander-In-Chief of our sons and daughters who now serve our country as we once did. We feel he betrayed us then and we fear he will betray our children and grandchildren now. These Swiftvets are speaking for us - for millions of us. You must allow their voices to be heard.

Name
Address
Phone Number

[LewWaters]

The link will take you to a site that lists virtually every newspaper in the country and I believe even a few overseas. Click on the state, then city and follow down to whichever paper you wish to address.

http://www.usnpl.com/
_________________
Clark County Conservative

[ASPB]

Here a great list including email address of media contacts.

Litttle Green Footballs: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-press.php
_________________
On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[Dane]

It would be helpful if someone could draft a broad outline of a "letter to the editor" listing the salient points of our objections. Thus each of us could then adapt it to our own styles and send them to all of the newspapers in our areas. This would not be a rebuttal to erroneous information already printed as is the subject of this thread but, rather, more like a press release routed through we "local reps" of SBVT.

Dane

[Bob Chamberlain]

This is the text of the email I am sending out to every media outlet I can find a contact for. There are email addresses listed in the thread "Operation Stop The Press" The Fox news addresses seem to be pretty accurate. I had only one email "bounced". The ABC addresses listed on the "littlegreenfootballs" Website are almost all unreachable. So far (I am down to about #20 on the list), the rest seem to be pretty good.

I encourage all of you to email these addresses as well. But I also recommend that you not copy my words directly. Say the same things maybe, but in your own words. Be clear, reasoned and polite. But write!!

Sir;

I have been following the national media "coverage" of the Swiftvets' charges against John Kerry and find it biased and wholly inadequate. These Swiftvets have, in the finest tradition of our Founding Fathers, comitted their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to correcting the false picture John Kerry is painting of his military service. They have prepared a detailed rebuttal of his claims and backed it up with numerous sworn affidavits. Even if you do not choose to believe these men, John Kerry's own words damn him. He has not been clever enough to lie consistently over the years and the inconsistencies in his various statements and "sworn" documents lend credence to the claims made by the Swiftvets. I challenge you to take a close look at the various claims and charges about John Kerry's military service. Take a close look at the men making the various statements. Put pressure on John Kerry to open his full military records to the public. If he has nothing to hide, he should have no reason to refuse.

This is an issue that does matter. To millions of men and women who served in Vietnam, it is abhorrent to think of a political opportunist like John Kerry sitting as the Commander-In-Chief of our sons and daughters who now serve our country as we once did. We feel he betrayed us then and we fear he will betray our children and grandchildren now. These Swiftvets are speaking for us - for millions of us. You must allow their voices to be heard.

Name
Address
Phone Number

[Dane]

I´m trying to get a handle on all of the bullets:

-- He won´t release any documents concerning his first Purple Heart. That´s a fact. I can only assume that the release would not be in his best interests.

He released an addendum to a FITREP (first page only) that was submitted nine months after the reporting period that reported the award of a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, another Purple Heart, and somewhere in there , there was a third Purple Heart.

I received some pretty good non-combat awards. In each FITREP there were details of the awards - not simply a mention that I had earned them. That is to say, the citacion was pretty much quoted in my FITREP. The Concurrent FITREP that was forwarded nine months later IOT correct the original does not give details - it simply says that some awards were awarded. Normaly a reporting senior would quote the citacion in the FITREP. That does not come out in the FITREP that is offered

We need to see all documentation of this recommendation and approval of the (first) Purple Heart.

[Dane]

All of the aforementioned was to say that Kerry feels that there is something suspect in those records. I try to imagine how, after being turned down by my CO for a Purple Heart, ¿how can I go about getting it?

I spent 23 years in the Yacht Club and I know how to pull tricks. I thiink that Kerry also knew how to pull tricks.

Fine. We´re devils in the same disguise. But I´m not running for Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces.

[ASPB]

and the third PH plus the Bronze Star and the Silver Star.

I'm absolutely convinced he wrote them himself and George Eliott approved them because an honorable man by nature trusts an officer and gentleman...until he can't.

Unfound trust in this case imho.
_________________
On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[lolajl]

I spoke with my husband, who was in the Army for 9 years, and he said that there are people who write up recommendations for themselves and the superior will sign off on these. He knew someone who he went to school with who worked in Personnel, so what he did was go into some of the files, make copies, white out and put in his name in order to get himself promoted to E6. So it's very likely that Kerry did something like this, but then we'll never know unless his records get released. Is there any point in filing for a FOIA on these records?

[karlaerin]

Here is the letter that I've sent out to everyone on the Fox email list that Theresa provided. I also sent it to the different news programs on CBS and NBC. The majority of the ones from ABC have been returned. I also sent them to all of the newspapers in my old home state of Arkansas. Maybe my Democrat grandparents will see what I have to say without me actually having to come out and vocalize what I think and risk starting a family feud .


Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing as an American citizen who believes that every citizen has the RIGHT to hear the unvarnished, unadulterated, unbiased truth and be allowed to make up their minds themselves. It is high time that the media stop opining and start reporting pure substantiated fact. The SWIFT Boat Vets for Truth have the right to be heard just like the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the Democrat Underground, MoveOn.org, and other Democrat/liberal organizations have the right. John Kerry seems incapable of taking criticism (that is not good for a Presidential candidate). With the airing of this ad, he sent his lawyers out to threaten TV and radio stations with lawsuits if they air the ads. That is not right. That is attempted censorship and coercion. Being coerced into silence is a crime. Read the article below which was cited on the http://www.swiftvets.com/ forum and check out ALL of the evidence. Do not just brush it off as a "right-wing conspiracy" the way Senator Hillary Clinton seems to always try to do.

I urge all of you to take the moral high ground for once and report this in its entirety. No sugarcoating. No spin. No opinion. Give the American citizenry the benefit of the doubt and allow us to make up our own minds. Do not spoonfeed us with what you want us to believe. The majority of us were not born yesterday and we are not stupid or ignorant.

Thank you for your time.

"Name"
"Location"(further text included, but truncated in this post for space. I had included the article that was in another thread and documented all of the evidence against Kerry)

I had trouble sending the email earlier today because many of the target inboxes were full, but I finally got it through. Keep it up. The more mail they get, the less likely they'll be able to just simply ignore it.

I just received this reply from one of the Arkansas newspapers. It is very bitter:
"This is propaganda, not "facts," and you're gullible to think otherwise. I'd suggest that you 1) do some legitimate "unbiased, unopinionated" research on your own, 2) quit pointing fingers at other candidates when your own candidate is guilty of everything you've accused Kerry of and 3) stop telling the media what to do. If you're going to spout your opinions, most newspapers have letters to the editor for just such a purpose.

By the way...Bush was not a military man at all. It's funny that when Clinton ran for president this was such a sore point for Republicans, but now, all of that is forgotten."

I don't know about all of you, but someone in the National Guard is as much a military man as someone in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Marines. Here is the email address of this Newspaper for you to email them yourselves: news@ashleynewsobserver.com

I'll post any other replies I get.

On a quick subnote, the Dems. lost another seat in Congress. Conservative LA Congressman switched parties and it's too late for the DNC to put in a big-name Dem. to run against him.
_________________
If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a soldier.

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Whoa! Looks like that's one Arkansas paper that's really interested in getting the unbiased truth out to it's readers! :::/sarcasm:::


_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[karlaerin]

Yeah, tell me about it. Whoever it was didn't even sign their response. Must not be too proud of their position.

Btw, do you happen to know where we can get copies of all of the signed affidavits?
_________________
If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a soldier.