SwiftVets.com

[Nathanyl]

So far it seems like a VERY cold reception

[azpatriot]

I should hope so!
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Proud to be an American! and member of the PAJAMAHADEEN
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[ProudArmyWife]

I joyfully watched President Bush's address to the Guard yesterday...and lost count of the number of times his speech was interrupted by huge appaulse and cheers.

Today, I painfully watched Kerry's speech...and the silence was deafening...even on CNN's telecast you could hear that "echo" of a large empty space. Kerry made his standard political speech, and had the nerve to include his assertion that President for sending the military into Iraq without the proper equipment...guess he forgot his "NO" vote on that $87 billion.

There was scattered appaulse at polite intervals usually in connection with comments about the enormous service of the National Guard. After a few minutes CNN "lost" the satellite feed.... The commentator then reviewed Kerry's "talking points" but made no reference to his cold reception (actually she looked a bit embarassed for him...but maybe I'm just reading my own thoughts there...)

[neverforget]

The short glimpse I caught before going to an appointment was of a very sick and angry looking man. He looked awful.
_________________
US Army Security Agency
1965-1971

[Nathanyl]

On H&C Ollie just said hundreds walked out.

[docford]

Here is his speech to the National Guard Association. I can't believe he or his advisors would think this is a good approach to these veterans.


I’m honored to be here today at your 126th Convention. I can’t tell you how proud I am to stand before you – and how grateful I am to have the opportunity to talk with you today.

I came out here because I wanted to look you in the eye and say thank you. Thank you for your service; thank you for caring; thank you for the sacrifices you and your families make for our country.

I come from a state with a great tradition of service and a great understanding of who you are. You can’t live in the shadow of Bunker Hill, Lexington Green, the Bridge at Concord, and not know the meaning of Minutemen and citizen service to country.

For more than three centuries, as you know better than anyone, our National Guard has stood on the frontlines of freedom. The Guard fought in that first great revolution, and has defended our country ever since, here in America and around the world. Like those who came before you, you joined the Guard because for you, threats to our ideals were a call to action. You joined because for you, sitting on the sidelines in a time of peril simply wasn’t an option. And you joined because for you, patriotism isn’t just about saying you love your country – it’s about living it every single day. Please join me in sending our respect, our admiration, and the thanks of a nation to your brothers and sisters in arms who are standing up for freedom around the world.

There’s something going on right here at home, too. Every time you open the newspaper or turn on the evening news, you read those heartbreaking stories about floods, and fires, and hurricanes – when you see the indelible images of September 11th –the National Guard is there, often risking your lives to save ours. In the past few weeks, thousands of you have been in the eye of the storm, preparing for Hurricane Charlie, Hurricane Frances, and Hurricane Ivan – and afterwards, helping our citizens rebuild their lives. Behind the headlines, through countless acts of courage, honor and quiet sacrifice, all of you keep America safe – reporting for duty on a moment’s notice: “Ready, Reliable, Essential and Accessible.” Nothing could make us more proud.

The reach of today’s Guard is unlike anytime before. In Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans, you have been mobilized in record numbers for extended lengths of time. Gone are the days when you could tell your family that it would be just 6 months, just 9 months, just a year. Today, we’ve got people doing multiple deployments – serving 18, 20, even 22 months. We’ve got young kids here at home sending letters to their parents asking: When are you coming home? When will I see you again? And week after week, those mothers and fathers can only write back the same frustrating answer: I just don’t know.

Last week, we reached a tragic milestone in Iraq: More than 1,000 American servicemen and women have been killed in the line of duty – and more than 100 of them were members of the National Guard. Thousands more have been injured – many of them seriously so. I have visited with some of them in our military hospitals – and let me tell you, I cannot overstate their patriotism, their courageous spirit, and their commitment to our country and to their brothers and sisters still in harm’s way. We honor every last one of them for their proud service to our nation, and we pray for their families and loved ones.

But honoring your service with our thoughts and prayers is not enough. Especially when right now, in so many ways, we’re shortchanging our men and women in the Guard.

Those in uniform are duty bound to carry out the orders of the Commander in Chief. And I know that for those of you serving there is a natural affection and a sense of duty. I respect that and it should be that way. But in our democracy, which you defend, it is so important to have a truthful conversation about the choices we face in our nation.

Right now, more than 20% of our National Guard and Reserves don’t have health coverage. And two days ago, our President came before you, and promised that he’d give you TRICARE for “up to 90 days before [you] report, and 180 days after de-activation.” That’s a welcome change in their policy, but frankly, I believe that’s simply not good enough. I believe we can make better choices. When you sign up for the Guard, you should be eligible for TRICARE every day that you serve – before, during, and after mobilization – end of story.

Right now, thousands in the Guard still aren’t getting their paychecks on time -- and some don’t get them at all. So people are calling home from the frontlines, and instead of talking about how the kids are doing in school, they’re talking about how to cut through the red tape, and how to pay the bills. That’s wrong, and we have to change it.

Right now, too many in the Guard still don’t have the body armor, night vision goggles, and radios they need to do their jobs. Too many are using outdated equipment and hand-me-downs from regular forces – and they’re wondering if today will be the unlucky day when something just doesn’t work. That’s wrong, and we have to change it.

Right now, those who serve in the Guard can’t receive retirement benefits until age 60, and this Administration can’t find the funding to lower the age to 55, even while we’re spending $200 billion to go it alone in Iraq. That’s wrong, and for those who’ve served in active duty in conflicts aboard, we have to change it.

Right now, members of the Guard serving overseas are losing their paychecks here at home, passed over for promotions, and returning to find that the jobs they once held are gone. That’s wrong, and we have to change it.

Right now, our troops over-stretched and over-extended and the Guard and Reserve have been called on to fill the gap. As President, I pledge to you that I will end the backdoor draft of our National Guard.

So today, respectfully, I’d like to ask President Bush a simple question. When our Guardsmen and women are fighting the same war as our active duty troops…when they’re facing the same dangers, and coming home in the same wheelchairs, stretchers, and flag-draped coffins…how can we refuse to give them the same resources and respect we give our Regular troops? I believe we can make better choices.

The way I see it, this is a matter of values and priorities – and on these issues, President Bush and I couldn’t be more different. I believe that America’s security begins and ends with our men and women in uniform – with every member of our armed forces who stands guard at the gates of freedom. I will be a President who goes into the Oval Office every morning knowing that it is my job to help you do yours. I will fight for you every day, and I will never let you down. General Clark and I were talking on the way out here about the quality of our armed forces. You are America’s finest, the most capable, the most skilled troops in our history, led by the best military leaders in the world. And you deserve no less than the best.

And there’s something else we owe you and all the men and women serving right now in Iraq. We owe you the truth. True leadership is about looking people in the eye and telling the truth – even when it’s hard to hear. And two days ago, President Bush came before you and you received him well, as you should. But I believe he failed the fundamental test of leadership. He failed to tell you the truth. You deserve better. The Commander in Chief must level with the troops and the nation. And as president, I will always be straight with you – on the good days, and the bad days.

Two days ago, the President stood right where I’m standing and did not even acknowledge that more than 1,000 men and women have lost their lives in Iraq. He did not tell you that with each passing day, we’re seeing more chaos, more violence, more indiscriminate killings. He did not tell you that with each passing week, our enemies are getting bolder – that Pentagon officials report that entire regions of Iraq are now in the hands of terrorists and extremists. He did not tell you that with each passing month, stability and security seem farther and farther away.

He did not tell you any of this, even though – as the country learned today in the New York Times – his own intelligence officials have warned him for weeks that the mission in Iraq is in serious trouble. But that is the truth – hard as it is to hear. You deserve a president who will not play politics with national security, who will not ignore his own intelligence, while living in a fantasy world of spin, and who will give the American people the truth about the challenge our brave men and women face on the front lines.

The hard truth is that our president has made serious mistakes in taking us to war with Iraq. He was wrong to rush to war without giving the inspectors time to do their job. He was wrong to rush to war without understanding and planning for the post-war in Iraq – which itself has become an ongoing conflict. He was wrong to rush to war without the allies we needed by our side. He was wrong to send our troops into battle without the equipment they need to do their jobs. He was wrong to ignore the best advice of America’s own military – including his own Army Chief of Staff – about how many troops we needed to accomplish our mission. So when it comes to Iraq, it’s not that I would have done one thing differently than President Bush – I would have done almost everything differently.

And today, because of his wrong choices, America has borne nearly 90% of the casualties, and paid nearly 90% of the bill in Iraq. Contrast that with the first Gulf War, where our allies paid 95% of the costs.

And perhaps worst of all, the mess in Iraq has set us back – way back – in the war on terror. The simple fact is, when it comes to the war on terror, George W. Bush has taken his eye off the ball.

In the months after September 11th, our troops were doing a magnificent job in Afghanistan, and they were hot on the trail of Osama bin Laden. But instead of staying the course and letting them finish the job, George W. Bush turned over critical military operations in Tora Bora to a band of warlords. As a result, Osama bin Laden escaped, and we haven’t seen him since.

And today, three years after September 11th, Al Qaeda is operating in 60 countries, and gaining a whole new generation of recruits. And again and again, on the evening news, we see videotapes from bin Laden or his top lieutenants. This administration has said bluntly: It is not a matter of if al Qaeda attacks here at home – it is a question of when.

I believe America can do better than we’re doing. We simply cannot afford four more years of wrong choices that undermine our security and our standing in the world.

I also believe that despite the miscalculations, it is not too late to turn things around in Iraq and in our global war on terror. But we need a leadership that sees a better set of choices – better options for getting the job done. Who will bring in our allies. Who will train Iraqi forces at the right pace with the right partners, so our troops can finally come home. Who will never mislead you about the realities you face on the battlefield. And when I’m your Commander-in-Chief, that is exactly what I will do.

We all know too well that after September 11th, we face a new and mortal threat. Terrorist groups like al Qaeda and its copycat killers are claiming the right to execute the innocent. They confuse murder with martyrdom and fanaticism with faith. They use terror as a sword and religion as a shield.

They present the central national security challenge of our generation. But they are unlike any other adversary our nation has ever confronted. They have no president, capital city, territory, army, or national identity. We are not absolutely certain how they are organized or how many operatives they have. But we know the destruction they can inflict. We saw it at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, in a field in rural Pennsylvania. We saw the carnage, the unbearable carnage, in a school in Russia. We have seen it in Indonesia, in Bali and Madrid, in Israel and across the Middle East. And just imagine what the terrorists would do if they got their hands on nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

In this new era, it is imperative that we modernize the world’s most powerful military – that we build a 21st century military to meet these 21st century threats. Today, we need a stronger, more modern, better-prepared military to meet the challenges of the post-9/11 world.

As President, I will start by expanding America’s active duty forces. Today, our armed services are stretched far too thin. Nine out of ten active duty Army divisions are committed to Iraq – either currently there, preparing to go, or recently returned.

The war has been especially tough on the Army’s critical post-war specialists. Civil affairs. Military police. Combat support units. Psychological operations units. All are in short supply. All are nearly exhausted.

And since September 11th, we’ve called on our National Guard like never before. Today, 40 percent of our forces in Iraq are from the Guard and Reserve. Far too many of you have been on the ground for far too long – much longer than was expected or promised. Far too many of you face additional deployments in the months and years ahead. And a new government report warns that soon, we might not even have enough National Guard and Reserve troops to fight the war on terror.

That’s why, as President, I will add 40,000 new soldiers to our armed forces -- not to increase the number of soldiers in Iraq, but to help prevent and prepare for other possible conflicts.

I will also double our Army Special Forces to hunt down the terrorists. In Afghanistan, after September 11th, our Special Forces fought the Taliban with remarkable skill. We saw what they could do during the Iraq war, when two teams of American Green Berets totaling 31 men worked with Kurdish troops to defeat an Iraqi force numbering in the hundreds. The victory at the battle of Debecka Pass is a tribute to the flexibility, training, and courage of our Special Forces.

Of course, the battles of today don’t just require more manpower. Today, more than ever before, we are facing new threats which require innovative solutions. And that is the third part of my plan – equipping our military with 21st century technology to defeat 21st century enemies.

Nowhere is this more important than when it comes to the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The stark truth is that today, we’ve got to be prepared for a worst case scenario in which deadly weapons technology falls into the wrong hands. That’s why, as president, I will create new forces that specialize in finding, securing, and destroying weapons of mass destruction and the facilities that build them. Failing to do this simply isn’t an option.

Finally, if there’s one thing we’ve all learned in the war on terror, it’s that, even if we have the troops and technology we need, America can’t lead abroad unless we’re secure at home. And this Administration has mismanaged a key asset in keeping America safe – our National Guard.

The National Guard was intended to complement, not be a substitute for, active duty forces. Many of you are our first responders here at home – fire fighters, police officers, and emergency medical technicians. To take you out of your communities is to take down our critical first line of defense. That’s no way to protect America.

As President, I will recognize that homeland security is a Constitutionally-mandated mission of the National Guard. In addition to their current duties overseas, I will assign Guard units an additional mission to a standing joint task force, commanded by a General from the Guard. This task force will prepare, and execute, a coordinated strategy for homeland security, working with the states and the federal government to react in times of crisis. While our military can’t solve the entire homeland security challenge, the National Guard can make a real difference in protecting America from terrorism.

More than 200 years ago, when America was little more than a collection of colonies on the edge of a vast continent, your predecessors resolved to fight for our independence. Many were young – not much older than children. They had nowhere near enough weapons or training or supplies. They were just ordinary citizens coming together to fight for the land they loved. And together, they defeated an empire.

Their commitment to freedom shines on in all you do for our country and our world every single day. It’s been said that America “…will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” And today, standing here with all of you, I am confident that the United States of America will always remain the land of the free because it is home to all of you – and you are the brave. As President, I will never forget that our security and our strength begins with you – with a single soldier, standing a single post somewhere in the world. And I will always remain grateful to all of you who do this every day with such grace and such courage.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
_________________
Doc Ford
HMC (SW) USN

[ThaLeena]

Yeah, and did you see the two older guys in blue uniforms, (thinking maybe Air Force somehow). They actually lookded ticked (wanted to say a naughtier word). The one guy in the glasses was glaring, and I'm not imagining that.

And I kept thinking how sad that Kerry sold his soul along the way. So many lost.......and out of all the people who were lucky enough to come back from Vietnam, it had to be this ungrateful undeserving *****.

[dusty]

[LewWaters]

I started a thread on this speech a little earlier;

http://www2.swiftvets.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9628&highlight=

To me, he appears to be repeating his VVAW days and seems to be trying to undermine the morale of our troops, possibly to entice them to either desert or be placed in dangerous positions if deployed. Of course, he thinks he's just stumping for votes, but some of his claims to the NG while they are being deployed to war is unbelievable.
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Clark County Conservative

[RivanG]

Hmm... next thing you know he will be saying that the Guard can't do this task effectively unless a total gun ban is put in place and all guns collected from American citizens.

Some may say this scenario is far fetched... Is it really?
http://keepandbeararms.com/information/Item.asp?ID=3674

[TEWSPilot]

He might as well have ended his speech with, "and now, in preparation for your new role under a sKerry Administration, I would like for you to repeat your new battle cry. As is my nature, I have two for you to choose from:"

1. "Welcome to WAL-MART"
2. "Would you like fries with that?"
_________________
Find the perfect babysitter, petsitter, or tutor -- today!

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

I just watched the two speeches back to back on c-span.

The President's speech was his homeland security stump speech, customized to his audience.

He opened with a joke and then got down to business when the laughter ended.

He received numerous standing ovations - seven apparent, but several more implied, when the cameras did not pan the crowd, but the President had to wait to speak for the cheering to die down.

By contrast, Kerry opened with a couple of clunkers that were so painfully clunky that a few people applauded just because they seemed to think they should.

Thankfully, Kerry sped up his speech and didn't allow for applause breaks.

And there were none.

He banged relentlessly on Bush's "mistakes" and mishandling of the war and not one bit of applause.

And the band played Anchors Aweigh! Arrrrrrrrrgh! I can think of no one who deserves the Navy theme less than this charlatan!

"The Waltz of the Sugar Plum Fairy" would have been more appropriate considering the Christmas letter he wrote from Vietnam. (when he was supposedly inside Cambodia. )
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[lrb111]

[dusty]

This is what I'm talking about.

http://www.jb-williams.com/communism.html

[edited to enable url]

Communism… Alive and Well?

Written by JB Williams

©2004-07-02

Despite the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall, Communism is alive and well in the most unlikely places. It’s thriving in the hearts and minds of blind Party loyalists today. Most of them are unaware that blind Party loyalty is the core design of Communism. It’s the means by which people are driven to look past truth, common sense and personal thought, and walk the line of collective thought.

While the media and consequently most Americans, focus their attention on the war against terrorists, (better described as a war on jihad), the doctrine of Marx springs forth from the deeply rooted and fertile ground of anti-Americanism.

I have written on this topic many times, but in this case, I want to bring to your attention some very disturbing trends in America, even more disturbing evidence, and the linkage between true communists and their unsuspecting bedfellows in the Democratic Party.

You first need to understand the basic history and ideology behind communism. In short, it is the union philosophy, collective bargaining practices applied to everyday life, instead of just at the workplace. The idea that all men have the same economic worth, regardless of individual ambition, work habits, contribution, or choices, a Right to the same results, regardless of the differences in their efforts.

These ideas incorporate all inclusive social engineering, whereby all ideas, lifestyles, moral or immoral behaviors have equal merit, equal status, and all doctrines of individualism are set aside in favor of a supposed collective interest.

Like in the workplace, this concept requires a central power for collection and distribution of resources. A power to determine what is fair for all, collect the resources necessary to provide that equality, and distribute it accordingly. In the case of Communism, that central power is the government.

Anyone who has ever worked in a union job can tell you, the result of this form of equality is the unlimited reduction in productivity and resources. People with low ambition and poor work habits are elevated to equal status with those who carry the lion’s share of the load. More productive and ambitious individuals are lowered to equal status of those less productive. Inevitably, the desire for good work habits and personal ambition are eliminated, since unequal efforts will only achieve equal results.

This is the real cause for the fall of communism around the globe. No communist country has ever been able to feed itself long term, ultimately collapsing under the weight of its own lack of productivity which always results in a lack of resources.

This is the reason America was designed to be a society which protects the Rights of the individual over the collective group or groups. (Voting blocks)

But there is a strong movement in America today to replace our forefathers design with a collective bargaining system in which the central federal government collects an increasing amount of private resources, grabs responsibility of deciding everyone’s worth, and provides the government sanctioned benefits demanded by the people, (like heath care).

This my friends is collective bargaining, union mentality, socialism at first, and communism in the end. As you have already seen, the public demand for government services never ends, once it begins. Already, the government controls approximately 43.8% of America’s wealth, and it isn’t enough, they continue to outspend that.

True socialists/communists understand this, so do many politicians who promote these ideas under the guise of Democracy and equality. However, many unsuspecting bedfellows are unaware of what they are supporting. They focus on immediate needs (often with good intentions), and shortcut fix’s of allowing government to solve individual challenges, without considering the long term implications.

Some of the politicians who promote these ideas know exactly what they are promoting, and some are simply unsuspecting bedfellows themselves, pandering to the electorate for votes by the best means available. Either way, they are selling America out for personal power.

It’s important that the American people understand what they are supporting. This link Marxism Headlines & Archives provides an eye opening look into the communist movement in America today, and their connection to the DNC.

This link to Peoples Weekly World , and this one to Communist Party USA , and this one to International Socialist Review , and this one to Liberals-Vs-US.Us will provide the supporting evidence that this movement is in America, it’s well organized, and it is working in concert with the DNC, MoveOn.org, the Kerry campaign and others to unseat a President that threatens everything they believe in. This is the “Anyone but Bush” movement”.

The tactics used to promote communism and socialism have changed dramatically since the days of Stalin. America’s military superpower provided a formidable resistance to the spread of communism around the globe, so new tactics were required.

Today their tactics are more subtle, and in many ways more devious, as they fly (for the most part) below anyone’s radar. Their methods have been adjusted to win the hearts and minds of the people, who would then demand an ever increasing socialist government responsible for caring for its people’s daily needs.

You can clearly align the platform of today’s Democratic Party with that of either the communist or socialist agenda, but most people have never looked and compared. Many of the grassroots workers in the DNC are from the socialist and communist party’s. They realize that you would never knowingly vote for their candidate, so they adopt the next best thing, the DNC candidate, and they push the DNC further and further to the left.

Communists predicted long ago that they would achieve success in America without ever firing a shot. This is what they meant, and they are well on their way to that success.

The upcoming election is about more than the economy, the war on terror, Halliburton, Health Care, or jobs. America is divided right down the middle, 50/50. Half fights to preserve Americanism, free enterprise, individual liberty, and a Right to make what we choose of our own lives and our country. The other half has fallen victim to the drumbeat of “Anyone but Bush”.

This phrase, though used by many democrats across the country, was coined by the communist movement, as in, (though we can’t get a candidate of the communist party elected, “anyone but Bush” would be a step in the right direction).

The American people need to understand that our nations division is no accident. It was systematically designed, diligently deployed, as a means of eliminating individuals and creating voting blocks instead. Voting blocks that could be manipulated into casting certain votes for narrow reasoning, groups pitted against one another, in order to cause single issue voting, an electorate that could be swayed by policy promises geared towards the ideals of the voting blocks.

The system has been brilliantly employed. So much so, that today, we are more divided and fragmented than ever before in history. No amount of evidence seems to sway people’s opinions either. It’s almost a Jim Jones style grip that this ideology has on people. Most search only for facts that support what they choose to believe.

It’s easy enough to document the agenda of a George Soros, (who is attempting to buy the Whitehouse for John Kerry), and his hatred for America’s world power. It’s easy enough to debunk the rantings and misleading statements of a Michael Moore or a liberal media. But blind Party loyalists won’t hear the message, despite a mountain of evidence. Even conservatives now find themselves cornered into pandering in order to just slow the tide.

This presents the largest threat to America, more so than all the world terrorists combined. Party loyalists need to realize that loyalty to country, honor, truth and American principles are of greater value. Partisans need to understand that it does not matter who gets the credit, as long as the right thing gets accomplished. Who gets the blame won’t matter either, if we don’t turn this trend around. We need to face the fact that our forefathers had it right and that we are about to relive the mistakes of centuries past.

As the saying goes, you have to watch what you wish for, because it might come true!

[/url]

[Debs]

Dusty,

I think you are right as this scares me too, and I believe every person in this country should know that John Kerry is endorsed by the Communist Party USA - but then the fact that would not matter to many Kerry voters is even more disturbing. That a large number of Americans would actually vote for someone like Kerry, with all he did to aid and abet the enemy in the Viet Nam war, just totally boggles the mind. That he is even this close to possibly becoming CIC is sickening, and frightening. It is unbelievable to me that this man is not in jail for treason, instead of running for CIC. Ollie was right - Kerry is un-American.

And the Communists always said they would destroy us from within.

Debbie
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"No greater love..."