SwiftVets.com

[theflickster]

The good news .... is that Brian Tracy, motivational speaker... is well known and sent this to his entire mailing list which is huge.... even better.. the article is good too!

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The Emperor Has No Clothes
By: Brian Tracy

http://www.briantracy.com/main/Article.asp?ArticleID=101&CategoryID=3&LID=1890

John Kerry is neither a “war hero” nor a “patriot.” It is about time that someone pointed out that “the emperor has no clothes” and that Americans are being presented with a false choice.

If you read the newspapers long enough, a series of facts emerge that appear undeniable and irrefutable. But no one seems to want to “connect the dots” for fear of offending the powers that be in the national media, such as CBS.

Here is what we know. First of all, Kerry did not “volunteer” for service in Vietnam. While in college, he applied for deferment from military service four times and got it each time. He was rejected on his fifth try. In desperation, he joined the Naval Reserve, hoping he would never be called up.

George W. Bush joined the Army Reserve during the Vietnam conflict. He spent many hours and took exhaustive training, qualifying to fly fighter jets in combat. He could have been called up for active service at any time.

Kerry’s attempts to avoid military service were in vain. He was sent to Vietnam, where he spent a month behind the lines being trained as a junior officer. He then served for 10 weeks on Swift Boats before he cut and ran for home. This is heroism?

Kerry proudly boasts that he won five medals in 10 weeks of active duty (a record!). He received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. But for what?

His Silver Star was awarded when he supposedly ran his boat ashore, jumped out and ran down a Vietcong soldier, killing him and capturing his rocket-propelled grenade.

Later it turned out that another Swift Boat officer had run his boat ashore earlier and had already shot the VC soldier. Kerry arrived after all danger was past, followed the blood trail of the wounded soldier, and then shot him, probably in the back. No one knows for sure, and Kerry has never told anyone what actually happened. He was the only witness. Kerry then wrote up the Action Report, putting himself in for a medal, which he eventually received.

Two of his Purple Hearts were clearly bogus. They were self-inflicted wounds. There was no enemy fire at the time (the minimum requirement for a Purple Heart). Max Cleland, ex-senator from Georgia, lost two legs and an arm in Vietnam, but did not receive a single Purple Heart, because his wounds were not suffered in combat.

Kerry’s first Purple Heart came from a tiny, band aid-sized shrapnel wound that he got when he fired a grenade at the riverbank. He was too close and a fragment of the grenade hit his arm. He immediately put himself in for a Purple Heart and was refused. Somehow, and these records are still classified, he got the medal anyway.

His second Purple Heart was awarded, again at his request, after he had dropped a grenade in a store of rice and failed to get away fast enough. As a result, he got rice fragments in his backside that had to be removed with tweezers. His third Purple Heart was awarded under similar circumstances.

Kerry’s Bronze Star, for pulling a man out of the river, was another bogus award. Here is what happened: Five Swift Boats were moving up the river together. One of them hit a mine. Kerry’s boat took off, fleeing to the far side of the river. The other Swift Boats stayed to help the damaged Swift Boat and its crew. The machine gunners in the boat sprayed the bank to discourage any enemy fire. When their fire was not returned, they stopped shooting. When Kerry saw that there was no enemy fire, no danger, he sped back from where he had fled, and grabbed Rasmussen out of the water. At no time was anyone in any danger.

After this incident, Kerry again wrote up the Action Report and recommended himself for a Bronze Star, even though there was no enemy fire at any time, according to all the crews of all the other Swift Boats, except for Kerry’s, which had fled the area when the mine exploded.

As soon as Kerry was given his third Purple Heart, he immediately applied to be discharged from service in Vietnam, and was promptly sent home. He bailed out on his “band of brothers” without hesitation, leaving them to serve out their full year in combat.

If you doubt this version of events, there is a simple way to refute the statements made above. Just have John Kerry authorize the release of the approximately 94 pages of documents in his file at the Navy Department. These papers will clarify everything. But John Kerry must authorize their release. This is something he adamantly refuses to do. I wonder why?

When Colonel Oliver North was offered his third Purple Heart for wounds suffered in combat in Vietnam, he refused to accept it. He preferred rather to stay with his men until the end of their tour of combat together.

As soon as Kerry got back to the US, he immediately turned on his “band of brothers,” accusing them of war crimes and atrocities they had never committed, and which he had never seen.

Kerry is a son of privilege, never having worked a day in his life. He is fabulously wealthy as a result of money from his parents and his two wives. He has at least four homes, multiple vehicles, a private jet and a life of luxury that few can imagine.

Regarding his so-called “patriotism,” this is bogus as well. A patriot is someone who loves and believes in the goodness of his country. From Kerry’s first anti-war statements, throughout his 18-year career in the Senate, he has voted against every American weapons system, against the first Gulf War, against the funding of the current Iraq war, and against the funding of our intelligence agencies. He opposed the Stealth Bomber and the Abrams M-1 Tank. He opposed funding for Kevlar Vests for our soldiers. He has supported every tax increase and regulation on business that has ever been proposed. He has expressed continual disdain for America and American values of self-reliance, self-responsibility, and military strength in a dangerous world. Call it whatever you like, this is not patriotism.

His running mate, John Edwards is an embarrassment to every honest American. He is supposedly worth $70 million dollars today, most of it coming from bogus lawsuits that have ruined the careers of doctors, bankrupted hospitals and clinics, and driven malpractice insurance costs so high that doctors have quit or moved away.

Edwards pursued these fraudulent lawsuits with full knowledge that they were based on false claims. Every bit of independent medical research proves that there is no relationship between cerebral palsy in children and the reluctance of doctors to perform Caesarian deliveries that he claimed would have saved the children from the cerebral palsy that they later developed. It turns out that cerebral palsy is a genetic problem that is inherent in the child from shortly after conception in the womb.

These two men are the chief exponents today of the “something for nothing” virus that is corrupting American society. Kerry is attempting to be a “hero for nothing,” never having been in harm’s way, and never having stayed overnight in a hospital for his wounds. Edwards is fabulously wealthy, never having done anything worthwhile for others, except to extort money by exploiting a tort system that is out of control.

Their political platform is a series of “something for nothing” proposals. They want “Peace for Nothing,” “Medicare Benefits for Nothing,” “Increased expenditures and government give-aways for all” — for nothing.

Giving these people power would be like giving teenage boys car keys and whiskey.

America is a great country, the best in all of history. The United States is still “The shining city on the hill” for people all over the world who want to come here. The American dream is still alive and well, and available to us and our children, if we will work for it, and fight for it.

On November 2nd we must once again exercise our right to vote to choose American values, American strength and American leadership as our guiding light for the years ahead.

Unfortunately, Kerry and Edwards would lead us not toward the lights of freedom and prosperity, but back toward the darkness of class warfare, American weakness and national irresolution in the great challenges that we must face, and face down, in the years to come.
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If Kerry is the answer.... It must have been a STUPID question.

[pneal]

I compliment you on your eloquence and wish that you were writing for President Bush. You have a firm grasp on the "whole" picture and paint only one conclusion for the viewer. John Kerry would ruin us financially at home and politically abroad, (IF) we survive another terrorist assault on our weakend homeland security. I am afraid that Americans have forgotten what it is, to actually work for and earn something. After the WWII glory years, anything was in our grasp and generally we obtained it without much ado. Americans got "comfortable and lazy". Now when a real battle comes along, those "muscles" necessary to fight, have been long since forgotten and weakend. We've become selfish about our prosperity and personal liberty, and have forgotten the price of ignoring other peoples lack of the same. Before WWII we turned a blind eye to the rest of the world, until it was brought to our doorstep on December 7. Unfortunately history had to repeat itself to get us off our butts and into action. The original JFK said, "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty". President Bush understands this, John Kerry does not!
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Born on the Fourth of July

[Rdtf]

Terrific article.
Hey moderators - this mentions Swiftvets - maybe goes in main forum? Thanks for all your hard work.

[openfish24]

one problem

is the texas air national guard army reserve? or air force reserve?

someone might want to let him no