Posted on 08/16/2004 8:59:50 AM PDT by bray
My 'to do' list for today:
1. Buy 'Unfit for Command'
2. Send another check to the Swifties, along with a thank you note.
THX
BTTT
"The right to free speech DOES NOT INCLUDE the right to be published in a newspaper of your choice. Since no newspaper threatens to jail the vets, there is no "rights" issue."
I agree to a point, but there is an expectation of equal treatment that they should expect from a purportedly "free and unbiased" press. For the "mainstream" media to blatantly black them out, and restrict access to media outlets that the likes of Moore, Clarke, and Wilson dominated for weeks is just plain wrong. It isn't a matter of being published in a paper of your choice; it is a matter of being covered at ALL.
Nobody could compare the NG story and the SBVT story and claim that coverage was equivalent. Not with a straight face anyway.
Whether you like how they do it or not, Rush, Hannity, and more recently, FoxNews have given play to both sides of these issues and other, probably in line with their "we report, you decide" motto. The rest of the media appears to have a "we report what we decide is fit for you to hear/see" motto, which, though unstated, screams louder than any amount of advertising Fox could do.
Nice sentiment but we don't have the right to be heard, just the right to say what we want. If the media doesn't publish it, it's hardly a denial of free speech. Biased, yes.
Ahh, but the Internet is a wonderful thing. No longer do we have to stand on our soap boxes all day long. We can throw up our ideas and have people stumble across them 24 hours a day.
Pray for W and Our Viet Nam Vets
Not to worry. Most of us are fully aware of the difference between "rights" and what is merely "common decency."
I agree on this issue too:
"everybody has the right to be heard"
No they don't! The Constitution guarantees you the RIGHT TO SPEAK. It does not guarantee you the RIGHT TO BE HEARD.
If the Constitution guaranteed you the right to be HEARD, then you could not get up and walk out of a meeting or a music concert .. you would be forced to stay. And .. there would be only one TV station and one radio station and you would be required to listen to only those stations.
John O'Neill's decorated veterans have the RIGHT TO SPEAK. They are firsthand witnesses to the character of Kerry during the stress of war, and that makes it relevant to the election for President, during a time we are at war.
This is a free speech issue and the Kerry groups need to be called on it.
You and I are on the same side of the fence here - my point was ONLY that to call it an abridgement of 1st amendment rights is a mistake.
Whether you have an "expectation of equal treatment" or not is immaterial to what goes on. The Constitution does not gurantee us a "free and unbiased" press - it just says the government won't (must not) interfere with it.
I agree it's a sorry situation. Being free doesn't mean we get the best. It means we have a better CHANCE at getting the best. It's up to the people to require it. And, for the most part, they don't.
Bannister, is that you?
John Kerry wrote his Review for "Apocalypse Now" on Oct 14, 1979 in the Boston Herald.Here is the article in JPG format.
Thank you, thank you FreeRepublic.com !
In the BOTTOM JPG, check out the TOP RIGHT paragraph regarding Cambodia .....
"On more than one occasion, I, like Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now, took my patrol boat into Cambodia. In fact, I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas. The absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real."
There is the lie. He NEVER WAS in Cambodia. The Swiftboat book Unfit for Command addresses that issue. And Nixon, who had WON election in November 1968, did not take office until January, 1969.
John Kerry is a LIAR! I think mostly Bush haters would vote for Kerry. I say George Bush in a landslide win November 2nd !
John Kerry's "Apocalypse Now" fantasy in Cambodia.
Great scan of 1979 newpaper article.
Above published elsewhere:
John Kerry in Cambodia
["Apocalypse Now" Review]Google Search "John Kerry 1968 Cambodia"
John Kerry “Apocalypse Now" on Oct 14, 1979 in the Boston Herald.
The Kerry Campaign has now admitted that this was a fabrication. This is far from a slip of the tongue this is a well thought out written attack on a President and country that not only impugned them, but the Ex-Government of South Vietnam. This soon became the basic prejudice of the history of the Vietnam War. The damage by this statement and further statements shamed an entire generation of men who gave their heroic service to their country and turned it to humiliation.
John Kerry came back from the war a decorated hero and soon parlayed that into the most decorated witness of war crime atrocities committed by the United States and South Vietnam. Nobody would question his truthfulness because he had chest full of medals and had no motivation to lie. Anybody who questioned him was quickly painted as a war criminal and a tool of the military. He was subsequently announced as the only moral person in an immoral war and this is exactly why this lie is so sickening.
We have now found and John Kerry has admitted that he was never in Cambodia on Christmas Eve or any other time. He never violated Cambodia’s sovereignty and neither did the South Vietnamese Army. Forget that President Nixon was not in office in 1968, but he never ordered any American Troops into Cambodia. President Nixon was telling the truth and John Kerry, decorated war hero was lying. President Nixon had to surrender to the North Vietnamese in shame and went to his grave a war criminal because of these lies. Richard Nixon we find four decades later, was telling the Truth.
His testimony and this story was the foundation of the Vietnam scar on America’s military. The stories of torturing prisoners and villagers became the visual of Viet Nam. The indiscriminate incursions into Cambodia and Laos was common knowledge. Because of these stories the soldiers came back from Nam to be spit upon by the American public. Now we find out these stories were all the fantasy of a young John Kerry who managed to keep his fabrications in the America’s consciousness. Vietnam became the rifle butt that hammered our military, over and over again. All of this was built off of the Cambodia lie and his false testimony to Congress.
John Kerry was still telling these lies as of last year when he showed off a hat he brought back from his Cambodia incursion. This he claimed was his lucky hat, given to him by a CIA agent?? What kind of dementia is this man suffering from? Did he actually believe any of his lies or did he enjoy being Mr Macho who steered his boat into another country during combat? Did he enjoy being Blood and Guts Kerry or was there something more sinister??
Because of this lie both Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon became the Pyrrhus’ of American politics. Both went to their graves as accused war criminals, violating the sovereignty of innocent countries. As we find out that they were the innocent victims of a smear campaign led by John Kerry. John Kerry painted himself as the only moral person in an immoral war. As we find out the military was indeed fighting this war morally and the only immoral person in this story was John Kerry. Because of this lie two Presidents were made war criminals and an entire generation of soldiers were spit on. What can John Kerry offer to repair his damage he has done to America?? The very least he can do is finally come clean, apologize for his atrocious lies and resign from the race!
Pray for W and Our Troops
Good post bump!The Kerry Campaign has now admitted that this was a fabrication.
I thought he 'changed' his lie to say it was in January 1969. Or did they finally fess up ??
The Media like the Democrats march in lockstep and to the same drummer! The so called "Mainstream Media" is nothing more than a puppet and a propaganda machine for the Democrats.
Pray for W and The Truth
bannister bray, you tricky devil, you... got your number!
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