Free Republic

Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado. He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org. And the mostly Democratic candidates he supported — looking for credibility on veterans issues and the war — lapped it up appreciatively. Now, politicians are dealing with news that...

War Resistor Sgt Chiroux successfully challenged his misconduct hearing, facing down the U.S. Army and offering a potential "green light" for other soldiers challenging the legality of U.S. action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A New Orleans federal judge has sentenced a Slidell man in connection with a case where the man illegally wore a Navy uniform, complete with medals, at a wedding, according to U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.

It was a video that was supposed to elicit soaring patriotism and real emotions about the Pledge of Allegiance. But to do that, it used fake soldiers and a staged military funeral instead of the real thing. On Tuesday night, 15-year-old Victoria Blackstone, a sophomore at the St. Agnes School in St. Paul, led the crowd at the Xcel Energy Center in the Pledge of Allegiance. The audience heard her 434-word essay, “Pledging myself to the Flag of the United States of America,” an essay she’d entered it in the “Wave the Stars & Stripes” essay contest and won. The...

John Smith said he was a Navy SEAL who was imprisoned in Vietnam after his helicopter was shot down. Troy Brodrick spoke in schools about his 30-year military career in which he earned three Purple Hearts and flew President Eisenhower as an Air Force One pilot. William Whitely, a former University of Oklahoma professor, told stories of his career as a Navy SEAL while he served as a mentor to Naval ROTC students who wanted to follow in his footsteps. Trouble is, they were lying. Smith, Brodrick and Whitely are among a growing nest of military imposters, people who make...

Troops donate more campaign money to Obama than McCain, despite McCain's military record WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. soldiers have donated more presidential campaign money to Democrat Barack Obama than to Republican John McCain, a reversal of previous campaigns in which military donations tended to favor GOP White House hopefuls, a nonpartisan group reported Thursday. Troops serving abroad have given nearly six times as much money to Obama's presidential campaign as they have to McCain's, the Center for Responsive Politics said. .... "Obama will work tirelessly to uphold this nation's sacred trust with its veterans, to ensure they are not forgotten...

In a dramatic report, the New York Times has uncovered a conspiracy by the United States military to conscript children. Posing as male nannies, bow-tie wearing Republicans wisk away infants as their single mothers fulfill their dreams in exciting careers away from the drudgery of traditional home-based chores. They then force these babies into combat zones and cover up their misdeeds with the complicity of the right-wing hate media. This conspiracy came to light in today's Times. Buried deep inside a front page story detailing how George W. Bush has personally foreclosed on millions of American homeowners in order to...

“My grandfather marched in Patton’s army, but I cannot know what it is to walk into battle like so many of you,” he told a small group of veterans here Obama also spoke about his uncle, who was part of the American brigade that helped to liberate Auschwitz.

State law enforcement may now cite those who falsify their war exploits. The new director of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District in Claremont introduced himself with tales so harrowing, so seemingly courageous, that people took notice.Fellow board member Dan Horan said Xavier Alvarez told him he saved a U.S. ambassador – and the American flag – while wounded by gunfire during a daring rooftop helicopter rescue in Lebanon. Horan said he was puzzled when Alvarez, a board member elected in 2006, later changed his story to say it happened in Iran. And he was skeptical when his colleague also...

For months, our magazine has been subject to accusations that stories we published by an American soldier then serving in Iraq were fabricated. When these accusations first arose, we promised our readers a full account of our investigation. We spent the last four-and-a-half months re-reporting his stories. These are our findings. ::very big snip:: In retrospect, we never should have put Beauchamp in this situation. He was a young soldier in a war zone, an untried writer without journalistic training. We published his accounts of sensitive events while granting him the shield of anonymity--which, in the wrong hands, can become...

As I said at the GOE rally, the Iraq Veterans Against The War are out to smear this generation of military as "babykillers" the way their mentors the Vietnam Veterans Against the War did during the Vietnam era. But I never expected that they'd give away their intent by calling it "Winter Soldier" just like their mentors. Winter Soldier was a series of 109 interviews that were turned into a book and film. According to B.G. Burkett's investigation of Winter Soldier in his book Stolen Valor, many were phony soldiers that never served, others like VVAW leader Al Hubbard served...

by Richard Lawrence Poe Monday, November 12, 2007 Permanent LinkMore Columns "HE WAS a war hero who hated the war." So intones the narrator of a classic film. Some readers may remember it. Who was this war hero who hated the war? Was it Senator John Kerry, who turned to anti-war activism after earning a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts in Vietnam? Was it Congressman John Murtha, a former Marine intelligence officer in Vietnam, who now demands that we cut and run from Iraq? Or was it perhaps Norman Mailer, who died this past Saturday?...

11/09/2007 Kerry Spokesman Sets Limbaugh Straight on Swiftboat Smears WASHINGTON D.C. – Kerry spokesman David Wade issued the following statement today in response to Rush Limbaugh, who said on his radio show that Kerry’s Swift Boat attackers in 2004, “were right on the money and nobody has disproven anything they claimed in any of their ads, statements, written commentaries, or anything of the sort.” “At first I thought, that’s not Rush, that’s just the OxyContin talking. Nonetheless, this is a despicable but unsurprising new lie from a man whose closest brush with combat came when customs officials tried to take...

Here's a dispicable comment that Stark said to a Veteran on his answering machine: Stark's comments to a veteran

It was quite a spectacle. Democratic Congressmen and Senators standing there denouncing Rush Limbaugh for attacking American soldiers by calling them "phony." We already know how much they hate Limbaugh and other conservative radio talk show personalities. Talk radio is the only part of the American media that the Left does not already control, one way or another; that's why they're trying to reintroduce the "fairness" doctrine (equal time for all points of view) only for talk radio, while the media the Left controls remains "unfair." But if they can make Rush Limbaugh look unAmerican, unpatriotic, well -- then all...

With one move, the Senate majority leader embarrassed himself, his party and his cause. Game, set and match to Rush Limbaugh, a result that ought to alarm any Democrat who assumes that the party can't botch the 2008 election. Mr. Limbaugh, who on his Palm Beach-based radio show regularly slams anyone whom he believes to be unpatriotic - that would be anyone who disagrees with him that the Iraq War was justified and is going splendidly - recently called U.S. active-duty personnel who oppose the war "phony soldiers." Whether he meant all such critics or just one is a tedious,...

The dirty little secret about Sen. Harry Reid's failed character assassination attempt against my brother, Rush Limbaugh, is just how contrived the Senate Democrats' outrage was about the fraudulent allegation that Rush had impugned certain soldiers. I won't rehash the facts in detail, but essentially, Rush was falsely accused of calling troops who had expressed opposition to the Iraq War "phony soldiers." Not only was Rush not criticizing soldiers, but he was defending soldiers who had been criticized by pretend Iraqi War veterans who had lied about their combat service in Iraq to gain credibility when they accused the actual...

Is the Rush vs. Harry spit-ball fight over? Probably not, but at least this nonsense will end up benefiting the children of Marines and law enforcement officers killed in action. You'll recall that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spent precious time on the floor lambasting Rush Limbaugh for comments the conservative radio talk show host made on the air a few weeks back. (When they waste energy on stuff like this, is it any wonder that approval ratings for the Democratic Congress are near all-time lows?) Mr. Limbaugh used the phrase "phony soldiers" to describe some critics of the Iraq...

You have to wonder if the whole conservative movement in the U.S. is living in a weird alternate reality in which the only thing that matters is what you say, and facts, consistency and honor mean nothing. The recent remarks by Rush Limbaugh in which he called military men who opposed the Iraq war "phony soldiers" is another example of the strange world in which he (and a lot of neocons) exist. The reason: Limbaugh could be the poster boy of a group of war cheerleaders (including Dick Cheney, Mike Medved, Sean Hannity, Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove, Mike Savage, et...

Newspapers are supposed to be so much better at television at providing hard facts and context to today’s news. That’s not what the Washington Post did on Saturday in a snarky Style section article on Rush Limbaugh raising $2.1 million on eBay (and donating the same amount) to a worthy charity auctioning off Senator Harry Reid’s snotty letter to Clear Channel Communications denouncing Rush Limbaugh’s remarks about phony soldiers like Jesse Macbeth.Neely Tucker’s short piece failed to explain the context of (a) what Rush originally said on the air about phony soldiers and (b) what Reid’s letter to Clear Channel...

If this doesn't take the cake, I don't know what does? On an ABC News Blog called the Political Radar, ABC reports on Rush Limbaugh's $2 million condemnation letter and throughout the piece continually links "Democrats" to the charity donation that Limbaugh and the ebay bidder for the letter are giving the money to. After reading this ABC blog report, one gets the sneaking suspicion that ABC thinks that Harry Reid and the Democrats are the ones that should be hailed as the good guys responsible for raising this monumental sum for charity. It is clear that ABC did their...

1st reference to the EBay auction from the Main-Stream-Media that I have seen: LINK to excerpted article With less than 5 1/2 hours to go before it's over, the eBay bidding has topped $2.1 million for the letter signed by 41 senators condemning Rush Limbaugh for using the words "phony soldiers."We've reported several times about what Limbaugh said and the reaction to it. It's Limbaugh who is auctioning the letter Money from the auction will go to the Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation. There's a pdf copy of the letter here.

When Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) took to the Senate floor to denounce media commentator Rush Limbaugh for comments that he made on his nationally broadcasted show, Senator Reid called upon Mr. Limbaugh to apologize for his remarks -- ending his statement by saying, "I ask my colleagues, Democrat and Republican alike, to join together against this irresponsible, hateful, and unpatriotic attack -- by calling upon Rush Limbaugh to give our troops the apology they deserve." Well, I have listened to the comments Rush made on his 26 September show and have come to the clear conclusion that Rush has nothing...

Remember that stink manufactured a week or so ago about Rush Limbaugh? Forty-one Democrat senators signed a letter to Limbaugh's boss demanding he be officially scolded over the "phony soldier" flap. The letter is evidently worth a lot of money and the money is going to the children of Marines and law enforcement who have died in the line of duty. So the eBay online auction site has now bumped the letter's value up to $45,000.

WASHINGTON — A letter sent to Rush Limbaugh's boss demanding he be chastised for comments he made on the air about "phony soldiers" is now on the auction block, and the latest bid is a cool $45,000. One hundred percent of the money raised from the eBay auction will go to educate the children of Marines and law enforcement officers who died while on duty, the auction says. Bids will continue until Friday for the letter signed by 41 Democratic senators and sent on Oct. 2 to Mark P. Mays, president of Clear Channel, the parent company of the conservative...

He called them "phony soldiers," now Rush Limbaugh is trying to cover up his goof and make money off of it. Limbaugh is auctioning off the letter that senate democrats wrote to his boss trying to get him to apologize for calling Iraq soldiers who don't support the war "phony." Limbaugh says he's going to donate the money to educate the children of soldiers who died on duty.

How mayor of A.C. was exposed as impostor Increased national scrutiny led Bob Levy to admit he was no Green Beret. By Edward ColimoreInquirer Staff WriterJames Simmons was suspicious.The Vietnam veteran had read a newspaper article referring to Atlantic City Mayor Bob Levy as a former Green Beret and wanted to recruit him for a veterans' group.But when Simmons sent the mayor a letter more than a year ago seeking proof of his service in the Army's Special Forces during the Vietnam War, he received no reply and began checking for himself.He used Internet military databases such as homeofheroes.com, enlisted...

Some of us can vaguely remember a time when Wesley Clark was going to be the next Eisenhower - a general above the fray, a former supreme commander of NATO who had met the great challenges of his time, someone who would Bring Us Together, lift the tone of national politics, a champion of unity above the usual divisive politics, The Nation's Hope, and all the rest of the nominating speech. But that was long ago in another country, and, besides, that Wesley Clark is no more - if he was ever real. His appeal as a presidential candidate peaked...

Rush has put the original letter to Clear Channel President for sale on Ebay! The letter from Dirty Harry Reid and signed by 41 Democrap Senators is up for bids. All funds received will be donated to the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation. He has challenged all the signers of the letter to match the donation, since they all are such big supporters of our Military.

Original Harry Reid/Rush Limbaugh Smear Letter "Phony Soldiers" Signed by 41 Senators, Charity Auction Up for auction is the original letter signed by 41 Democrat senators. This historic document may well represent the first time in the history of America that this large a group of U.S. senators attempted to demonize a private citizen by lying about his views. As such, it is a priceless memento of the folly of Harry Reid and his 40 senatorial co-signers. The entire proceeds of this auction.. the entire high bid... will be donated to The Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation, a registered...

<p>FLASH: Rush Limbaugh to auction off Harry Reid's letter to CLEAR CHANNEL on EBAY; Money goes to Marine Charity.... Developing...</p>

Update: Moonbats continue to push to kick Rush off the Armed Forces Network. More here. *** So, word is that the Democrats will introduce a House resolution Monday condemning Rush Limbaugh for his remarks about phony soldiers. Brian Maloney points out that ABC News aired a report on phony soldiers and Operation Stolen Valor two days before Rush made his remarks. Asks Maloney: “Given the overwhelming evidence to support Limbaugh’s contention that he really was talking about phony soldiers who have faked their service, how does the left justify continuing this fabrication?” Here is what this phony fiasco is really...

Many preposterous accusations have been leveled against Rush Limbaugh during his career, but last week Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) made one that trumps them all. Speaking about the ‘phony soldier’ controversy, this is what he said on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives: I can't think of a better example of giving aid and comfort to our enemies than somebody who would call our soldiers phony while they're fighting, who would attack them while they're defending us. Rush Limbaugh helping our enemies? The sheer inanity of it aside, it is still remarkable that Steve Israel would so brazenly...

I wrote my congresscritter concerning BMovement.org and the congressional response. here was the reply: Congressman Mark Udall Serving Colorado's Front Range and Western Slope Dear Mr. Jones: Thank you for contacting me and expressing your views about how Congress should respond to public controversies involving free speech. As a general rule, I do not think it is the business of Congress to condemn or applaud statements by individuals or groups. And I strongly support every American's right to free speech. If Congress took time to notice every asinine or unfortunate public utterance, we would have little time to address the...

By all accounts, Robert Levy, now the 60-year-old mayor of Atlantic City, was a fine soldier during his two tours of Vietnam.The former lifeguard came home with two Bronze Stars. He was a native son who, before enlisting, had risen above his own family's prejudice to marry a local African-American woman. After his homecoming, he remained in the military until he became eligible to retire, with 20 years of service. But at some point, Levy began to embellish his service record in Vietnam by saying he had been a member of the Green Berets, the elite special force of the...

The ruckus over the Rush Limbaugh "phony soldiers" statement is dying down. It ought not to. There is a huge story here. What did Rush say? In a Sept. 26 conversation with a caller to his program who claimed the media never interview "real soldiers," but just people out of the blue, Rush added for emphasis, "the phony soldiers." The left saw its opportunity and pounced with a vengeance. Led by the George Soros-funded and Hillary Clinton-inspired Media Matters outfit, it unleashed a scorched-earth attack on Limbaugh for insulting the military, stating that any servicemen or women who might oppose...

After receiving a barrage of e-mails and phone calls from listeners upset with radio host Rush Limbaugh over allegations by Democrats that he smeared anti-war troops, a tiny Oregon radio station decided to give the listeners what they asked for and replaced the No. 1-rated show with music. Paul Mitchell, general manager of KAST Radio in Astoria, told WND he's a long-time supporter of Limbaugh and explained he simply was trying to prove a point to people who said they would rather listen to CDs. "It was a great opportunity to cause a little excitement," said Mitchell, who estimates his...

Reid Continues To Press For Limbaugh Apology WASHINGTON -- October 8, 2007: Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays last week declined to apologize for a September 26 on-air remark by Rush Limbaugh -- syndicated by CC-owned Premiere Radio networks -- so now the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has sent an e-mail, signed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, to supporters asking them to contact Mays and demand that he make Limbaugh apologize. "It's one thing to call me 'Dingy Harry,' Reid wrote, "it's another to insult our men and women in uniform, calling those who oppose the war 'phony soldiers' as...

What Rush got wrong The Democrats are all worked up about Rush Limbaugh's remark about "phony soldiers" who oppose the Iraq War. They miss the point. Limbaugh's attack was not directed at Democrats. It was directed at Republicans. ..."Well, who are these Republicans?" Limbaugh asked. "I can think of Chuck Hagel, and I can think of Gordon Smith, two Republican senators. Who are the Republicans in the antiwar movement?" Hmm. We can start with Pat Buchanan, who predicted with amazing accuracy before the war began that American troops would still be bogged down in Iraq four years later. Then there's...

The American Spectator has reported that Henry Waxman D-Calif. is beginning investigations on Rush Limbaug, Hannity and Mark Levin. This is out of hand! When did we move to Cuba??? http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12128

There is nothing more mesmerizing than watching Democratic leaders launch a massive, organized, yet groundless assault against a conservative for supposedly doing something they are usually guilty of doing themselves. One example of this is the Democrats’ primary talking point on Iraq: “We should withdraw from Iraq because it has only been a distraction from the real war on terror!” Terrorists, apparently, are everywhere in the world except for Iraq. This is a classic example of how Democrats use any opportunity they can to assign their own weaknesses to Republicans – in this case, feebleness in the face of terror....

In a week when Democratic senators tried to intimidate executives at Clear Channel Communications based on a false interpretation of Rush Limbaugh’s “phony soldiers” comment, MSNBC host Chris Matthews on Thursday decried what he said were complaints from the Bush White House to MSNBC executives about the content of his show. “They will not silence me!” Matthews declared at a celebration of the 10th anniversary of his "Hardball" show, the (Washington, D.C.) Examiner reported. Talking about the Democrats’ threats to silence Limbaugh on Tuesday, Matthews put all of the onus on Limbaugh’s speech, not liberals’ attacks on the First Amendement....

Fraud busters on rise against fake veterans Web, federal law help to expose military charlatans By Russell Working, Tribune staff reporter Freelancer Matt Baron contributed to this report October 8, 2007 When Douglas E. Robinson showed up in Yorkville saying he was a homeless Vietnam veteran who had lost everything in Hurricane Katrina, the American Legion post took pity on a former comrade in arms, giving him nearly $400 and paying for a few nights' lodging. But Robinson and his wife's aggressive demands for money and slip-ups in his story led Kendall County sheriff's deputies to investigate. It turned out...

And yet another flashback of a phony Democrat soldier. Here is World Net Daily's exploration of the lie Al Gore told about his "gassed Uncle in WWI" during his doomed run for president in 2000... turns out Gore didn't HAVE any family that served in WWI.

ATLANTIC CITY - The possible whereabouts of Atlantic City Mayor Bob Levy continue to make national news, including top billing Saturday on AOL's list of news stories, fueling additional media focus on his mysterious absence. Major news organizations such as Fox News and NPR also are planning coverage into next week. Levy vanished from public life Sept. 26, the day he signed seven ordinances and city officials said he transferred power to city Business Administrator Domenic Cappella. Officials, his family and his lawyer have refused to say where he is, claiming privacy regulations that experts say do not apply. Levy's...

Talker Rush Limbaugh is under fire for being falsely accused of saying that any U.S. soldier who comes out against the war is a “phony soldier.” He did not, of course, say such a thing. Rush was actually talking about a man named Jesse Macbeth who was touted by anti-war activists as a soldier who came out against the war, but it turned out later that Macbeth never served in the military at all. Still, despite that Rush is utterly innocent of these scurrilous charges, members of the Democrat Party and assorted extreme leftists like Media Matters, a far left...

Is the truth necessary only when it suits your political agenda? No. Anyone who has ever attended kindergarten knows that truth -- and being honest -- are required in all aspects of life, especially in political forums. But Senate Democrats, in condemning talk-radio king Rush Limbaugh, have proven yet again that they should have flunked out of preschool. Limbaugh had an on-air conversation with a caller about "phony soldiers" -- people who pretend to be U.S. soldiers either to get at money allocated for vets or simply to get attention in order to amplify their views; in other words, actual...

December 12, 1997 At 10:30 on Thursday morning at Arlington National Cemetery, a team of gravediggers quietly dug up the remains of Larry Lawrence and carted away his granite tombstone, which was engraved with lies. Chiseled in stone were claims that Lawrence, the late millionaire businessman who became an ambassador, had served in the U.S. merchant marine and had earned the designation of “S1C,” the Navy abbreviation for seaman, first class, which would not have been given to a merchant mariner anyway. Neither claim was true. During his 69-year lifetime, Lawrence fabricated his World War II heroics, his education, how...

The way he told it, David McClanahan, of Fort Worth, Texas, had been wounded in combat three times in Iraq, awarded three Silver Stars and even nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor. Today, McClanahan, a nursing student at West Texas A&M, appeared in federal court in Amarillo, Texas, on charges he made up his hero's tale. McClanahan did not enter a plea and was released on bond after being advised of the charges against him. The arraignment is now scheduled for June 13. His lawyer, Brooks Barfield, says McClanahan will enter a plea of not guilty. A federal...

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Conservatives have long dominated talk radio and its impassioned political debate but Democrats have begun to fight back against popular radio hosts who may play a role in the 2008 presidential election. Having failed to find commentators who can draw the millions-strong audiences of conservative radio stars like Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly, liberals have turned to political blogs and Web sites to respond to airwave attacks. "We (conservatives) have continued to rely on talk radio for information while liberals have gone out and developed these great blogs like Daily Kos and Huffington Post which is kind...