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 In
Response to a Letter from My Sister
EDITORIAL
Frank Salvato
September 7, 2003 |
Recently, I received an email from my
sister, a kind soul, who wanted me to counter one of those Bush-bashing hate
emails she received from a Palestinian-American friend of hers. Her friend,
she said, was another good soul but surrounded by MoveOn.org people and thus
seldom exposed to truth-based non-biased information. This is the response I
sent to my sister regarding the task of educating those in the MoveOn.org
crowd. Anyone who has ever tried to reason with these people can only "feel
my pain.”
There is no educating the MoveOn.org people, my dear sister. I argue with
them every day. They are a vicious, tunnel-visioned people who only embrace
hate and divisiveness. They don't accept explanations that are valid. They
don't accept proof that is verified. They even make up facts and deceive all
in the name of "anybody but Bush."
I have found that when one gets caught in the trap of engaging them in an
effort to educate they purposely try to monopolize time so as to "run out
the clock" so nothing considered politically and truthfully productive can
be achieved.
It is the duty, the responsibility, of every voter and American citizen to
move beyond rhetoric with which we would like to agree and to seek out the
truth.
Case in point:
If the MoveOn.org crowd wanted to acknowledge the truth about George W.
Bush’s National Guard service they would admit that it has been established
that he fulfilled his commitment per their program requirements. In the
National Guard timetables for completing service requirements are less
stringent. That's the way it has been structured since most National Guard
personnel not activated and deployed have civilian jobs as well. It is true
today and it was true back in the Vietnam Era. Anyone willing to do their
homework on this matter would understand this and accept it.
But the MoveOn.org crowd continues to muddy the minds of their lemming-like
followers by wanting to know where George W. Bush was for "17 days" when he
wasn't on base during his time with the Texas Air National Guard. This is a
disingenuous question given the service requirement structure of the
National Guard. It was acceptable for him not to be there for those 17 days.
He fulfilled his requirements at a later time since during those 17 days his
squadron wasn't being utilized. That is also the reason he wasn't examined
for his flight fitness test at that time. But the MoveOn.org crowd contends,
strictly out of speculation, fabrication and political gain, that he ducked
his flight exam and went AWOL. Two lies that have been proven to be lies yet
they still propagate the myths, the lies.
Conversely, they never say anything about the fact John Kerry didn't
initially volunteer for Vietnam. Rather, he applied for a deferment, just as
most everyone else did sans military academy attendees, and was rejected. He
wanted the deferment so he could study in Paris, France ala Bill Clinton. He
didn't volunteer for "in-country" duty with the US Navy and in fact
volunteered for the Naval Reserve. Even then he only volunteered so he
wouldn't get drafted into the Army, as was the norm with draftees.
Interesting to note is that the MoveOn.org crowd finds it contemptible for
Bush to have volunteered for the Texas Air National Guard yet it is
admirable for Kerry to have volunteered for the Naval Reserve, the
equivalent to an Air National Guard unit because the US Navy doesn't
establish their reserves by state.
Further, war hero Kerry is now under investigation by the US Navy for
embellishing his honors. On his website it states, and he confirms by
signature, that he has a Silver Star with a "V" for valor. The US Navy
doesn't award "Vs" for valor. They never have. The Silver Star is for valor
so it would be redundant. The Navy also is questioning the listing on
Kerry’s Web site of four bronze campaign stars for his service in Vietnam.
The official naval record credits Kerry with just two Vietnam campaigns. The
admiral whose signature is on Kerry's Silver Star citation insists he never
signed it and never approved the verbiage for it. It has also been
discovered that Kerry wasn't officially discharged from the US Naval Reserve
until 2001. Why? His stint was only for 6 years.
On top of that, there are five serious charges that are quite valid that
confront Kerry at this time that those of MoveOn.org choose to ignore,
overlook or otherwise disavow:
John Kerry attended war rallies where the Vietcong flag was displayed while
the U.S. flag was being desecrated, defiled and mocked, thereby giving aid
and comfort to the enemy.
John Kerry was present in a meeting of Anti-War protesters voting on
"assassinating members of the U.S. Senate."
John Kerry lied under oath, when testifying against fellow soldiers and
sailors and shipmates, saying that he saw them committing war crimes in Viet
Nam.
John Kerry professed on national TV to being a war criminal, condemning the
military and his government.
Lt. (jg) John Kerry met with the North Vietnamese Army officials and
Vietcong communist leaders in Paris, in direct violation of the U.C.M.J.
Article 104, Part. 904, and U.S. Code 18 SU.S.C 953.
He willingly committed these violations and many times instigated these
violations while he was still a U.S. Naval Officer. He stands in violation
of Article 3, Section 3, of the Constitution, which reads:
"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elected
President or Vice President, having taken an oath to support the
Constitution of the United States, who has engaged in insurrection or
rebellion against the same, or, given aid or comfort to the enemies
thereof."
Why wasn't he tried for treason and hung? The most logical explanation that
would be harder to prove than Ted Kennedy’s guilt at the bridge of
Chappaquiddick is his life-long relationship with the Kennedy's.
These two very contrasting issues, fact-based, paint a very different
picture than the propaganda that MoveOn.org would feed the American people.
The MoveOn.org crowd insists on propagating the lies about Bush while
overlooking the truth about their candidate of choice. They are - in essence
- what is wrong with the political process in this country and a tremendous
example of a group abusing the idea of the 527 group. While they utilize the
First Amendment right to freedom of speech they manipulate and bastardize
that right by propagating lies, misstatements, untruths and caustic and
deceptive rumors, all in the name or political gain and tunnel-visioned
ideology.
The Founding Fathers believed that the American citizen was to have a level
of civic responsibility. They were to strive for that level of
responsibility and embrace that responsibility in a pro-active manner.
Citizenship wasn't supposed to be an entitlement; it was (is) an honor, an
honor that was to be taken seriously. Today, the era of entitlement has
created a generation of people who believe their country owes them
something; a self-righteous group of malcontents that believe their country
should "do for them" instead of they doing for their country. Today's
nihilist would contend that the country, the government, is supposed to
"take care of" the country's citizenry. This manner of thinking is twisted
and misguided at best. The country was set up to ensure liberty so that its
citizens would have the wherewithal to take care of themselves, it was set
up in freedom so that each person was afforded opportunity, opportunity to
pursue life, liberty and happiness.
It wasn't 50 years ago that John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address,
"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask
what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not
what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of
man." The MoveOn.org crowd couldn't fathom the level of civic responsibility
to which John F. Kennedy referred, a responsibility that requires them to
embrace the truth over rumor, acts over political ideology and the good of
the country over personal gain. If it were up to them we would either be
globalized, living at the whim of the international community, which has
proved to be as corrupt as they come (oil-for-food scandal, Congo, Sudan,
Liberia, Haiti, etc.), or the largest province in either the Third Reich or
the Soviet Union.
Tell your Palestinian friend to put down her espresso, loosen her beret,
take down the Che Guevara poster and grow-up. The serious action of
utilizing social protest is for those who have a passion for their cause not
social gatherings for those who epitomize the word malcontent. Perhaps, if
she wanted to make the world a better place, she could find the passion
inside herself to rail against her fellow Palestinians who currently blow up
innocent people for peace. That kind of thinking is like fornicating for
birth control.
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