dangerous liberty

We bought a house and are busy getting packed and scrubbing crevices!

But the RNC has brought me back, at least for a bit.

I’ll post links later to the best blogging from the convention.

Captain Ed is the man. He’s a veritable clearing house on the lastest news of John (anyone but Bush) Kerry’s stunning level of deceit unveiled by the Swift Vets. Read Did David Alston Ever Serve On Kerry’s Swift Boat? and Alston Inconsistency On Record For Silver Star Action for the latest.

Apparently, the official record apparently show Alston’s claims to have served with Kerry to be wholesale lies. Indeed, Alston was severly wounded and evacuated to a hospital in the same action which resulted in Kerry’s assignment to his boat.

But that hasn’t stopped him from discussing how brave Kerry was as he served alongside him in his boat (one who would know Kerry best, as we’ve been told repeatedly).

It is a shame a man like Alston could be convinced to lie for John Kerry. It shows that, for some people, political power is more important than an honest account. Let us hope Kerry and Alston will clear this up - I’m not holding my breath.

P. J. O’Rourke has A Conversation With Colin Powell in The Atlantic’s August issue. (hat tip, Chicago Boyz)

I read it and came away more impressed with Powell. He’s not an effete intellectual, nor an advocate of detente. He’s a pretty regular guy who by virtue of being an American and coming up through the ranks of the military reached the point he’s at today.

I’d be comfortable with this man as President - he seems to have a grasp on what makes America prosper and a fundamental understanding of what I consider the biggest social problem facing America and many other places in the world, Fatherlessness. Read this exchange from the interview and you’ll see what I mean:

(more…)

Joe Conason, in his most recent column attacks the Swift Boat Vets’ ad - and I’ve now seen it used to ‘rebut’ the claims made by the Vets.

Here’s my answer to Conason’s hit piece. By the way, he is a terrible person to rely upon without further independent investigation. He is a water carrier for Democrats, as indicated by his Lying in Ponds rating at #5, behind Ivins, Scheer, Krugman and Coulter (the queen of partisan water carriers). His claims should ALWAYS be independently verified and his reasoning should be carefully scrutinized, as I’m about to do.

I certainly hope Anyone But Bush supporters are not willing to discount the affidavits of the other men without any evidence of motives to lie to the nation.

They will further agree, I hope, that the motive to lie in seeking the power of the presidency is equally if not more compelling than any motives they can ascribe to the all the men in this organization.

Conason begins:

“Dishonest and dishonorable” is how John McCain described the attack ad now appearing on television in several swing states, courtesy of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Dishonest because the men who appear in the ad make false claims about John Kerry’s wartime conduct and decorations. Dishonorable because these men have waited three decades to publicize their slurs, with partisan motives, during a presidential campaign.

With his passionate denunciation of the swift boat commercial and its sponsors, McCain again displayed the dignity and self-respect that once elevated him above other politicians. Calling on President Bush to repudiate the ugly anti-Kerry ad, McCain took a step back from his awkward embrace of the Republican ticket last month. “I can’t believe the president would pull such a cheap stunt,” he told reporters, while acknowledging that he didn’t know whether Bush strategists were involved.

First, John McCain. McCain was and has been attacked by vet groups angry with his conduct in POW/MIA hearings. It would not surprise me if a few of these Swiftboat vets are men who have been highly critical of McCain in public. McCain has only stated they are being dishonest. If that is so, precisely what have they lied about? What is the counter evidence other than ‘it’s dishonest’?

The SVFT responded to McCain’s public statements with the following:

Response to Senator John McCain

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has more than 250 members, many of whom were wounded or highly decorated in Vietnam.

We purchased with our blood and service the right to be heard, to set the record straight about our unit, and to tell the truth about John Kerry’s military service record.

We respect Senator McCain’s right to express his opinion and we hope he extends to us the same respect and courtesy, particularly since we served with John Kerry, we knew him well and Senator McCain did not.

– Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann (ret.), Founder and Chairman of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

This doesn’t specifically answer McCain’s unspecific charge of dishonesty, nor should it. It only makes the point than MANY of the men who served in Anyone But Bush’s unit belong to this group and that Sen. McCain did not.

Conason, repeated:

Dishonorable because these men have waited three decades to publicize their slurs, with partisan motives, during a presidential campaign.

Please answer me this: Why on earth would these men care enough to mount a public campaign against Anyone But Bush when he ran for AG of Mass, Lt. Gov., Congressman or Senator? There might have been some who made claims about him during local campaigns by other locals with experience, but I don’t know.

Who has made his Vietnam experience a large part of his campaign? Who saluted the delegates at the DNC and said they were ‘reporting for duty’? Who drags his ‘band of brothers’ around as backdrop for many campaign appearances? Why, Anyone But Bush!

What party is constantly referring to him as a decorated war hero? Did you see his bio? And what of the clip of Edwards saying ’spend 3 minutes with the men who served with him’?

If Anyone But Bush had been silent on his Vietnam tour during the campaign, I could agree it is dishonorable to ressurect these charges during a presidential campaign.

But damn, it is a legitimate issue and Anyone But Bush (ABB) is using his service as a central part of his campaign. I cannot believe ABB supporters find this particular argument convincing, please tell me you don’t!

The above shows right off the bat that Conason has some perspective problems at the least and honesty problems at worst.

(more…)

Donald Rumsfeld spoke before the CFR and the Commercial Club of Chicago on August 6th. (Watch the speech via Real Player from CSPAN).

This is a powerful speech by a remarkable man. This speech was at times moving and Rumsfeld makes an eloquent defense of our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, asking if the lost lives and limbs were worth it - answering soberly and emotionally - “Yes, it is”.

Watch it. It matters.

Swift Boat Vets for Truth released a devastating television ad that essentially calls Kerry a wholesale liar about his experience in Vietnam.

Anyone But Bush Supporters have condemned their efforts as ‘vicious’ tactics by ‘right wing operatives’ to smear John Kerry.

John McCain has also weighed in, recalling some of the members of this group smeared him in the 2000 primary campaign.

Well, the Anyone But Bush campaign, through its political group the DNC, issued a legal threat to any television station which might broadcast this ad.

The Swiftboat vets have responded with legal documents of their own, details at Captain’s Quarters. I’ve reprinted the letter at this blog in extended entries.

I’m willing to consider these guys are a right wing outfit and they are lying, but I hope those inclined to support Anyone But Bush will do likewise and consider they might be telling the truth. O’Neill and Hoffman’s past political activity is relevent, but simply because they’ve been involved in partisan politics doesn’t mean they are de facto liars. Nor does it mean the many other affidavits of men serving in that division at that time.

As Democrats are fond of saying, the seriousness of the charge merits as open minded a consideration of these claims as one can muster, because if they are telling the truth, John Kerry is unfit for Command and has based a large portion of his campaign upon very big lies.

Please read the response letter below:

(more…)

Recently noted by the lidless eye - Daniel Drezner asks, What the f#$% is going on at the FBI?.

Don’t read this without your BP meds. He excerpts an open letter to the 911 Comission from an FBI whistleblower who lost his job for doing so:

After the terrorist attacks of September 11 we, the translators at the FBI’s largest and most important translation unit, were told to slow down, even stop, translation of critical information related to terrorist activities so that the FBI could present the United States Congress with a record of ‘extensive backlog of untranslated documents’, and justify its request for budget and staff increases. While FBI agents from various field offices were desperately seeking leads and suspects, and completely depending on FBI HQ and its language units to provide them with needed translated information, hundreds of translators were being told by their administrative supervisors not to translate and to let the work pile up….

Read his entire rant. This is important.

Between the fields where the flag is planted there are 9+ miles of flower fields that go all the way to the ocean. The flowers are grown by seed companies. It’s a beautiful place close to Vandenberg AFB. Checkout the dimensions of the flag.

The 2002 Floral Flag is 740 feet long and 390 feet wide and maintains the proper Flag dimensions as described in Executive Order #10834. This Flag is 6.65 acres and is the first Floral Flag to be planted with 5 pointed Stars comprised of White Larkspur. Each Star is 24 feet in diameter; Each Stripe is 30 feet wide. This Flag is estimated to contain more than 400,000 Larkspur plants with 4-5 flower stems each for a total of more than 2 million flowers. You can drive by this flag on V Street south of Ocean Ave. in Lompoc, CA.